What is "laterculus"

In late antiquity or the early medieval period, a laterculus is an inscribed tile, stone or terracotta tablet used for publishing certain kinds of information in list or calendar form. The term thus came to be used for the content represented by such an inscription, most often a list, register, or table, regardless of the medium in which it was published. A list of soldiers in a Roman military unit, such as of those recruited or discharged in a given year, may be called a laterculus, an example of which is found in an inscription from Vindonissa. The equivalent Greek term is plinthos (πλίνθος; see plinth for the architectural use).

A common type of laterculus was the computus, a table that calculates the date of Easter, and so laterculus will often be equivalent to fasti. Isidore of Seville said that a calendar cycle should be called a laterculus "because it has the years put in order by rows," that is, in a table.

Laterculus may refer to:

• Laterculus, a Latin list or table, in particular:
  • Laterculus Veronensis or Verona List, a list of Roman provinces
• Helicina laterculus, a species of snail; see Helicina