Photo Gallery

Photo 12.1

The charred remains of a wax table are shown here — the usual medium for writing down everyday information. A stylus, also shown here, would be used to inscribe the information into the wax. When the information was no longer needed, the stylus could be used to rub out the information and restore the wax to a “clean slate” condition.

Photos 12.2 through 12.4

These photos capture the graffiti inscribed into walls by the ordinary people of Pompeii.

• Photo 12.2 shows graffiti from the interior walls of Pompeii’s main brothel (notice “Victor”).
• The graffiti in photo 12.3 are from the passageway to the theater complex in Pompeii, and include the word vale (hello).
• Math calculations from the same passageway are shown in photo 12.4.

Photos 12.5 through 12.7

Also inscribed on walls are these three incisions depicting gladiators (discussed especially in chapter 13 of In Stone and Story). Notably, the names of these gladiators appear above their image: Albanus (photo 12.5), Severus (photo 12.6), and Aracintus (photo 12.7).

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Class Activities

1. Have your institution buy a few wax tablets and a few styluses (they are fairly easy to source). Have students write in the wax using a stylus — either a business contract or a list of household chores (both of which are described in this chapter), or perhaps a favorite short passage from the New Testament.
2. Collect a list of modern instances in which people today intentionally recraft language (i.e., grammar, spelling, or syntax) for political, cultural or religious purposes. How do these modern examples compare to those discussed in chapter 12 of In Stone and Story?

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Discussion Questions

1. What advantage is there in using the term “literacies” rather than literacy?
2. How did literacy interface with social status in the ancient world? How did literacy and gender interface in the ancient world?
3. How has literacy changed in importance between the ancient world and today?

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