Why Did the Ancient Romans Use Clay Tablets?

Imagine you're drawing with chalk on a blackboard, that's kind of what the ancient Romans did, but instead of chalk and blackboard, they used clay and fire. They wrote messages or even books by pressing symbols into wet clay, then baking it to make it hard. This made their writing last for a long time.

Take the quiz →

Examples

  1. A child writes their name on a wet clay tablet and bakes it to make it last.
  2. A soldier sends a message to his family by pressing words into a tablet and hardening it in fire.
  3. A shopkeeper keeps track of prices using small clay tablets they can easily reuse.

Ask a question

See also

Discussion

Recent activity