Marcus Tullius Tiro (died 4 BC) was first a slave, then a freedman, of Cicero from whom he received his nomen and praenomen. He is frequently mentioned in Cicero's letters. After Cicero's death Tiro published his former master's collected works of letters and speeches. He also wrote a considerable number of books himself, and is thought to have invented an early form of shorthand. Life The year of Tiro's birth is uncertain. Groebe, in the Realencyclopädie, places it at 103 BC per a statement in Jerome that Tiro died in his hundredth year; this dating, however, is unlikely given that Cicero's letters imply that he was much younger. Moreover, because valuable slaves usually received their freedom within a few years, Kathryn Tempest in the Encyclopedia of Ancient History, along with William McDermott in Historia, place his birth . There is no clear evidence of Tiro's parents or of his status as verna (slave born into a master's household). That said, he was probably verna and various scholars have speculated as to his birth parents. Groebe suggested he could have been born into Cicero's grandfather's household by a prisoner; others have suggested he could have been Cicero's son by a slave mistress, but this "should not be taken too seriously". Literary evidence of Tiro's activities grows, due to Cicero's letters, for Tiro's later life. Cicero frequently refers to Tiro in his letters (more than sixty such letters, with the whole 16th book of Cicero's letters to friends included). His duties included taking dictation, deciphering Cicero's handwriting and managing his table, as well as his garden and financial affairs. Tiro's first appearance in the Ciceronean corpus is when Cicero seconded him to his brother Quintus Tullius Cicero to write political reports in 54 BC. Some date his manumission to this year, but it is more likely that he was manumitted next year in April 53 BC. When Tiro was freed, with much celebration, he adopted Cicero's praenomen (Marcus) and nomen (Tullius); A letter from Cicero to Quintus describing the ceremony is lost, but letters from Quintus commending Cicero for his decision survive. It is possible that Pompey was present in an official capacity. Afterwards, he accompanied Cicero to Cilicia during Cicero's governorship there. On his return from Cilicia in 51 BC, Tiro fell seriously ill; Cicero's letters show the strength of their friendship and how Cicero regularly wrote to check on Tiro's