Vindolanda Facts for Kids

Vindolanda was a Roman fort located near Chesterholm, just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England. It was close to the modern border with Scotland. This fort guarded the Stanegate, an important Roman road that connected the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. Vindolanda is famous for the Vindolanda tablets. These are a collection of military and personal letters written on thin wooden tablets, considered one of the most important discoveries from the Roman Empire.

Discovering the Vindolanda Tablets
- What the Tablets Tell Us
Who Was Stationed at Vindolanda?
The Vindolanda Trust
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Discovering the Vindolanda Tablets

The Vindolanda tablets are small pieces of wooden tablets. They have writing on them made with ink that used carbon. These tablets were found at Vindolanda in northern England. They are from the first and second centuries AD (which means 'Anno Domini', or 'in the year of the Lord'). This makes them from around the same time as Hadrian's Wall, which is very close to Vindolanda.

The tablets contain messages. These messages were sent to and from the soldiers stationed at Vindolanda, their families, and their enslaved people. Before these tablets were found, similar records on papyrus were known from other parts of the Roman Empire. However, wooden tablets like these had not been found until archaeologist Robin Birley discovered them at Vindolanda in 1973. More tablets have since been found at Carlisle in Cumbria, and new ones continue to be discovered at Vindolanda.

What the Tablets Tell Us

Most of the tablets are official military documents. But one of the most famous is Tablet 291. It was written around 100 AD by Claudia Severa. She was the wife of a commander from a nearby fort. She invited Sulpicia Lepidina, the wife of the Vindolanda commander, to her birthday party. This invitation is one of the earliest known examples of a woman writing in Latin. Some even say it's the earliest surviving letter written by a woman in any language!

The letter says:

"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... Give my greetings to your Cerialis. My Aelius and my little son send him their greetings. I shall expect you sister. Farewell, sister my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail".

The tablets are written in Roman cursive script. This is a type of joined-up writing. One tablet even confirms that Roman soldiers wore underpants, called subligaria. The tablets also show that many people in the Roman army could read and write very well.

The tablets do not say much about the native Celts. But there are some mentions. Before these tablets were found, historians could only guess if the Romans had a nickname for the Britons. Now we know that Brittunculi ('little Britons') was a term used by the Roman soldiers. It was a bit rude or looked down on the local people.

Today, the Vindolanda tablets are on display at the British Museum. The Museum considers them one of its 'top ten British treasures'.

Who Was Stationed at Vindolanda?

The soldiers stationed at Vindolanda were called auxiliaries. These were Roman infantry (foot soldiers) or cavalry (soldiers on horseback) units. They were not part of the main Roman legions. From the early third century AD, the Fourth Cohort of Gauls was stationed here. An inscription found during recent digs suggests that native Gauls were indeed in this regiment. It also shows they liked to be seen as different from British soldiers.

The inscription reads:

CIVES GALLI
DE GALLIAE
CONCORDES
QUE BRITANNI

This means "The troops from Gaul dedicate this statue to the goddess Gallia with the full support of the British-born troops."

The Vindolanda Trust

In 1970, the Vindolanda Trust was created. It is a registered charity. Anthony Birley founded it to manage the Vindolanda site and its museum. In 1997, the Trust also took over running the Roman Army Museum at Carvoran. Carvoran is another fort on Hadrian's Wall. The Trust had bought this museum in 1972.