For any solider fighting wars away in foreign lands, letters to and from family and loved ones take on enormous resonance and importance. We’ve all seen the TV and movie versions of army life in the world wars, in which the handing out of letters is a ritual frought with excitement, emotion, and rivalry. The same situation was probably played out thousands of years earlier, as some remarkable ancient letters attest.
While the first letters ever written were probably cuneiform imprints onto clay tablets, penned in Mesopotamia and Egypt, by the time the Roman civilization began to expand around the Mediterranean, papyrus was being used as a lightweight and durable alternative.
Papyrus became a commodity exported from Egypt and the Romans used a reed pen dipped in ink (a mixture of carbon, gum arabic and water) to write on it. The papyri would be rolled into scrolls, tied and sealed. Other types of writing material were used too. For shorter messages, a wax tablet (a wooden frame with a wax centre) was useful, allowing the recipient to erase the message scratched in the wax and to write his own reply on top.
Lists, Notes and Personal Letters – Surviving the Ages
Letters from the Roman elite – people such as Pliny the Younger (writer and magistrate under Trajan), Cicero (statesman and enemy of Mark Antony) and Seneca (philosopher and adviser to Nero) – have been preserved throughout the ages, the manuscripts preserved in libraries or private collections. Letters from ordinary Romans have also survived but what reaches us today is what has been found by chance during excavations: the letters tucked away for centuries under a stairwell in a house in Egypt, hidden in a cave near Jerusalem, or piled in a bonfire that didn’t burn properly in England. The fact that they have survived at all is amazing.
Some of these letters were written by soldiers in the Roman army – some of them are correspondence with their families and friends at home, sometimes giving reassurance that they are safe and well, sometimes mentioning small items, such as underpants, that they are in sore need of. Many of them seem mainly concerned with their families’ welfare. In all, their hopes and needs are not so different to those mentioned in soldiers’ letters home these days.
The Vindolanda Tablets: an Amazing Find
These documents – as many as 1600 fragments of them – found at Vindolanda, along the northern frontier of Roman Britannia on Hadrian’s Wall, are highly unusual in northern Europe, where the climate is more inclined to rot organic matter within several decades. However, aerobic conditions in the soil at Vindolanda fort have preserved a vast collection of disparate objects used in daily army life, including about 100 wax tablets as well as the more common form of communication at Vindolanda, the wooden veneer ‘postcard’.
The sheets of wood (oak, alder or birch) are between 1-3mm thick and are about the size of a large postcard. According to Matthew Schwartz in his Roman letters: history from a personal point of view, the ‘leaf’ tablets replaced papyrus in this area of the empire where papyrus would have been difficult and expensive to import. ‘Leaf’ tablets made of lime wood were used elsewhere in the empire.
Army Communication
While most of the fragments of written material recovered from Vindolanda are accounts, lists, military inventories etc, a minority are personal letters from the soldiers based at Vindolanda. The legions living there at the time the letters were written (from 90 AD to the 120s AD) were recruited from modern-day upper Belgium and the lower Netherlands. Many of these letters were sent between individual soldiers based at different camps as a form of internal communication for the army. Most of the letters are written in Latin – even when the writer is a soldier from part of the empire where a Gallic or Celtic language would have been spoken. They suggest that the level of education in the Roman army would have been of a good standard.
Dr John Pearce, from the Classics Department at King’s College London, told Heritage Key that a wide range of people would have been involved in writing and sending the letters, ranging from the fort commander to ordinary soldiers, women, slaves and children. Soldiers would have kept in touch with each other between different postings. Pearce points out that some of the letters excavated are drafts for a final version that was sent, and some are letters received – of course they were all found in a rubbish dump or bonfire, so they were not letters considered worthy of being archived at the camp.
Not All Hard Work: Parties, Hunting and Social Events at Vindolanda
A group of about 60 letters are associated with Flavius Cerealis, prefect of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians.
His wife, Sulpicia Lepidina, received one of the most famous tablets found at Vindolanda – an invitation to a birthday party held by Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius Brocchus. (Claudia may have been Sulpicia’s sister, or at any rate a close friend.)
The letter reads as follows:
“Claudia Severa to her Lepidina greetings. On 11 September, sister, for the day of the celebration of my birthday, I give you a warm invitation to make sure that you come to us, to make the day more enjoyable for me by your arrival, if you are present (?). Give my greetings to your Cerialis. My Aelius and my little son send him (?) their greetings. (2nd hand) I shall expect you, sister. Farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail. (Back, 1st hand) To Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Cerialis, from Severa.” [Tablet 291, Source: The Vindolanda Tablets Online]
The letters associated with Cerealis date from 97 to 103 AD. The tablets give us an insight into the hospitality culture, particularly among the higher levels of command, where parties and dinners would have been organised – despite the bleak conditions and the army’s tough mission on the northern border. According to Dr Pearce, there are several references to hunting in the tablets as well, which suggest the social side of army life, at least at the elite level. Commanders would have gone hunting for wild boar and there is a request in one letter for a net, used for catching birds – all things that would probably have ended up on the dinner table.
