Writing in Greco-Roman times
1st/3rd century. Roman inkwell and writing implements, Roman Britain. The ceramic inkwell is inscribed with the name of its owner, ‘Iucundus’. The picture also shows the remains of the wooden frames of several wax tablets and stylus of various types and materials. This instrument was used to write on wax tablets and had a flat edge for erasing. The Trustees of the British Museum, Creative Commons Licence BY-NC-SA 4.0

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Writing in Greco-Roman times

I The History of Ink

The presence of writing in the Aegean area can be traced back to the Minoan culture, predating the arrival of the Greeks. However, the earliest writing systems, whether Minoan, later Mycenaean and, after the collapse of this culture, the Greek alphabetic writing derived from the Phoenicians were of an inscribed nature. It is only in the 6th century B.C.E. that images on Greek vases document the adoption of a new writing medium: papyrus.

The Greeks adopted the use of papyrus from the Egyptians, who were the primary producers and distributors of this medium in the Mediterranean, until it was abandoned around the 11th century B.C.E. The reason is that, although it is true that the papyrus plant grew in other places, it only grew in sufficient quantity to meet the great demand of papyrus writing support in the particular conditions of the Nile. However, from the very beginning the Greeks used a writing implement of their own, the «calamus», a reed pen. Unlike Egyptian brushes, it was a thin, hollow reed, the end of which was cut on a bevel to produce a sharp point and required the use of liquid ink for writing. As with fountain pens, the ink in the nib flows to the tip by capillary action when writing. It was adopted by the Romans and even by the Egyptians themselves, who abandoned the use of their traditional writing tools (brush and solid ink) around the 3rd/2nd century B.C.E.