Representations of Writing Materials on Roman Funerary Monuments: Text, Image, Message

A scroll or writing tablet carved on a Roman tomb might seem a small detail. But why did families choose to show someone holding it? Eight studies edited by Tibor Grüll investigate the writing implements pictured on funerary monuments across the Roman world, asking what they communicated about learning, occupation and social identity.

In Phrygia, carved door stelae provide one set of clues; funerary monuments from Palmyra and Moesia offer others. Tablets could help announce a scribe’s profession, while scrolls, images of the Muses and little-understood bone writing implements carried other associations. What mattered was not simply whether the deceased could read or write, but how they were meant to be remembered.