Real Letters from the Roman Front Lines - What Do They Say? DOCUMENTARY

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A documentary on the letters from the Roman Front Lines. For 21 FREE meals with HelloFresh plus free shipping, use code INVICTA21 at

We continue our Live History series which seeks to use reenactment to bring the past to life. This was made possible thanks to the awesome team at Imperium Romanum:

Additional clips were purchased through Pond5 which features the reenactment groups "Nova Polaris" and "Veteres Milites Sibiu"

In this history documentary we explore the process by which Roman soldiers kept in touch with their families and friends. We begin by broadly discussing literacy rates and how one would go about writing a letter in the first place. This involves looking at things like papyrus scrolls, ink pens, and scribes.

We then turn our attention about the way in which these letters were sent across the Roman Empire. This took the form of both public and private couriers. The former consisted primarily of the Cursus Publicus which used a relay of riders to deliver messages across the Empire at incredibly fast speeds. The latter relied primarily on merchants who criss-crossed the Empire at their own pace.

And finally we look at the contents of these Roman letters. This is done by quoting select examples which have been recovered at sites such as Vindolanda in England and Oxyrhnychus in Egypt.

Check out more videos in our live history series:
"Gaming in the Roman Army"
"How Did Roman Cataphracts Prepare for War?"
"Roman Army Training"
"What was Watchtower Duty like on the Roman Frontier?"
"Journey beyond Rome's Rhine Frontier?"

Credits:
Research = Chris Das Neves
Script = Chris Das Neves
Narration = Guy Michaels
Reenactment = Imperium Romanum, Veteres Milites Sibiu

#history
#documentary
#military