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"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.
-Roman soldier stationed on the wild northern-frontier of England around 100 AD.
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"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.
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Despite the very great advances brought by increased archaeological activity in recent years, the poverty of evidence for the period in the history of Roman Britain which lies between the end of Agricola's governorship and the construction of Hadrians Wall (c. AD 85-122) has been striking by comparison with later periods in Britain, and with other provinces of the Roman empire. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Despite the very great advances brought by increased archaeological activity in recent years, the poverty of evidence for the period in the history of Roman Britain which lies between the end of Agricola's governorship and the construction of Hadrians Wall (c. AD 85-122) has been striking by comparison with later periods in Britain, and with other provinces of the Roman empire. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Vindolanda tablets are one of the most extraordinary collections of Roman documents to survive into modern times, and Bowman's book truly does them justice.
The slightly longer first part of the books deals with what the tablets can tell us about Roman life on the northern British frontier. This section is scholarly, but written in a clear, easy to read style that leaves it accessible to the more general reader and makes it clear just how valuable the tablets are.
The plates at the back, with photographs of artefacts from the site - whether an astonishingly well preserved woman's slipper or a selection of the tablets themselves - are of great interest.
However, it is the transcripts and translations of the tablets that are the most fascinating aspects. Here you may see a wealth of information, from the mundane (accounts on buying corn), the military (notes on the fighting styles of the "wretched Britons") to the surprisingly familiar (a birthday party invitation). Such documents bring you truly close to the people living on this remote outpost nearly two thousand years ago. In this respect they are far more valuable that the histories of Tacitus or Suetonius, for they are shorn of all pretence or bias, and cover the day to day aspects of life that the Roman Historians never bothered to chronicle. Their presentation is well executed, with the Latin and English shown together so that anyone who cares to can check the accuracy of the translation - though the author has taken care to note any discrepancies or doubts.
The range of material is such that this is not merely a book of significance to enthusiasts of the Roman Army, but also to those with an interest in social history
All in all, possibly one of the most important, and certainly one of the most valuable books on this period, and all at a very reasonable price.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Perhaps, like me, you have heard of the Vindolanda tablets, the thin strips of wood that have been discovered at the archaeological site in Northumberland? There's the oft-quoted one about the woman inviting her friend from a neighbouring fort to a birthday celebration, of course, but what do the others say? There are supposed to be hundreds of them, so what do they all say and what do they mean?
This book sets out to address those two questions. The main part for me was the second half of the book, the texts of 50 of the tablets that had been translated so far (they are written in a kind of shorthand, not the classical Latin you may have written so laboriously at school!) I wanted to read what people who lived 2000 years ago had written, what their equivalent of an e-mail message was! The first half of the book is an account by the historian, Professor Bowman, of the significance of the tablets and what they tell us about life in Roman Britain.
It might strike you as odd that the text of the tablets comes after the interpretation in the book but the sad truth is .... the tablets themselves aren't very dramatic. Maybe that shouldn't be a surprise - if you took a random selection of 50 e-mails sent from an office building in 21st Century Britain they probably wouldn't be that interesting, either, but they might at least have included a few jokes or personal ones. Our ancestors come across as a bit humourless and obsessed with image and prestige. That's why Prof Bowman needs to write the interpretation first, to put them into context and I was left feeling I had strayed into the historian's workshop round the back, where they take the lumps of ore and turn them into nuggets of precious metal.
I'm not a historian so Prof Bowman's interpretation did help, but the same problem applies - the tablets are helping the picture we have of the times by suggesting the shading of different colours to use, rather than in terms of dramatic surprises. You can imagine how exciting this is to an archaeologist or historian but for the general reader, maybe there isn't enough to justify the price of the book.
As a footnote, there is now an excellent website where the tablets can be viewed online, with accompanying notes:
http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/
I would direct you to this instead because this seems to cover the material of the book, plus more recent updates.
This book sets out to address those two questions. The main part for me was the second half of the book, the texts of 50 of the tablets that had been translated so far (they are written in a kind of shorthand, not the classical Latin you may have written so laboriously at school!) I wanted to read what people who lived 2000 years ago had written, what their equivalent of an e-mail message was! The first half of the book is an account by the historian, Professor Bowman, of the significance of the tablets and what they tell us about life in Roman Britain.
It might strike you as odd that the text of the tablets comes after the interpretation in the book but the sad truth is .... the tablets themselves aren't very dramatic. Maybe that shouldn't be a surprise - if you took a random selection of 50 e-mails sent from an office building in 21st Century Britain they probably wouldn't be that interesting, either, but they might at least have included a few jokes or personal ones. Our ancestors come across as a bit humourless and obsessed with image and prestige. That's why Prof Bowman needs to write the interpretation first, to put them into context and I was left feeling I had strayed into the historian's workshop round the back, where they take the lumps of ore and turn them into nuggets of precious metal.
I'm not a historian so Prof Bowman's interpretation did help, but the same problem applies - the tablets are helping the picture we have of the times by suggesting the shading of different colours to use, rather than in terms of dramatic surprises. You can imagine how exciting this is to an archaeologist or historian but for the general reader, maybe there isn't enough to justify the price of the book.
As a footnote, there is now an excellent website where the tablets can be viewed online, with accompanying notes:
http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/
I would direct you to this instead because this seems to cover the material of the book, plus more recent updates.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was both informative and easy to read and provided excellent background information before our visit to the site of Vindolanda.
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