Auction of slaves on surviving tablets
Preserved wooden tablets from Pompeii, on which the auction of slaves from 56 CE was recorded, and which were confirmation of the transaction. The artifact is in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.
The wooden tablets, which had the form of a triptych, originally contained wax, on which they wrote with a stylus. People writing on the tablets often used too much force, so the stylus also left marks on the wood; thanks to this, we can still know the records of the ancients to this day.
What exactly can we read on the preserved three tablets? Pompeian banker Caecilius Iucundus sold slaves on behalf of P. Alfenus Pollio and N. Eprius Nicia. Their representative is P. Alfenus Varus, who collected the money – in the amount of 25,439 sesterces – from Iucundus.
