Vindolanda writing tablets

Octavius wrote to Candidus about supplies and money that had not been paid. Grain, hides, cash and a wagon appear in the exchange. The practical concerns give this Roman letter a recognisable urgency, even where the circumstances around it have not survived. The message was written in ink on two complete wooden diptychs, each a pair of panels. It dates to AD 104–120 and belongs to the much larger group of writing tablets from Vindolanda in northern Britain. Wood and ink carried a particular person’s request to another reader. The Museum bought this tablet from the Vindolanda Trust in 1989. It is known as letter 343 and is currently off display. Another Vindolanda letter, from Brocchus to Flavius Cerialis, is displayed in Room 49. Its greetings and plans for a visit belong to a separate exchange. Each tablet preserves its own writer, recipient and occasion.