Writing-tablet with a letter inviting Sulpicia Lepidina, the commander's wife, to a birthday party

This is one of a number of wooden tablets with ink writing discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, south of Hadrian’s Wall. The Latin translates as:

'Claudia Severa to her Lepidina greetings. 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, if you are present (?). Give my greetings to your Cerialis. My Aelius and my little son send him (?) their greetings. (2nd hand) I shall expect you sister. Farewell, sister my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail.

Back: (1st hand) 'To Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Cerialis, from Severa'.

Sulpicia Lepidina was the wife of Flavius Cerealis, prefect (commander) of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians, the military unit occupying the fort at the time. This birthday invitation is one of two letters she received from Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius Brocchus, the commander of a nearby fort. The greater part of this letter was written by a scribe. The second hand (the last four lines of the letter, bottom right) is that of Severa herself. Although less elegant, it is one of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman.