Het Romeinse schrijfplankje uit het Friese Tolsum eindelijk ontcijferd

Samenvatting

The Roman wax tablet from Tolsum (province of Friesland) deciphered. Almost a hundred years after the discovery of a Roman writing tablet at Tolsum, the transcription of the text on it appears to be erroneous. The text does not mention the purchase of a cow; instead, it is a loan between a debtor and a creditor who is a slave of Iulia Secunda. A tribune of the Fifth Legion and a soldier of a Batavian unit acted as witnesses. If Tolsum is indeed the primary context, the date of the contract, 23 February AD 29, which is one year after the Frisian revolt, is very interesting. It would show that the Roman military maintained their presence among the Frisians. In the text, the name “Giricaemium” is mentioned as the place where the contract was drawn up. This does not look like the name of a Roman military fort, but it may be that of the modern village of Winsum, where Roman presence has been attested during the Tiberian period. It is only a few kilometres’ distance from Tolsum.