PR-2237IRE Ancient Rome

Roman Life – Education
As imported Egyptian papyrus paper made from water plant fibres was expensive, pupils carved
their work on wax tablets with a stylus. This writing tool had a pointed end for carving numbers or
letters. The other end was flat to scrape away errors or work no longer required. As the Romans
didn’t know about paper made from wood pulp, the teachers had books made from papyrus, but
also used ‘vellum’ made from the hides of cattle, sheep and goats. When papyrus sheets were glued together in
book form they were known as ‘volumen’ from which our word ‘volume’ is derived. Quill pens were used to write
with, ink being made from soot, gum and sepia, the ink-like fluid secreted by cuttlefish.
The Latin word for books is ‘Liber’ (meaning bark). Recent evidence suggests that thin sheets of wood were the
most common writing material in northern parts of the Empire where papyrus wasn’t easily obtained. Evidence
has also been unearthed of writing scratched on pottery fragments with a stylus.
The word abacus is derived from ‘abax’, an ancient Greek word believed to have come from an older Semitic
word meaning ‘dust’. The first abacus was a tray filled with sand (or dust) and trading calculations were drawn
in the sand and then wiped out. Early Roman abacuses were just lines on a marble top with small, movable discs
for recording calculations. On later Roman types the discs were moved up and down in grooves on a metal or
stone surface. Actual examples of Roman abacuses have been found in excavations.
One Greek pedagogue called Livius Andronicus translated Homer’s famous poem ‘The Odyssey’ into Latin, the
Roman language, so his pupils could read it. This was the first piece of Greek literature translated into Latin.
Discipline in schools was severe but Quintilian, a writer and leading rhetor, disapproved of corporal punishment
and wrote about the need for high personal standards for teachers.
Around midday, schoolchildren joined the rest of the Roman population (mainly the rich) in a siesta, when
people rested or slept to avoid the midday heat.
TEACHERS
N OTE
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