Vindolanda tablets
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| Vindolanda tablets | |
| Material | Wood with ink writing |
|---|---|
| Created | 100 AD |
| Present location | British Museum |
The Vindolanda tablets are fragments of wooden leaf-tablets with writing in ink[1] containing messages to and from members of the garrison of Vindolanda Roman fort, their families, and their slaves. For example there is a famous letter (Tablet 291) written around 100 AD from Claudia Severa,[2] the wife of the commander of a nearby fort, to Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of the commandant of Vindolanda, inviting her to a birthday party.[3] First discovered by Robin Birley in the 1970s, pages continue to be found.
Until the discovery of the tablets, historians could only speculate on whether the Romans had a nickname for the Britons. "Brittunculi" (diminutive of Britto; hence 'little Britons') found on one of the Vindolanda tablets, is now known to be a derogatory, or patronizing, term used by the Roman garrisons that were based in Northern Britain to describe the locals.
Another of the tablets confirms that Roman soldiers wore underpants (subligaria)[4], and also testifies to a high degree of literacy in the Roman army.
The tablets are held at the British Museum, and a selection of them is on display in its Roman Britain gallery (Room 49).
The tablets were number 1 in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for the 2003 BBC Television documentary Our Top Ten Treasures which included an interview with Birley.
[edit] Line note references
- ^ Bowman, 1994
- ^ Birley, 2002
- ^ Hogan, 2007
- ^ Vindolanda Tablets Online | Tablets | Print-friendly Tablets Display
[edit] Bibliography
- Birley, A., Garrison Life at Vindolanda: A Band of Brothers, Stroud: Tempus, 2002
- Bowman, A.K., Life and letters on the Roman frontier : Vindolanda and its people, London: British Museum Press, 1998, 2003
- Bowman, A.K. and J.D. Thomas, The Vindolanda Writing Tablets, London: The British Museum Press, 1994
- Bowman, A.K. and J.D. Thomas, The Vindolanda Writing Tablets III, London: The British Museum Press, 2003
- Hogan, C. Michael, Vindolanda Roman Fort, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham (2007) [1]
[edit] External links
- Oxford University exhibit of digitized images of the tablets
- Las cartas de Vindolanda, testimonios escritos de los soldados de la Muralla de Adriano
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