Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier: Vindolanda and its people - Softcover

Alan K. Bowman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714122467 ISBN 13: 9780714122465

Publisher: British Museum Press, 2004

Synopsis

"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 England around 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 have contributed 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, with payments for pepper and oil, towels and tallow, boots and beer. Then there are 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 army, when even a common soldier receives a letter from home promising him a parcel of socks. In this revised, expanded and updated edition, Alan Bowman's lively summary of this evidence is followed by the text of 50 key tablets, in Latin and in translation, bringing the reader very close to the actual people who inhabited Vindolanda in AD 100.

About this title

Review

"Octavius to his brother Candidus, greetings. The hundred pounds of sinew from Marinus -- I will settle up. From the time when you wrote about this matter, he has not even mentioned it to me. I have several times written to you that I have bought about five thousand modii of ears of grain, on account of which I need cash . . .."
-Roman soldier stationed on the wild northern-frontier of England around 100 AD.

Synopsis

"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 England around 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 have contributed 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, with payments for pepper and oil, towels and tallow, boots and beer. Then there are 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 army, when even a common soldier receives a letter from home promising him a parcel of socks.

In this revised, expanded and updated edition, Alan Bowman's lively summary of this evidence is followed by the text of 50 key tablets, in Latin and in translation, bringing the reader very close to the actual people who inhabited Vindolanda in AD 100.

Edition details

• Publisher: British Museum Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0714122467
• ISBN 13: 9780714122465
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192