Making a Stink with STEM in the Classics Classroom: Exploring Ancient Roman Writing Through Experimental Archaeology by Nathalie Roy

Making a StINK with STEM in the Classics Classroom: Exploring Ancient Roman Writing through Experimental Archaeology by Nathalie Roy

ave you ever wondered what it would teacher, could not do the same thing with record keeping (abacus, finger signalling, Hbe like to take notes for Pliny the my students. After all, the Romans were wax tablets, papyrus, ink, sundials), food Elder? Surely he had a secretary to assist STEM geniuses. I had seen countless (wine flavourings, bread), hydraulics him with his writing, or did he take his own television shows about Caesar’s army (aqueducts, water screws, baths), warfare notes? He left a huge body of material in building bridges (Cannon, 2005-07), (shields, catapults), and construction his Historia Naturalis. What must his home Trajan’s architects designing and building (concrete mixing). office have looked like with all the detritus his column (Weise, 2015), and modern The culminating project of last year’s of constant writing and research scattered engineers trying to reproduce the elevator class was building a 20-foot interactive about? I have often wondered these things system that made lions appear on the analemmatic sundial with decorative and many others about the process of floor of the Colosseum (PBS, 2015). And mosaic designs. When standing on the ancient writing. As a Latin teacher, I what about all the aqueducts and the current month, the viewer’s shadow decided to try out ancient writing with my heated baths? The more I thought about indicates the correct time. For this students as a STEM project. it, the more I was convinced that I could project, the students read about the STEM, an acronym for science, integrate STEM into Latin classes. analemma described by Vitruvius in Book technology, engineering, and math, has Fast forward two years, and I’m now IX.7 and the horologium Augusti (the sundial been an educational buzzword for the teaching a full-year class called Roman of Augustus located near the Ara Pacis) past ten years or so in the United States. Technology. The goal of the class is to described by Pliny the Elder in Book With its growing need for engineers of all reproduce the products and processes of XXXVI.72. They learned to use kinds, the US has stressed the importance ancient Roman daily life using compasses, oriented to true north, and of developing STEM programs at all experimental archaeology. Every measured the hour markings on the levels of education so that children get 90-minute class consists of two segments: sundial using x/y coordinates. In addition, accustomed to STEM thinking at an early 1) a short lecture about how we know they learned to use mosaic hammers and age. Many schools hire science about a particular aspect of the ancient hardie wedges to cut marble stone “instigators” (education speak for world whether it be through the tesserae, designed mosaics, laid the stone coordinators or facilitators) to assist archaeological or literary record, and 2) a into mortar, grouted it, and cleaned it. teachers with integrating STEM activities hands-on interactive lab in which students Our monument, even though small in in every area of the curriculum. For get to experience, first-hand, a product or comparison to Augustus’, stands as a example, students in a middle school process of the ancient Roman world by testament at our school to the power of social studies class might throw projectiles actively reproducing it. Dr. Alan K. STEM integration in a humanities course. with atlatls, a Native American hunting Outram calls experimental archaeology As you’ve probably guessed, these tool, to learn about the lives of our early “‘actualistic’ experiments that test out projects are costly. Luckily, there are ancestors. Students in elementary physical hypothetical scenarios using potentially grants available to assist with STEM education class might learn to track heart authentic materials and conditions” integration projects. With such grants, I rates using graphs and charts. These (Outram, 2008, p.1). was able to fully fund my Roman activities relate to the content area of the In the class, we explore units of technology class for one year, purchasing class but add a little STEM into the mix. study such as household crafts (spinning, some equipment and supplies which will At a school of just this kind, I found weaving, making Roman leather bullae), be reused from year to year. To find myself wondering why I, as a Latin personal beauty (hairstyling, makeup), STEM grants in your area, be sure to ask

