Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier

Clodius Super to his Cerialis, greetings. I ask that you send the things which I need for the use of my boys... which you well know I cannot properly get hold of here...' So writes a Roman soldier stationed on the wild northern frontier of Englandaround AD 100. In 1973, the first discoveries were made of the now famous wooden tablets - 300 letters and documents that had survived 2000 years - at the fort of Vindolanda. Painstakingly deciphered by Alan Bowman and David Thomas they havecontributed a wealth of evidence for daily life in the Roman empire. From the military documents we learn of the strength and activities of the units stationed at Vindolanda. The accounts testify to the lifestyle of officers and ordinary soldiers,and snapshots of domestic life in letters between the officer's wives, including a birthday invitation. Most fascinating of all is the evidence for a high degree of literacy in the Roman world.