The letters also show how families were more integrated with military life and the commander Flavius Cerealis had his wife Sulpicia Lepidina and children living with him. Ordinary soldiers may also have had their wives living nearby – if not within the army camp, then maybe outside the camp.
Organisation and Tactics of the Roman Army
One tablet from Vindolanda provides details about the deployment of the troops in northern Britannia – Alan K. Bowman, in his book Life and letters on the Roman frontier: Vindolanda and its people, describes it as “perhaps the most important military document ever found in Britain”. It probably dates from 92-97 AD and gives a strength report of the First Cohort of Tungrians, commanded by Julius Verecundus. With a total of 752 men in his command, the document lists the organisation of the legion: many men are deployed elsewhere, and under half are actually based at Vindolanda.
It paints a picture of military life in northern Britain in which the deployment of cohorts to certain forts or garrisons would not be rigid – there would have been plenty of movement, fluidity and communication between each military base, and forts such as Vindolanda could have accommodated varying numbers of troops, depending on how their cohorts were organised at different periods. Bowman points out that this strategy could reduce the risk of individual cohorts staging a revolt and could also give an impression to the native Britons that the Romans had more manpower than they actually possessed.
The communication between forts along the Stanegate (a strategic road built in the 70s AD and the effective northern frontier from around 105 AD until Hadrian’s Wall was built in the 120s AD) was also an important part of military strategy. However, the coming and going of troops was also probably the main way in which letters were passed around the army, much as diplomatic post is conveyed today. The letters would be written in two columns and folded in half. They would be tied with string and the name of the recipient and a place name would be written on the back. As Dr Pearce points out, the communities were quite small, so a name and place name would suffice as an address. Although a form of public postal system – the Cursus Publicus – did exist, this was mainly used just for imperial messages by regional governors and wouldn’t have delivered ordinary mail.
Details of Every-day Life
The Vindolanda tablets provide many other small details of everyday life in the Roman army at the Northern-most extreme of the empire. Some letters detail their diet (barley, Celtic beer, wine, sour wine, fish-sauce, pork-fat, semolina, garlic, lentils and olives), while others complain of the bitter cold and mention much-longed for clothing such as subuclae (vests) and abolla (a thick heavy cloak).
Some of the Vindolanda tablets also mention the local Britons. They are referred to as ‘Brittunculi’, a diminutive form that was probably not really a term of endearment, as shown in this letter:
“… the Britons are unprotected by armour (?). There are very many cavalry. The cavalry do not use swords nor do the wretched Britons [‘Brittunculi’] mount in order to throw javelins.” [Tablet 164, Source: The Vindolanda Tablets Online]
However, the main concerns of the soldiers are for their family and friends back home. They are eager for news and contact and are anxious that their loved-ones are well, as this letter shows (the writer is obviously not that happy with his brother’s lack of correspondence):
“Sollemnis to Paris his brother, very many greetings. I want you to know that I am in very good health, as I hope you are in turn, you neglectful man, who have sent me not even one letter. But I think that I am behaving in a more considerate fashion in writing to you … to you, brother, … my messmate. Greet from me Diligens and Cogitatus and Corinthus and I ask that you send me the names … Farewell, dearest brother (?). (Back, 1st hand) To Paris … of the 3rd Cohort of Batavians, from Sollemnis …” [Tablet 311, Source: The Vindolanda Tablets Online]
Military documents and personal letters have been found at other sites around the empire. According to Bowman, similar leaf tablets would also have been in use at other British sites such as Caerleon and Carlisle in Britain. The site of Vindonissa, a first-century Roman fort near modern-day Windisch in Switzerland, has also yielded some Roman documents – some of them personal letters and also an invitation to a party. However, the largest group of letters found outside Britain were excavated in a far hotter, dryer climate.
Letters in the Desert
The dry climate and sands of Egypt, the Middle East and Libya have provided ideal conditions for preserving papyrus, including letters from ordinary Romans, military leaders and soldiers. Outside the town of Doura-Europos on the Euphrates river, ancient documents were found in an ancient rubbish dump by excavators in 1933. Letters from Roman soldiers have been found in various other places around the Mediterranean as well.
At Bu Njem (ancient Gholaia, part of the Limes Tripolitanus built during the rule of Septimius Severus) in Libya – a number of documents dating from 254-259 AD were found in a military record office. Most of these were ostraca, written on clay sherds, but some were letters received from the soldiers posted there, probably the Third Legion Augusta. Other groups of letters have been found in Oxyrhynchus and Karanis in Egypt.
Karanis – The Tiberianus Archive
One discovery of papyrus in Egypt included letters from soldiers to their families at home and date from the second century AD. The letters were found between 1924 and 1935 beneath a stairwell in a house in the Egyptian town of Karanis, modern Kom Aushim. The location of the find is known as B167 – denoting the house number and the level of the house where the documents were found. One group of these letters is known as the archive of Claudius Tiberianus and dates from the start to the end of the second century AD. There are letters written in both Latin and Greek from Terentianus, a soldier enrolled in the Classis Augusta Alexandrina before becoming a legionary.