The Journal of Classics Teaching 20 (40) p.14-19 © The Classical Association 2019. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and Downloaded14 from https://www.cambridge.org/corereproduction in any medium,. IP providedaddress: 170.106.33.42 the original ,work on 01 is Oct properly 2021 at cited.09:33:07, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631019000278 your school administrators or grant by an adult with a sharp knife. The actual softness when examining a moistened sea writer if one is employed in your district. process of assembling papyrus strips into sponge. A wet sea sponge is effective as If your area has petrochemical or other sheets is fascinating to see in action. After an eraser too, and students should industry nearby, visit the websites for being presented with this information, experiment with this process. their companies and look for grant students should come to an After introducing students to at least opportunities. If the grants specifically understanding of how time-consuming one or two of the above sources for how ask for STEM connections in your and expensive papyrus production was. If we know about ancient Roman writing, curriculum, be sure to draw attention to you don’t want to try making your own, it it’s time to introduce a short text on the use of ancient sources for STEM. It is still made regularly in Egypt and readily ancient writing. Since most ancient seems to catch the eye of the grantors available from online stores. writing about technical things is not (or so has been my personal experience Students should also know how canon literature, it’s difficult to find texts so far). papyrus sheets were glued together into that are annotated and glossed for Responses to my presentations on long rolls, attached to a wooden dowel beginning students. To help with this this class from fellow Latin teachers with knobs at each end, and written on process, I copy and paste the text from generally have been, “That sounds horizontally to express chapters worth of the Perseus Digital Library into fantastic, but I don’t understand math” or text. They should also be introduced to NoDictionaries.com, create a simple “but I’m not qualified to teach science” or the work being done to read the vocabulary, and discuss any odd Latin “but I don’t have the money to do Herculaneum scrolls, charred by the 79 forms with the students as we go through projects in my classroom” or “but I’m on CE eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. They are the text together. Reading unusual texts a strict curriculum timeline, and we don’t only now being read in the past couple of with no commentary can be a time- have time for lengthy projects”. If you’re years, without the destructive process of consuming and frustrating process one of these teachers, or you just want to unrolling, using sophisticated x-ray sometimes so choosing texts far in try out a STEM project for the first time technology (Marchant, 2018). advance is a wise choice. in your Latin class, this article is for you. I A very interesting papyrus Suetonius, in his Divus Augustus, 85, will detail two simple, inexpensive, and phenomenon is the palimpsest, or a describes Augustus discussing a tragedy quick projects that are light on the science papyrus which has been recycled by he was writing about the mythological and heavy on the fascinating and fun. erasing it and writing over it. The residue character of Ajax. Evidently, the Both these projects, from my Roman of the original writing leaves traces experience did not go well: technology class’s unit on record keeping, detectable by scholars, and the manuscript are tried and true favourites with my then becomes a double one with multa varii generis prosa oratione students and involve writing in the ancient remainders of both texts. The word is composuit, ex quibus nonnulla in coetu world: writing with reed pens and squid ancient Greek for “scraped”, and students familiarium velut in auditorio recitavit, sac ink on papyrus and writing with a enjoy seeing pictures of these and asked sicut “rescripta