Chapter 1: Antiquity

Antiquity

The idea of writing on a portable flat surface goes back a very long time - thousands of years.

We know from archaeological records, and from the writings of ancient authors such as Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), that Romans wrote on a wax tablet, called a tabula, with a stylus.

Here's an image from Wikipedia showing what some of these tablets look like. Basically, it consisted of a wooden frame with some wax on the surface. Note that there are two tablets joined together to form a unit.

The Romans did not have modern paper, but instead used papyrus, which is similar. It is unclear how expensive papyrus was (see this SE question on the cost), but in any case, it's easy to see why wax tablets were useful because they relied on everyday materials and could be erased and reused.

An even earlier image from Wikipedia shows a vase painting by Douris from around 500 BC depicting a man using a wax tablet, stylus in hand. Humorously and anachronistically, it does look like someone using a laptop :-)

Here, from Douris and the Painters of Greek Vases by Edmond Pottier, you can see a schoolmaster depicted with a stylus and wax tablets.