The Tiberianus archive is housed at the Papyrology Collection of the University of Michigan Library, which is one of the world’s largest collections of Egyptian papyrus and holds more than 10,000 fragments. The archive consists of 18 letters written on papyrus found in a house in Karanis, Egypt. They are written to Tiberianus from Terentianus and have been published in the eighth volume (Nos. 467-81) of the Michigan Papyri. The relationship between Tiberianus and Terentianus isn’t clear: some sources claim they were father and son, while others say Tiberianus was the friend and patron of Terentianus.
As Robert Stephan wrote in his paper Text and Context in the Archive of Tiberianus, published in The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, the Tiberianus family lived in Karanis during the second century AD. Stephan adds, “The documents detail the early second century AD life and deeds of Tiberianus and Terentenianus, probably Tiberianus’s son.” Stephan notes that both father and son were soldiers in the Roman army, although Tiberianus was probably a veteran at the time the letters were written. Stephan notes that the family was quite well off – this is suggested by some of the objects found in the same location as the letters, such as well crafted faience vessels.
Papyri of Oxyrhynchus
Other papyrus letters have also been discovered in similar circumstances, buried by sand and preserved by the dry environment. In one letter, a soldier, Apollinarius, writes to his mother, Taesis living in Karanis, Egypt, assuring her he is in good health and has just been posted to Misenum (modern day Miseno, the largest base of the Roman army established in 27 BC, in the Bay of Naples).
Apollinarius’s main concern seems to be for his mother’s welfare and for that of his brothers and family and he promises to write often (suggesting that there was a system for sending letters, which could well have been an internal military delivery service). He writes:
“I wish you to know, mother, that I arrived in Rome in good health on the 20th of the month Pachon, and was posted to Misenum, though I have not yet learned the name of my company (kenturian); for I had not gone to Misenum at the time of writing this letter. I beg you then, mother, look after yourself and do not worry about me; for I have come to a fine place. Please write me a letter about your welfare and that of my brothers and of all your folk. And whenever I find a messenger I will write to you; never will I be slow to write.” [Select Papyri #112, ed. AS Hunt and CC Edgar, from The Loeb Classical Library]
Another letter, written from a soldier called Apion to Epimachus his father, mentions the travelling expenses of three gold pieces, and also his faith in the god Serapis. Apion wrote:
“Before all else I pray for your health and that you may always be well and prosperous, together with my sister and her daughter and my brother. I thank the Lord Serapis that when I was in danger at sea he straightway saved me. On arriving at Misenum, I received from Caesar three gold pieces for travelling expenses. And it is well with me.” [Select Papyri #111, ed. AS Hunt and CC Edgar, from The Loeb Classical Library]
A third letter is written from a worried wife to her husband fighting in a civil war in 115-117 AD. Aline writes to Apollonios: “I take no pleasure in food or drink, but stay awake continually night and day with one worry, your safety.”
Fighting for the Other Side: Bar Kokhba’s Letters
Another group of letters give clues as to what life might have been like for those fighting against the Roman army during one of the biggest revolts of Roman times. In 1960, letters were found in caves near the Dead Sea at Wadi Murabba`at and Nahal Hever (the latter means cave of letters) by the well known Jewish archaeologist (and politician) Yigael Yadin. The letters were found to date from the Jewish revolt of 132-135 AD when a large group of Jews living in Roman-occupied Judaea were led into rebellion by the leader Bar Kokhba, real name Simeon ben Kosiba. Bar Kokhba and his followers had managed to push the Romans out of Jerusalem and had declared Judaea’s independence. Hadrian sent his best commander, Julius Severus, with a large army to deal with the situation. The revolt was put down as the Romans took control of Jerusalem again and Bar Kokhba was killed in a bloody battle at Bethar.
One letter shows that religious rituals and observances continued during the Jewish rebellion – in one of the letters, Bar Kokhba orders citrons, myrtle, palm branches and willow for the observance of a Jewish ritual. Many of Bar Kokhba’s missives are authoritarian but they give an insight into how he commanded and organised his supporters (there are several threats of punishment, so it’s possible he ruled through fear).
Another group of letters very similar to the ones found by Yadin were discovered in a nearby cave. These letters are also from Simeon Bar Kokhba. In them he gives orders and enforces these with threats, for example:
“From Simeon Bar Kosiba to Yeshua ben Galgoula and to the men of the town, Peace; I call Heaven to witness that unless you mobilize the men from Galilee who are with you, I will put you in irons as I did to ben Aflul.”
Glimpses of Army Life 2,000 Years Ago
Whether soldiers during Roman times were logging inventory, keeping accounts, organising social events or missing their families and friends, the surviving letters give a glimpse of an army life that we can identify with – whether it’s the need for decent underwear and socks, the soldier who scolds his brother for not having written to him, or the wife beside herself with worry for her husband posted overseas. Some of the letters, those of Bar Kokhba in particular, hint at the darker side of life in battle during the Roman empire, where the threat of physical violence is added to almost every order.