Horace Wax Tablet Class Set 15+1 – Course Set
The Horace Wax Tablet Class Set 15+1 is the complete course set for learning groups of up to 15 pupils: 15 individual wax tablets made of solid wood with black-pigmented beeswax, 15 beechwood styli, teacher tools and didactic accompanying material – compact to store, flexible to use, ideal for courses, clubs and project days outside school.
Fifteen styli, one workshop, two thousand years of writing history on fifteen desks.
Not every Roman school had thirty pupils
The large ludus at the Forum was not the only form of education in the Roman world. Those who could afford it did not send their children to the public elementary school, but hired a private tutor, a paedagogus or grammaticus, who taught in a small group. Quintilian, who himself ran a school in Rome, describes both models and sees the advantage of the small group in direct observation: the teacher sees every single pupil, notices every mistake and gives immediate feedback.
In a group of 15 pupils, the teacher sees every individual. Anyone holding the stylus incorrectly, pressing too hard or not yet understanding how to erase is noticed immediately and can be corrected immediately. The 15+1 set brings this workshop experience into the course, club, support group or project day outside school. More compact than the full class set, easier to transport, easier to store, but with the same complete contents, the same teacher lesson plan and the same historically grounded tools.
What the 15+1 course set contains
Same contents as the full class set, half the class size. Everything a learning group of up to 15 pupils needs to start writing immediately – in one compact box that also fits in the boot.
The 15 individual wax tablets made of solid wood, 14 × 9 cm, are stacked flat and ready for immediate use. Each tablet has a recessed hollow with black-pigmented beeswax, food-safe and certified according to RAL 041 A.1.III. The 15 wooden styli made of beechwood, stylus fagus, 12 cm, with a pointed writing end and a flat erasing end, are the pupils’ tools. As the teacher, You hold the forged metal stylus and the double wax tablet as a foldable diptych, 14 × 9 cm.
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Contents: 15 individual wax tablets, 15 wooden styli, 1 double wax tablet, 1 metal stylus, 16 pupil quick guides, 1 teacher lesson plan
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Individual tablet: solid wood, black-pigmented beeswax, 14 × 9 cm, permanently reusable
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Wooden stylus: beechwood, stylus fagus, 12 cm, flattened erasing end
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Double wax tablet: solid wood, 14 × 9 cm, leather cord, as a diptych
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Metal stylus: forged, teacher tool
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Beeswax: RAL 041 A.1.III, food-safe, allergologically harmless
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Class size: up to 15 pupils
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Target group: grades 5 to 7, lower secondary level, courses and clubs
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Consumables: none, permanently reusable
Small enough to see everyone, large enough for a real writing workshop
The 15+1 course set is the right set for anyone who wants to use the Roman writing workshop format in a manageable setting. Courses, clubs, support groups, seminars – anywhere the group is smaller and guidance can be more direct.
The teacher lesson plan provides two tried-and-tested teaching scenarios: a 90-minute double lesson and a project day lasting four to six hours. Both have been tested in museum practice and adapted for everyday school use. No Latin required, no special equipment, no prior knowledge. Practice tablets from Forum Traiani’s museum work have been in daily use for over a decade without ever needing the wax to be refilled.
The 15+1 course set is also the right entry point for teachers who first want to try out the format. Anyone who wants to expand to a full class after the first use can reorder individual tablets and styli as replacement items.
Who the 15+1 course set is right for
Anyone teaching courses, clubs or support groups with up to 15 pupils is ideally equipped with the 15+1 course set. Same contents as the full class set, half the size, more compact in use and storage.
Anyone planning project days outside school – a museum visit, a learning workshop in the schoolyard, a learning day at another location – will find the more transportable solution in the 15+1 course set. One box that can be carried, without effort, without extra logistics.
Anyone who wants to supply a full class of up to 30 pupils at the same time should choose the Horace Wax Tablet Class Set 30+1 – Full Class Set. Same quality, twice the reach.
The most personal letter to have survived antiquity
Vindolanda, a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall, shortly after 100 AD. Claudia Severa, the wife of a commander, invites her friend Sulpicia Lepidina to her birthday. She dictates the letter to a scribe. But at the end, in her own hand, she adds the closing greeting herself:
“Sperabo te, soror, vale, soror, anima mea.”
“I shall expect You, sister, farewell, sister, my soul.”
Vindolanda Tablet 291, around 100 AD, British Museum / Vindolanda Trust
The tablet has survived. Today it is kept in the British Museum and is considered the oldest surviving letter by a woman from the western Roman Empire. Not a document of grand history, but a personal letter, created in a small circle, intended for a single reader. That is exactly the setting of the 15+1 course set: the small group in which writing becomes personal.
The most common questions about the 15+1 course set
Is the 15+1 course set identical in content to the 30+1 full class set?
Yes, except for the quantity. Both sets contain the same materials: individual wax tablets, wooden styli, double wax tablet as a diptych, metal stylus, pupil quick guides and the 16-page teacher lesson plan. The difference is the number: 15 instead of 30 tablets and styli, 16 instead of 31 pupil quick guides.
Can I later expand the 15+1 course set into a full class set?
Yes. Individual tablets and wooden styli are available in the shop as replacement items. Anyone who wants to expand to 30 places after the first use can order the missing pieces. A complete new set order is not necessary.
Is the 15+1 course set suitable for project days outside school?
Yes, that is one of its greatest advantages. The more compact box is easier to transport than the full class set. For museum visits, learning workshops in the schoolyard or project days at other locations, the 15+1 course set is the more practical choice.
Does the teacher lesson plan also work for smaller groups?
Yes, completely. Both teaching scenarios in the teacher lesson plan – the 90-minute double lesson and the four- to six-hour project day – are designed for groups of 15 to 30 pupils. In smaller groups, guidance becomes more direct, while the structure remains the same.
Is the 15+1 course set also suitable for museum events?
Yes. Forum Traiani has been using the same type of tablet in museum workshops for over a decade. The 15+1 course set is compact enough for mobile use and robust enough for intensive use. No consumables, no reordering, no preparation apart from distributing the material.
The day a writing stylus made history
Gaius Julius Caesar was no match for the 23 daggers. But he delivered the first stab of the day himself. When Senator Casca attacked him first in the Theatre of Pompey, Caesar seized his arm and drove his stylus through his forearm. An iron or bronze writing stylus, sharp enough for wax, is sharp enough for other things. Every pupil knows the rest of the story. Very few know the beginning.
Source: Suetonius, Divus Iulius 82
The metal stylus that You hold as the teacher in the course set is the direct successor form of this tool. For good reason, it is the teacher’s demonstration tool – and the wooden stylus is the pupil tool.
Bibliography
Title: Vindolanda Tablet 291
Source: Vindolanda Trust / British Museum, northern England
Date: around 100 AD
Online: vindolanda.com
Title: De vita Caesarum
Author: Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus)
Publication: Tusculum edition, Artemis & Winkler, Munich/Zurich
Date: 2014 (original work around 121 AD)
Title: Roman London’s First Voices
Author: R. S. O. Tomlin
Publication: MOLA Monograph 72, London
Date: 2016
Further links
Updated on: 08/10/2026
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