Atramentum

“A term applicable to any black colouring substance, for whatever purpose it may be used, like the melan of the Greeks. There were, however, thress principal kinds of atramentum: one called librarium or scriptorium, writing-ink; another called sutorium, which was used by the showmakers for dyeing leather; the third tectorium or pictorium, which was used by painters for some purposes, apparently as a sort of varnish. The inks of the ancients seem to have been more durable than our own; they were thicker and more unctuous, in substance and durability more resembling the ink now used by printers. An inkstand was discovered at Herculaneum, containing ink as thick as oil, and still usable rfor writing. The following cur represents inkstands found at Pompeii.” — Smith, 1873

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