Interesting items related to the private life of legionaries were found in one of the military camps in the north of Britain. Well, one of them was the shopping list, which included coat, probably needed to survive in the cold northern conditions by the “southerner”.

The shopping list was written on a wooden plate covered with wax. Reading the list (traces of a stylus left on the wood) gave the researchers information about the prices of various products and the aforementioned coat cost as much as 8% of the annual pay (25 denars).

Another find was a letter from a soldier’s mother. She described in it what she sends her son in a package to the army (mainly clothes) and some personal information, as in the mother-child relationship.

Content of letters from Vindolanda