2-580-267 - © CM Dixon/Heritage Images

Roman wood writing tablet from Vindolanda with a party invitation written in ink, from Claudia Severa to Lepidina, late 1st or early 2nd century. Sulpicia Lepidina was the wife of Flavius Cerealis, prefect of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians. This birthday invitation is one of two letters she received from Claudia Severa. The handwriting of Severa herself is one of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman. From the British Museum's collection.