Roman Reading and Writing
Roman soldiers were expected to communicate in Latin and to have basic reading and writing skills. If necessary the army could teach these skills to new recruits. Detailed records were kept of every army activity and usually kept in triplicate.
The Romans primarily wrote in Latin using an alphabet that initially consisted of 21 letters, with the letters Y and Z being added later. The letters J, U, and W were not used in classical Latin
Cursive Script
Stylus tablets were used by the Romans for official documents and survived much better than the thinner ink on wood writing tablets. It appears that the Romans used a filing system for this type of tablet. Some examples found at Vindolanda have an ink inscription (title) on the edge of the tablet, meaning that they could be easily stored for future reference, rather like CDs today.
Iron stylus pens are used for writing on wax tablets.
These pens were used to write messages in the recessed wax on stylus tablets. The pen could also be used to erase the writing by rubbing the flat end of the pen over the wax. The pens is shown below with a replica writing tablet.
Some women also learned to write as is shown by the picture below.
Roman Capitals
This was the formal style used for inscriptions on monuments and official documents. It featured large, clear letters often carved into stone
