Category Archives: Tablets

Binding Sets of Wooden Tablets

Posted on August 16, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

For a long time, I assumed that sets of wooden tablets from the Roman era were bound in a fairly simple way, with a cord looped straight through the holes as we see in this set of tablets from Kellis … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Tablets | 1 Comment

A Relief from Portus showing a Writer at a Desk

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

Following up on my post about a relief showing writers at desks at Ostia, I should also mention a second artifact found in the same region. It is a relief uncovered in the nineteenth century at Portus (just north of … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, desks, Ostia, Tablets | 2 Comments

A Relief from Ostia Showing Writers at Desks

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

The museum at the archaeological park at Ostia Antica has reopened after many years of closure for renovations. The results are quite impressive, and I hope to have a chance to post some reflections about the museum itself soon, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeological context, Codices, desks, Ostia, Tablets | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

What Do We Mean By “Codex”?

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Brent Nongbri

P.Hib. 113, the papyrus kept at Graz that has recently been proposed as being the earliest surviving remains of a codex, continues to be in the news. I made a brief post about it some days ago, and in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Codicology, P.Hib. 113, Tablets | 11 Comments

A Review of Georgios Boudalis, The Codex and Crafts in Late Antiquity

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Brent Nongbri

In 2016, I gave paper that revisited the old question of the rise of the codex. There has been a lot of work done over the years on why the codex may have come to replace the roll, but there … Continue reading →

Posted in Bodmer Papyri, Book binding, Codices, Nag Hammadi, Tablets | 5 Comments