How did people send letters in ancient Rome?

Ancient Rome was a primarily an oral culture. This meant that, whenever possible, people would prefer to receive information from the person themselves.

In fact, spoken information was considered far more reliable than written. As a result, public speaking had become a cornerstone of Roman political life, and it was considered essential to a successful public career.

In the Republican era in particular, statesmen like Cicero mastered public speaking as a way to sway the Senate and the people.

Major decisions in the city were often debated through live speeches in the Senate or in the popular assemblies. 

Since mass literacy among the common people was limited, any important government messages also needed to be communicated verbally.

Therefore, the Romans relied on town criers (praecones) to spread news and official announcements to the public.

Prior to advent of modern newspapers, a crier would be appointed by the regional magistrate and would have to walk through streets or appear in the forum to proclaim things like new laws, upcoming events, or government edicts.

Such criers typically made public announcements on market days, when most rural folk would travel to town.

This ensured that even those who could not read posted notices still heard the news. 

That is not to say that Romans didn’t write things down. In fact, writing was used for everything from private letters to monumental inscriptions.

For letters and books, Romans wrote with ink on papyrus scrolls that were imported from Egypt and on thin wooden tablets for letters.

Another important writing material was parchment which was commonly made from the treated skins of animals such as sheep, goats, or calves.

For shorter notes or drafts, they often used wax tablets. These had wooden frames and were filled with wax that could be inscribed with a stylus and then erased when finished.

However, writing was a not a common skill, except among the educated classes.

Literacy rates for adult males are estimated to be around 10-15% by the Imperial period.

For those who couldn’t write themselves, they might dictate letters to a scribe who would do it on their behalf.

Unfortunately, the time it took for private letters to reach their intended recipients, especially when long distances were involved or when the journey included sea travel, could vary considerably and was often unpredictable. 

Regardless, the Romans routinely exchanged letters. For personal correspondence, the sender had to find a courier to carry them to the intended destination.

This was often a trusted family member or friend who was on a journey, or even a respected travelling merchant.

Particularly wealthy families often employed slaves, sometimes referred to as ‘tablet men’, whose primary responsibility was to act as messengers.

One of the most famous finds of Roman letters was when dozens of wooden leaf tablets were unearthed at the Vindolanda fort in Britain.

They were preserved ink-written letters that were sent between soldiers and their families.

In them, they discuss everything from military supplies to the need to buy more clothes.

Notably, one such letter is from Claudia Severa inviting her friend to a birthday celebration.

It is often cited as perhaps the oldest surviving writing in Latin by a woman.  

To govern a vast empire efficiently, the Romans did develop a kind of official postal service called the cursus publicus (‘public course’).

Emperor Augustus is usually credited with establishing it around 20 BCE and it was arguably the most advanced relay communication system of the ancient world.

It consisted of a network of stations called mutationes and mansiones that were positioned at regular intervals along the major Roman roads.

Couriers carrying government messages would ride from station to station, switching to fresh horses and resting or handing off dispatches at each stop.

They were situated at convenient intervals about 8 to 12 Roman miles apart for horse changes, with larger rest houses every 20-30 miles for overnight stays.

In this way, official messengers could maintain high speed over long distances.  

To keep these stations functioning, local communities were obligated to supply fresh horses, mules, donkeys, and oxen, as well as carts, food, fodder for the animals, and accommodation for those who were official couriers.

However, the system was strictly for imperial business only. Any unauthorized private use was discouraged, and an inspectorate kept watch to prevent abuse of the service for personal affairs.

To prove that they were on imperial business, the carriers had to present a warrant (diploma) that had either been issued by the emperor himself or by provincial governors acting on imperial authority.

Thanks to the cursus publicus, a message could travel astonishingly fast for its era.  

Estimates suggest that the average speed of a messenger on the Roman road system and the Cursus Publicus was approximately 50 Roman miles per day, which is roughly 46 modern miles.

In situations demanding particular urgency, such as the transmission of critical military or political news, a single rider leveraging the relay system could potentially cover distances of 100 miles or even more within a 24-hour period.

One historical reference indicates the extraordinary potential of this system, suggesting that a relay of horses could carry a letter as far as 800 kilometers (approximately 500 miles) in just 24 hours.

Remarkably, the efficiency of the Roman postal couriers was not surpassed in Europe until modern mail systems.