Roman Soldiers Wrote Home for Socks and Underpants

What did Roman soldiers actually write home about? Not battles. Socks, underpants, beer, birthday parties and money worries. In 1973, archaeologists at Vindolanda, a Roman fort in the north of England, found hundreds of thin wooden letters written around the year 100. They are some of the oldest handwritten documents ever found in Britain, and they are full of ordinary people: a soldier receiving socks from home, a cavalry officer complaining that his men have run out of beer, a trader afraid of losing his deposit, and a woman inviting her best friend to her birthday party, in her own handwriting. Topics covered: daily life on the Roman frontier, the Vindolanda tablets, Batavian auxiliary soldiers, life in a Roman timber fort, Roman food and Celtic beer, the commander Flavius Cerialis and his wife Sulpicia Lepidina, the birthday invitation of Claudia Severa, leave requests and the Saturnalia, the Britons seen by the Romans, and how the letters survived for 1,900 years. Chapters 0:00 The wood shavings of 1973 1:34 At the end of the world 2:54 How many were really there 3:58 A day in the barracks 5:29 Socks and underpants 6:32 Why don't you write? 7:28 Food and drink 8:29 The men have no beer 9:05 The commander's house 10:44 The birthday invitation 12:30 Money, debts and bad roads 13:44 The man from overseas 14:39 Time off and festivals 15:35 The little Britons 16:18 The departure 17:16 What they left us Stay until the birthday invitation: its last lines may be the oldest Latin handwriting by a woman ever found. #RomanHistory #DailyLifeInHistory #History REFERENCES 📜 A. K. Bowman and J. D. Thomas, The Vindolanda Writing-Tablets (Tab. Vindol. II and III), texts online at Roman Inscriptions of Britain 📜 Tablets quoted: 154 (strength report), 291 and 292 (Claudia Severa), 302 and 190 (food), 310 (Chrauttius), 311 (Sollemnis), 343 (Octavius), 344 (the man from overseas), 346 (socks), 628 (Masclus), 164 (Brittunculi), 166 and 168 (leave), 301 (Saturnalia) 🏛️ British Museum, the Vindolanda tablets 🏛️ Vindolanda Trust 🏛️ E. Greene, study of the Vindolanda shoes (2013) Disclaimer Masclus, Chrauttius, Sollemnis, Flavius Cerialis, Sulpicia Lepidina, Claudia Severa and Octavius are real people known from the Vindolanda tablets. Flavus is an imagined soldier, and the video says so. Where historians are unsure (who received a letter, whether it was ever sent), the video says that too. Visuals are created with the help of AI tools. Script researched and written for this channel.