purple_kathryn

I'll have a go on yahoo answers, possibly not the most common or garden christians but definitely the less well read kind

-Jay-

Excellent. Thanks for taking point on this.

regards,

NinJay

Gamera

This raises the question, how did the Romans keep census data? On papyruses? Wax tablets? And where were these official government documents stored, if kept at all after their use?

DCHindley

Well, the infamous Mr Eisler did treat the subject in Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist, but I also think that it is was treated in one of the more recent Marginal Jew (or via: amazon.co.uk) volumes by John P. Meier.

Meier's volumes are great starting points for most any inquiry about Jesus, even if you don't agree with his conclusions, because he gives a wide range of contrary opinions and offers extensive bibliographies.

To answer the questions, the only surviving examples were on papyrus, which would be expected in Egypt. Papyrus was also commonly used throughout the Mediterranean region. In Britain, a number of personal letters were preserved on the bark of birch trees. So also probably Dalmatia, Germany, northern parts of Gaul, etc.

DCH

Lucretius

Initial data was probably recorded on wax tablets and then later compiled onto a more permanent surface ,this could be made of various materials ,papyrus,leather/vellum/parchment (cow sheep or goat skin),as well as wooden leaves (as has been mentioned).
What the data was recorded on was very much dependent on various factors,such as how important the document was ,how lasting it was intended to be, the availability of local supplies of various materials as well as the era in which it was recorded or copied .
These documents were generally stored where they would be of most use certainly the local adminstrator would be expected to have copies in the administration complex of documents he needed to rule the province, colonia or municipia sucessfully and for really important documents a copy or an abstract wirh the relevant information would be sent to be stored in Rome itself (later Constaninople/Byzantium).
From what I remember the documents kept by the Censors in Rome were stored in the Temple of Saturn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Saturn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabularium

Boro Nut

I've seen them.

"Having a wonderful time, wish you were here. Weather is ghastly but the food is reasonably awful and the henge is nice and damp. We'll be catching the Londinium mule next Odinsdag so should be back for solstice pie day. Say hello to Llangothdridnodysulrystyolopterix for me, I can never seem to manage it. See you soon. Drop me a twig."

Boro Nut

Roger Pearse

The Vindolanda tablets. They were preserved because the earth/clay ramparts of the fort were thrown down and buried the rubbish dump. The clay made a seal which excludes oxygen. When the dump was open the wood promptly tried to rot, but the archaeologists fortunately realised what was happening and prevented it.

I've been to Vindolanda, which is in a valley just behind Hadrian's Wall.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Goathead

I have never ever doubted a healer named Jesus walked around galilee/pick your area, but im equally sure there is a mechanic named John walking around Chicago, healing the poor and weak cars that come his way.

Lucretius

I have a good book on the Vindolandia tablets that I will have to dig out
My favourite one goes something like.
"Dear Mum weather is cold and wet can you send me some woollen socks and 3 pairs of underpants in the next parcel"

Just one more point about the census records,while these were stored in the Temple of Saturn and later in a specific building these sort of records would be the ones most likey to be written over at a later date, as we see in the few palimpsests we have today.
So even if the actual parchment/papyrus had survived it would be doubtful we could see the actual records themselves without having to do a lot of work on them removing layer after layer of rewritten information .