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LOT 0870
Roman Wooden Wax Tablet Fragment Written in Greek
CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.
7 1/4 x 2 7/8 in. (45.45 grams, 18.6 x 7.2 cm).
Part of a wax tablet with two holes in the frame for fastening, Greek writing. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceProperty of a North London gentleman; previously in the Dean family collection since 1975.
LiteratureCf. for a similar tablet in Greek and Latin Wollman, V. ‘Eine Romische Wachstafel (tabula cerata) in der archaologischen Sammlung der ‘Batthyaneum’ Bibliothek, in an V (2010), nn. 9-10, pp.22-31.
FootnotesWax tablets written in Greek or Latin, were used by Romans as account registers (codices accepti et expensi); for transactions (for example, the tablets of the banker Lucius Caecilius Iucundus found in Pompeii); for lists of goods, inventories, and notes to be kept and archived; for Roman magistrates to annotate the salient events of their bureaucratic activities; for writing letters; for drawing up legal texts of various kinds: legacies, declarations of births and citizenship, reports of trials and diplomata militaria.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0870
Roman Wooden Wax Tablet Fragment Written in Greek
Estimate £300 - 400€350 - 460 (for guidance only)$410 - 540 (for guidance only)
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