The , also known as the linen rolls, were a collection of books in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

written on linen, a technique attributed to the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization ( ) was an ancient civilization created by the Etruscans, a people who inhabited Etruria in List of ancient peoples of Italy, ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. Af ...

. The Roman Linen Rolls have not survived to recent times. They are known primarily from references to them in the writings of Roman authors, who refer to the Linen Rolls as sources for their writings about history or mythology. A single Etruscan

Liber Linteus The (Latin language, Latin for "Linen Book of Zagreb", also known rarely as , "Book of Agram (Croatia), Agram") is the longest Etruscan language, Etruscan text and the only extant linen book (libri lintei), dated to the 3rd century BC, making ...

did survive, because it had been used as a mummy wrapping. The Linen Rolls were records which, according to one recent theory, originated from notes jotted by officials on their linen clothing, allegedly contained antique lists of annual state officials, and perhaps included records about other matters also. The mysterious Linen Books, stated to have been preserved in the

temple of Juno Moneta The Temple of Juno Moneta (Latin: Templum Iunonis Monetæ) was an ancient Roman Kingdom, Roman temple that stood on the Arx (Roman), Arx or the citadel on the Capitoline Hill overlooking the Roman Forum. Located at the center of the city of Rome, ...

, need not be dismissed as sheer forgeries fabricated by Gaius Licinius Macer. Yet it is not very likely that they went back to the fourth century BC, as he believed they did; they may not have been more than a hundred years old. The Linen Books were also used, with less confidence, by another historian, Quintus Aelius Tubero, who likewise wrote about myths.

References

*''Roman Myths'' by Michael Grant Classical Latin literature Linen industry {{ancient-rome-stub