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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.495.58
Title
Stylus
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
stylus
Date
1st-4th century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/312099

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast
Dimensions
10 x 0.6 cm (3 15/16 x 1/4 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina of 1940.138 has been stripped to a pitted brown-black surface, while the patina of 1964.12.38 is green with thick burial encrustations. The patina of 1978.495.58 is green, red, and black corrosion. One end of 1978.495.58 is broken off.

The instruments were made by casting the general shape, and there may have been some working to further shape the square or rectangular ends and finish the surfaces. 1964.12.38 has iron corrosion preserved inside its hollow end. The other two instruments are solid metal.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Formerly in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, no. E-2336.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
Accession Year
1978
Object Number
1978.495.58
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The shaft of this stylus is circular in section and has two distinct areas; one half is thinner and leads to the flattened, wedge-shaped “eraser” end, while the other half widens from the midpoint before the circumference decreases to a dull point (1).

A stylus of this type would have been used to write on a Roman tablet; tablets were made of wood with a wax-covered surface. The wax surface made the tablet reusable, and the flat end of the stylus could be used to rub out the text. Styli have been found with sets of medical instruments and were sometimes used by ancient doctors, for instance, to extract teeth (2).

NOTES:

1. Compare R. Jackson and S. La Niece, “A Set of Roman Medical Instruments from Italy,” Britannia 17 (1986): 119-67, esp. 127-28, no. 26, fig. 3.

2. J. S. Milne, Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times (Oxford, 1907) 72-73; and D. Michaelides, “A Roman Surgeon’s Tomb from Nea Paphos,” Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1984: 315-32, esp. 326.


David Smart and Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Roman Domestic Art

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu