Roman iron stylus - stilus ferreus
The iron stylus was used as a writing instrument until the 1960-ies for inscribing slates and wax tablets. The appearance of the stylus was usually round or square and their material was iron, bronze, bone or occasionally silver. The stylus was pressed with the tip into the wax to write on it. The end (spatula-shaped) was used to correct minor mistakes, to smooth out the wax and then to use it again.
- Stylus length about 15 cm
- Forged iron
- Stylus lat.
It is a very special writing experience when the tip of the forged stylus (lat. stylus) carves into the soft beeswax of the wax tablet: letters, Roman numerals or simple notes or shopping lists, even love messages cast in wax are thus given a very personal, unmistakable touch!
"Tabula rasa"
And if you no longer like what you've written, turn the stylus around and smooth the wax with its flat side to rewrite the wax tablet. For the stylus is pointed at one end and flattened at the other. Incidentally, the expression "tabula rasa" means "to erase the wax tablet" - today for "clear the air."
Stylus - stylus forged from iron
Cool lies the stylus forged by hand in the Roman model in the lost wax process from iron in the hand. What an extraordinary "notepad" with a noble writing instrument! The variety of styluses can hardly be surpassed by shape and ornamentation - even among the finds from antiquity. Even inlays of silver wire in the stylus shaft showed rare specimens. Presumably, the stylus, like the noble writing instruments of today - valuable fountain pens, for example - was already a status symbol for the owner in ancient times - from the simple fountain pen to the high-quality writing instrument with a gold-plated nib.
Not much has changed over the millennia. In value, perhaps not so high, but in the exceptionality of the writing experience, the iron stylus may certainly still hold its own as an original writing instrument - for every friend of antiquity anyway.
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