Bruto de Catone,” quae metal or wooden stylus on wax tablets. to reflect on why they were recycled, volumina cum iam senior ex magna parte which writing came first, and how legisset, fatigatus Tiberio tradidit modern scholars are able to interpret perlegenda; item “hortationes ad them. A Nova television programme tells philosophiam,” et aliqua “de vita sua,” Project 1: Papyrus and reed pens. the story of the Archimedes palimpsest quam tredecim libris Cantabrico tenus and how it came to be (Tucker, 2002). bello nec ultra exposuit. poetica summatim I begin the unit by asking how we A number of frescoes from Pompeii attigit. unus liber exstat scriptus ab eo (modern people) know about writing in contain images of writing utensils hexametris versibus, cuius et argumentum the ancient Roman world. There are many including papyrus with a leather label et titulus est “Sicilia”; exstat alter aeque sources for the study of papyrus, or containing its title (Meyer, 2009). modicus “epigrammatum,” quae fere papyrology. Students should have a Copyright issues keep me from including tempore balinei meditabatur. nam general idea of what the sources for our those here, but a simple online search is tragoediam magno impetu exorsus, non collective knowledge of this area of helpful. Students like to see what these succedenti stilo, abolevit quaerentibusque classical studies are. It gives them ideas looked like. amicis, quidnam Aiax ageret, respondit, for future careers and deepens their Using ink to write with at some point Aiacem suum in spongeam incubuisse.” understanding of how we know about the meant having to erase it, and the Romans ancient world. had a method for this process too. They He composed many tracts in prose A helpful online resource for used sea sponges moistened with water. on various subjects, some of which papyrology is the University of Michigan’s Students find sea sponges fascinating, he read occasionally in the circle of “Papyrology: K-12 and General especially when reminded of their other, his friends, as to an auditory. Among Resources”. It even features a step-by- more commonly-known use - as toilet these was his “Rescript to Brutus step slideshow of how papyrus was made. paper. When my students first felt a dry respecting Cato.” Most of the pages I’ve never tried making the stuff myself, sea sponge, they could not understand he read himself, although he was but I know those who have, and I think it why any person would want to use it as a advanced in years, but becoming could make a good future project for my wiping device for such a tender area of fatigued, he gave the rest to Tiberius students. It is completely doable by the body. They were utterly amazed to to finish. He likewise read over to his students after the papyrus plant is cut up compare the difference in texture and friends his “Exhortations to

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/coreMaking a StINK with. IP address: STEM in 170.106.33.42 the Classics Classroom:, on 01 Oct 2021 Exploring at 09:33:07 Ancient, subject Roman to theWriting Cambridge through Core Experimental terms of use, Archaeology available at 15 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631019000278 Philosophy” and the “History of his each plastic cup and adding about the them, remember to explore the sources own Life” which he continued in 13 same amount of water. Adjust the for them with your students. books, as far as the Cantabrian war, mixture as necessary - it may need more I begin the unit by explaining to but no farther. He likewise made or less water. Mix the contents of each students how they were made using thin some attempts at poetry. There is cup and set aside. Prepare sponges by pieces of wood, the centre part of which extant one book written by him in wetting them with water and wringing was hollowed out and filled with beeswax hexameter verse, of which both the them out. Cut pages of papyrus into tinted with black soot from oil lamps. The subject and title is “Sicily”. There is 3 inch × 6 inch pieces. wax was scratched into with metal or also a book of epigrams, no larger Prepare for students to be visibly and bone styli. A wonderful source of than the last, which he composed olfactorily taken aback by the look and information about them is the almost entirely while he was in the smell of the very black and smelly ink of Vindolanda