Greek 1.800-year-old homework “tablet” to be presented at the British Library

A wax tablet displaying a child’s Greek homework from 1,800 years ago is to be put on show at the British Library. The ancient tablet, which contains remarkable examples of handwriting, spelling exercises and times tables, has been in storage for the past 40 years. It will now go on display at the British Library as part of the Writing: Making Your Mark exhibition between April 26 and August 27.

The homework, discovered in Egypt, shows two lines of Greek carved into the wax with a stylus by a child believed to be eight or nine, the Telegraph reported. Roly Keating, chief executive of the British Library, said:

"This is one which I think we’d slightly forgotten about. It certainly hasn’t been seen in the public since the Seventies. This is a child’s homework, a primary school kid in the second century AD in Egypt, and their writing is still on this little tablet, which is about the size of an iPad mini. That takes your breath away because you can see a child’s attempt at Greek from 1,800 years ago."

It is believed the tablet would have been used with a stylus that had a pointed end for writing and a flat end which could be heated up and used to melt mistakes from the wax. The surviving lines of lettering are from a quote the young child had been copying out. It reads: "'You should accept advice only from a wise man."