writing-tablet
- Museum number
- 1986,1001.64
- Description
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Wood writing tablet with a party invitation written in ink, in two hands, from Claudia Severa to Lepidina.
- Production date
- 97-103
- Dimensions
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Height: 96 millimetres
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Length: 223 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Writing-tablet with a letter inviting Sulpicia Lepidina, the commander's wife, to a birthday party
One of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman
Sulpicia Lepidina was the wife of Flavius Cerealis, prefect of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians. This birthday invitation is one of two letters she received from Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius Brocchus. The scribe who wrote the greater part of this letter is the same person who wrote the letter from Niger and Brocchus to Flavius Cerealis. The handwriting of Severa herself (the 2nd hand) is less elegant, but it is one of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman.
T.W. Potter, Roman Britain, 2nd edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1997), p. 59, plate 42
- Location
- On display (G49/dc2)
- Acquisition date
- 1986
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1986,1001.64
- Additional IDs
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Excavation/small finds number: 85.057