tablets, online and searchable. bath. These are all his poetical the cuttlefish. It has a strong fishy odour And don’t forget about the Bloomberg compositions: for though he begun a (which miraculously disappears after it tablets, uncovered in London in 2010-13, tragedy with great zest, becoming dries). You may also want to share that detailed in a video about how they are dissatisfied with the style, he modern chefs use it to prepare black ink deciphered by Roman handwriting expert, obliterated the whole; and his friends pasta dishes; thus, it is edible. Dr. Roger Tomlin. saying to him, “What is your Ajax The same Pompeian frescoes which doing?” he answered, “My Ajax met contain images of papyrus and inkwells with a sponge”. (Note: in spongam also have images of wax tablets so be sure incubuisse, literally has fallen upon a to do an online search for them to show sponge, as Ajax is said to have students. (Ask if students can name the perished by falling on his own sword). various items in Latin as they look at the images (papyrus, sepia or atramentum for ink, Perhaps, as the note suggests, he calamus for reed pen, stylus for metal stylus, meant that Ajax had fallen on a sponge tabulae, tabellae, or cerae for wax tablets, etc.). stick (the kind used in a public toilet), but Next, choose a text about writing on he surely also meant that Ajax got erased wax tablets that’s appropriate for your from the papyrus. In either interpretation, students’ level. My favourite is Ovid’s we understand that the final draft was not Amores I.11 about Nape, the slave girl of pleasing to Augustus and was erased. Once each student has an inkwell, his girlfriend Corinna. In this poem, Ovid After reading the text with students, pen, and papyrus, ask the students to asks Nape to deliver a love note in wax it’s time to try out writing and erasing on pretend to be ancient Roman scribes - tablet form to his girlfriend. It is rich with papyrus. I like to have the following things recite a Latin passage you want the detail about how wax tablets might have on hand: plastic cups (for use as inkwells), “scribes” to copy; it could be a simple been used as a form of everyday plastic spoons for mixing, paper towels, passage from your current textbook or a communication. disposable wipes, and a water source/sink Catullus poem. Have them check for (if possible). You’ll need the following errors which they will need to erase with colligere incertos et in ordine ponere crines items, all available from online suppliers: their sponges. Or ask them to write something meaningful to them - many docta neque ancillas inter habenda Nape, 1. Papyrus, cut into smaller practice students like to copy song lyrics. inque ministeriis furtivae cognita noctis Whatever you choose to do with the pieces, 10 large pieces cost about $20 utilis et dandis ingeniosa notis and will be enough for about 50 materials, remember to guide them in students to have practice pieces. reflecting on the process afterwards, and saepe venire ad me dubitantem hortata consider questions like, “What would it be Corinnam, 5 like to work with smelly ink all day long, 2. Cuttlefish ink, a 3.2 oz jar costs about saepe laboranti fida reperta mihi — $15, and it will be plenty for about 100 as copyists would do? Would you want to students. do your homework on papyrus every accipe et ad dominam peraratas mane night? Why or why not? What kind of tabellas Roman could afford papyrus and ink to 3. Reed pens, a pack of 3 bamboo reed perfer et obstantes sedula pelle moras! pens (usually used for calligraphy) write with? What did ancient Roman nec silicum venae nec durum in pectore costs about $7, and students can libraries look like?” ferrum, possibly share, but I like each student to have his/her own pen. Project 2: Wax tablets. nec tibi simplicitas ordine maior adest. 10 credibile est et te sensisse Cupidinis 4. Sea sponges, a pack of 12 costs about arcus — $11, and they can be cut down to Unlike papyrus, which the Romans used mini-size to be used as erasers. for more enduring purposes, wax tablets in me militiae signa tuere tuae! were the Romans’ daily writing tools, and si quaeret quid agam, spe noctis vivere dices; Before students arrive, prepare by they are surprisingly simple to recreate scooping out a half teaspoon of ink into and use with students. Before making cetera fert blanda cera notata manu.

