Summer School: Vindolanda Tablets: Everyday Roman Life [Closed Captioned]

Human beings, in my research, are remarkably consistent. We only want to share our greatest achievements with the world, and bury the minutiae. It turns out the Romans some 1800 years ago were no different. Here we take a look at the Vindolanda Tablets discovered in 1973. These tablets are rewriting history, specifically what we thought about the role of slaves in Rome.

"The Vindolanda tablets are fragments of wooden leaf-tablets with writing in ink found at Vindolanda Roman fort in northern England. The tablets date from the first and second centuries AD, which makes them roughly contemporary with Hadrian's Wall, which is near Vindolanda. The tablets contain messages to and from members of the garrison of Vindolanda, their families, and their slaves. Similar records on papyrus were known from elsewhere in the Roman Empire, but wooden tablets had not been recovered until archaeologist Robin Birley discovered them at Vindolanda in 1973. Pages have since been found at Carlisle, Cumbria, and continue to be found at Vindolanda.

The best-known document is perhaps Tablet 291, written around 100 AD from Claudia Severa, the wife of the commander of a nearby fort, to Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of the commandant of Vindolanda, inviting her to a birthday party. The invitation is one of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman. It has even been claimed that this is the earliest surviving letter known to be written [or signed] by a woman in any language." —Wikipedia

The link is In medias res of a great series "The Ancient World in London - Hadrian's Wall Illuminated" which was way too long for any casual fan of history to sit through, so I cut right to the part about The Vindolanda Tablets. However, if you have the time, it comes highly recommended from yours truly.

There is also a great scholarly site on the tablets, although the navigation takes some getting used to, it is: http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Vindolanda
• Claudia
• Severa
• Roman
• Empire
• Rome
• Latin
• Carlisle
• Cumbria
• Hadrian's
• Wall
• England
• Robin
• Birley
• Slavery
• Slaves
• 41

[flan984]

Oh, wow... I've been missing out lately haven't I? :)

This was a very interesting instalment of your Summer School.

I'd never heard about these tablets, but they are fascinating... It is such an incredible look into Roman everyday life... which is very different than one might expect... I like the contrast between these common letters and the images we had from all the propaganda...

[TheFaustianMan]

@flan984 Thank you, I am glad you liked it. It reminds me of the paintings and tapestries the kings would have commissioned of themselves in battle. Often leading the charge upon a great steed, and fighting off 2 or 3 men at one time. When in reality, most probably didn't even know what a horse was. hahaha!

[Nate11111Dog]

Very interesting and informative! But do we really know little about the lives of ordinary folk in that time period? Archaeologists can deduce a lot from nothing. And that's an interesting link!

[TheFaustianMan]

@Nate11111Dog Thanks for stopping by. Well archaeologists induce a lot of things from the Roman Era, the only reason we know Hannibal was in Italy was from a small plaque found that said, "Hannibal was here". And a second hand account by one person. hahaha. It's still a very new field and grows greatly more from enthusiasts than actual "schooled" archaeologists. I am glad you liked it. Hope all is going awesome with you!

[LoveMattersMost]

Hi Faust. I was drawn in by the "romance" of spying on the daily lives of people like these, from the past. I opened the link, and read a dozen or so of the passages. Wonderful stuff. Your comment that "Human beings are remarkably consistent", rang true to me too. Whether I see the ashen bodies and murals of Pompei, read the Vindolanda scripts, Biblical scripts, or the diary of Anne Frank, I am touched by the pagentry of the human experience! Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Brian.

[TheFaustianMan]

@LoveMattersMost Thank you for your lovely words! "Pageantry of the human experience" I love that! I am going to steal it! And you are very welcome! ;)

And to put it in perspective, this was about 500-600 years before the Arthurian Romances, and 600-800 years before the vikings started showing up. And these Romans were already living in places with in-door heating and plumbing that castles rarely -if ever-saw. And they frequently abandoned their posts in summer. hahaha! Italians!

[tinyblackkittycat]

REally like it!

[TheFaustianMan]

@devilmemnoch Thank you! Everything is wonderful over here on my end! I hope the same with you!