L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano Improve your Italian right here at home! Summer session at Mills College in Oakland • Language Pledge to speak only Italian 24/7 • Beginner to graduate-level courses • Special 3-week course for adults • Cocurricular activities, workshops, and field trips in language • 3 courses (earn 9 college credit-hours) • Need-based financial aid www.middlebury.edu/ls/italian Teaching Italian language and culture since 1932 such as the hospital or man- ning wagons. Yet others were referred to by name such as Vitalis the bathhouse keeper, a m e d i c b y t h e n a m e o f Marcus, two vets called Alio a n d V i r i l i s , a n d a b r e w e r named Atrectus. Parents of college-aged students, you can appreciate a plea from O c t i v i u s t o h i s b r o t h e r Candidus… "So, I ask you, can you send me some cash as soon as possible?" The insight via these post- cards is vast. We're privy to clothing of the day…one post- card details the socks and underwear sent to the recipi- ent. Food was apparently plentiful; over 40 different foods are mentioned in vari- ous writings, including pro- c u r e m e n t o f o y s t e r s a n d b a c o n . L e i s u r e a c t i v i t i e s appear such as invitations and acknowledgments of vis- its. It was life not greatly unlike yours and mine. Wooden tablet documents s u c h a s t h e T a b l e t s o f Vindolanda were not a rarity i n t h i s e r a . H e r o d i a n , a Roman historian (170 – 240 A D ) , m a d e m e n t i o n o f " a writing tablet of the kind that were made of limewood and folded face-to-face by being bent" containing the black- listing of adversaries written by Emperor Commodus… upon which its discovery led to his assassination! Other tablets have been uncovered i n e x c a v a t i o n s s c a t t e r e d along northern Great Britain; however, none have been found in the mass quantity and availability for decipher- ing as those at Vindolanda. T h e V i n d o l a n d a C h a r i t a b l e T r u s t w a s established in 1970 by the Archibald and Birley families as a way to promote proper excavation, preservation, education, and sharing of the barely-tapped treasures that awaited. To date, yearly exca- vations are held and open for participation. Estimates have it that at least another 150 years will be required to fully excavate the site. Precious f i n d s s u c h a s t h e t a b l e t s , leather goods, objects of daily life, even boxing gloves are lovingly cared for and dis- played at the museum that now sits alongside the exca- vation site. Intrigued? One can have a dig of their own into some interesting discovery of the postcards' messages through either an online edition of the t a b l e t s — V i n d o l a n d a Tablets Online – or in Alan K . B o w m a n ' s L i f e a n d L e t t e r s o n t h e R o m a n Frontier (British Museum Press, 1994). ers, and civilians that made up the vicus (independent community) of Vindolanda leave their voices behind, as well. T a b l e t I . 1 5 4 r e v e a l s a strength report — "18 May, n e t n u m b e r o f t h e F i r s t Cohort of Tungrians…752, including 6b centurions" – w h i l e a n o t h e r g i v e s u s a glimpse into the needs of his s o l d i e r s : " M a s c u l u s t o Cerialis his king, greetings. Please, my lord, give instruc- tions on what you want us to do tomorrow. Are we all to return to the standard, or just half of us?... My fellow sol- diers have no beer. Please order some to be sent." Some things never change! Yet another is more of a job report detailing the cur- rent workforce. Of the 343 available men, 18 were build- i n g a b a t h h o u s e , 1 2 w e r e making shoes, and various numbers were out gathering clay and other building mate- rials. Others were on assign- ment in various locations Continued from page 18 Excavations at Vindolanda, in Northtumberland (UK) (Photo: Dreamstime)

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