Downloaded16 from https://www.cambridge.org/coreMaking a StINK. IP with address: STEM 170.106.33.42 in the Classics, on Classroom: 01 Oct 2021 Exploring at 09:33:07 Ancient, subject Roman to the Writing Cambridge through Core Experimental terms of use, Archaeologyavailable at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631019000278 dum loquor, hora fugit. vacuae bene redde you’ll carry the rest in your hand, 3. Manicure sticks to serve as styli, a tabellas, 15 flattering waxen words. pack of 100 costs about $6. These can be more authentic with greater verum continuo fac tamen illa legat. While I speak, time flies. Give her cost. Some artisans actually make them when she’s free, adspicias oculos mando frontemque legentis; and sell them on sites like Etsy.com. et tacito vultu scire futura licet. make sure though that she reads They are pricey; therefore, I them straight away. recommend going with the less nec mora, perlectis rescribat multa, iubeto; authentic option here. Watch her eyes and brow as she odi, cum late splendida cera vacat. 20 chews them over: conprimat ordinibus versus, oculosque 4. Cheap wooden photo frames for moretur and know that a silent face may crafting, a set of 10 costs about $23, show the future. but local craft stores generally sell margine in extremo littera rasa meos. them much cheaper. Better than this When she’s read it I need a long would be a woodworker friend with a quid digitos opus est graphio lassare reply, and no delay: tenendo? router who can take thin slices of I hate it when the clear wax is wood and hollow them out. The hoc habeat scriptum tota tabella ‘veni!’ mostly empty. Roman process most likely involved a wood chisel and hammer. If you want non ego victrices lauro redimire tabellas 25 Let her squeeze the lines in ranks, to try this method yourself, the and hold my eyes nec Veneris media ponere in aede morer;. Bloomberg video linked in the subscribam: ‘Veneri fidas sibi Naso ministras with letters that graze the edges bibliography goes into some detail of the margins. about that. dedicat, at nuper vile fuistis acer.’ Why should she weary her fingers 5. Packing tape or duct tape, 1-2 rolls This translation is from A.S. Kline holding a pen? cost about $10. (2001): One word can take up the whole tablet: “Come!” Skilled at gathering unruly hair and 6. Sandpaper of low grit (optional), 1 setting it in place I won’t hesitate to wreathe the pack costs about $5, and can be cut victorious tablets with laurel into smaller pieces. Nape’s not just an ordinary lady’s maid, and set them up in the centre of Venus’ temple. Start by having students sand she’s known to be useful in the secret their wooden picture frames. They service I’ll write: “Naso dedicates these loyal may want to remove the stand from the servants to Venus, back of the frame - the stand is not of night: clever at carrying necessary for this project and may messages between us: these tablets that till now were worthless maple-wood. hinder the taping process later. Students often exhorting a hesitant Corinna generally enjoy sanding wood, and it to come: This poem makes me think of will make their tablets smooth for later modern texting when you’re waiting for use. Next, they will need to cover the often faithfully labouring to find the person to reply to your text and you back of their frames with tape that things out for me – see the three ghostly dots flashing on the prevents leaking - parcel packing tape will do the job - make sure they secure here take these wax tablets by hand screen. Waiting for a response can be all the seams in the wood that might to my lady hard, and the modern world is no different, just quicker. leak melted wax. and be sure to avoid obstructions It’s time to assemble wax tablets to use While students are working on and delay! in class. I like to have the following things getting their tablets ready, you can begin on hand: an old coffee cup you don’t plan heating up the wax. Boil water in a large There’s not stony vein or harsh metal saucepan - make sure that there is not in your breast, to use again, a cooking pot, a hot plate that can boil water, plastic spoons for mixing, too much water. The coffee cup should older than the others, there’s no and a water source/sink (if possible). be able to sit in the boiling water foolishness in you. You’ll need the following items, all available without being submerged completely. from online suppliers: Fill the old coffee cup about half full It’s easy to believe that you’ve felt with beeswax pellets. Add two large Cupid’s arrows – 1. Beeswax, a 32 oz bag costs about $15, tablespoons of carbon black. Being see the traces of your battles in and should produce about 50 tablets. careful not to allow students to come me! too close, insert the old coffee cup in 2. Carbon black, a .75 oz jar costs about boiling water and allow the beeswax to If she asks how I am, say I live in $7, and it will be plenty for all the melt, stirring carefully every once in hope at night: tablets you’ll make. awhile.

Looking Ahead Nathalie Roy teaches Latin, classical mythology, and Roman Once the tablets are dry, the students Now in its third year, my Roman technology to kids at Glasgow will use their styli to incise the wax with technology class’s enrollment has grown Middle School in Baton Rouge, writing. Before they begin trying it out, by 25%. It would have grown by a larger Louisiana, USA, where she enjoys have a purpose for them. Examples might percentage, but equipment for the class is researching and introducing the be trying to write the newly-learned limited. In addition, since safety can classical world to a diverse group Roman cursive alphabet or writing on become an issue with some tools, the of students through gamification their tablets as if sitting on a bench and classes are kept to around 20. This year, and experimental archaeology. She using their knees as a desk, as Roman there are two classes of 21 students each. studied classics at Louisiana State children did (Maurice, 2013). To erase, Sadly, many interested students had to be University where she focused on show them how to use the blunt end of turned away. pedagogy, her true passion. She is the stylus to scratch out wax. Excess wax The class has also built an interest in a National Board Certified from the erasing can be balled up and put the Latin classes offered. Although most Teacher, a 2019-20 STEM Fellow into a corner of the tablet for recycling students come to the school with of the Foundation for the East later. If the wax in the tablet seems too experience in either French or Spanish Baton Rouge Parish School System, (the two most popular languages in the cold and brittle, have the students place and her school’s Teacher of the tablet between their legs or in their state of Louisiana), some are not allowed the Year. Follow her on Twitter armpits. The natural heat of the body to study a second language because they @MagistraRoy. helps to soften the wax. are behind in their reading test scores and

Downloaded18 from https://www.cambridge.org/coreMaking a StINK. IP with address: STEM 170.106.33.42 in the Classics, on Classroom: 01 Oct 2021 Exploring at 09:33:07 Ancient, subject Roman to the Writing Cambridge through Core Experimental terms of use, Archaeologyavailable at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631019000278 Classical Quarterly, 45 (2), 588-590. Online. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ Bibliography Primary Sources Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/20627619 (These are all available in the stable/639552 Millner, E. (2014, March 14). Roman Cursive Perseus Digital Library.) Fearon, P. (Writer), et al., and Cannon, M. Lesson 01 Learn to write like an Ancient (Director), et al. February 5, 2007. Rome. In Roman letterforms from Ostia [Video File]. Plinius Maior: Naturalis Historia Dana Ross (Producer), et al., Engineering an Online. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ Publius Ovidius Naso: Amores Empire. (Season 01, Episode 14). The nQu2zKYdIWw Vitruvius: De Architectura History Channel. Outram, A. “Introduction to Experimental Inside Bloomberg. (2016, May 31). The Story Archaeology.” World Archaeology 40 of the Bloomberg Writing Tablets [Video (2008): 1-6. Modern Sources File]. Online. Retrieved from https://youtu. be/lhm-n09PGEI PBS. Colosseum: Roman Death Trap. Regents Brun, E., Cotte, M., Wright, J., Ruat, M., Tack, of the University of Michigan. (2015, May P., Vincze, L., Mocella, V. (2016). Revealing Marchant, J. (2018, July). Buried by the ash of 6).Papyrology: K-12 and general resources. metallic ink in Herculaneum papyri. Vesuvius, these scrolls are being read for the Online. Retrieved from https://www.lib. Proceedings of the National Academy of first time in millennia. Smithsonian Magazine. umich.edu/papyrology-collection/ Sciences of the United States of America, 113 Online. Retrieved from https://www. papyrology-k-12-and-general-resources (14), 3751-3754. Online. Retrieved from smithsonianmag.com/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/26469173 Tucker, L. (Director and Producer). 2002. Maurice, L. (2013). The Teacher in Ancient Infinite Secrets. Boston: BBC. Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents Rome: the Magister and His World. Plymouth, and the British Museum. The Vindolanda United Kingdom: Lexington Books. Weise, Hans. (2015, March 25). Building an Tablets Online. Retrieved from http:// Ancient, Mysterious Monument (Amazing vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/ Meyer, E. (2009). Writing Paraphernalia, Stop-Motion) | National Geographic [Video Tablets, and Muses in Campanian Wall file]. Online. Retrieved from https://youtu. Dimarogonas, A. (1995). Pliny the Elder on Painting. American Journal of be/MFUgaPlhDdM the Making of Papyrus Paper. The Archaeology,113 (4), 569-597. Online.