History doesn’t necessarily write itself – a choice, often conscious, is made of what to retain and hand down. When that choice is bypassed, things get really interesting.

The Vindolanda tablets, and the extensive site itself, took one such circuitous route. They are important historical records of the more pedestrian aspects of an empire whose reach was wide and whose grip was fast.

In 1970s a horde of impossibly fragile artifacts from Roman Britain came to light at Hadrian’s Wall. The site was bought by an archaeologist by the name of Eric Birle. His sons still run and excavate the site today.

A somewhat fanciful story is told of how Flavius Cerialis, a camp commander at the time, upon hearing of his and his troops’ redeployment to other, more strategically important parts of the empire, set about disposing of anything that would not be brought along.

However, you would have to imagine this particular man was not the exemplary and adroit Roman military commander that comes to mind when we picture the huge empire and its armies. In fact, it seems he was even incapable fire to his own rubbish properly. The burning and looting, raping and pillaging of any self-respecting ravaging horde must have been utterly incomprehensible to him. Or maybe he was just lazy.

But we should thank him. And profusely so. This partially burned waste is a historical record of the greatest value.

The Tablets Overview

The horde contains a huge number of handwritten fragments on extremely thin, folded, wooden tablets. The everyday nature of these was a revelation. Until these tablets were found scholars worked with few writings on the mundane, which had been survived through to posterity. We knew about how the common people but that knowledge was not personal in any way. So lacking was our understanding that the distinctive handwriting scripts were unfamiliar – this was a kind of shorthand used for epistolary communication (an awkward and pretentious blogger’s contrivance meaning “letters”). It was still Latin, just not the formal script used by the stonemasons who created the works most resistant to wear over time.

The subject matter is varied, as you might expect from a random collection of everyday writings, containing everything from task lists to inventories, writing lessons to personal letters.

Their Historical Context and Importance

Rome was an empire that positively revelled in documenting and celebrating its achievements. Vast amounts of Latin literature still inform communication and the arts globally today. Architects still look back to the grandeur of Rome. Columns, amphitheatres, arches and more triumphal edifices still dot the ancient imperial lands. Rome was no shrinking violet. This triumphalist entities only tell part of the story, the one that the rulers would have wanted us to hear. And that is why this alternate voice is so powerful. The fact that it details the lives of true Romans but at the Empire’s boundary only adds to this.

Vindolanda Excavations by Flickr User James Laing

The Site

The camp formed before Hadrian’s Wall, the first line of defence against the Picts. The garrison’s job was to, along with defending that particular section of the wall, police the locals, promote trade and spread Roman cultural and economic influence. The site is so huge excavations are expected to be ongoing until well into the next century!

The camp was rebuilt many times before and after the tablets were produced. The methods employed by the Romans for this involved demolition of existing structures and flattening them compacted into the soil. This created a series of anaerobic layers which were inhospitable to the processes of biological decay.

In fact these layers were so sterile and effective in their preservation that when the tablets are unearthed today, and exposed to air they are only legible for minutes before fading. Thankfully the ink residue can be seen clearly in infra-red light (as in the image at the top of this page).

Three Tablets – sample translations

Tablet 291 – Birthday Invite
Hi Lepidina, Claudia Severa here! Sister, I am celebrating my birthday on the 11th of September. I would love if you could join us, which would improve the day no end. Give my greetings to Cerialis. My husband Aelius and are little boy send their love. See you soon, favourite sister, all going well.

Tablet 302 – Shopping List
…2 jars of bruised beans > 20 chickens > 100 apples (only if they look nice, and are cheap) > 100 or maybe 200 eggs > 8 loads of garum* > a jar of olives. Bring all this back to Verecundus’ house.
*Garum was a very salty sauce made from fermented anchovies. As disgusting as this description is, the sauce is really tasty, especially to add depth of flavour to pasta sauces or as a pizza topping. It is still made by Geo. Watkins and Co.

Tablet 118 – Writing Exercise
INTEREA PAVIDAM VOLITANS PINNA
TA .VBEM m2 seg. uacat

This tablet fragment appears to have been unsent and then used by a child to practice their writing. In capitals they have written a partial line from Virgil’s Aeneid

Bibliography
See the tablets online
The offical website for the site
The Story of Archaeology in 050 Great Discoveries, Justin Pollard, Quercus, 2007
Salt – A World History, Mark Kurlansky, Vintage, 2003

Original content created by: The Inquisition

A few years ago an ill-conceived act by a possibly delusional artist occurred in a gallery and became known as the Phaedrus Incident. It has since been faithfully and widely reported by many media outlets. It has been discussed in contexts of vandalism, museum security, art validation (the original canvas was blank) and more.

Most of these miss an intriguing aspect of the eventual outcome.

Incident details for those unfamiliar

The event itself seems surprisingly pedestrian. Cy Twombley’s Phaedrus Tritych was on show in Avignon when a young lady went up to a panel and kissed it. Fair enough. However, red lipstick is not a great addition to a fully rendered solid white panel. Afterward Rindy Sam (the protagonist) claimed she was an artist and that the act was an uncontrollable response to beauty. She obviously doesn’t play by the same rules as the rest of us.

A French court fined her for defiling the $2 million-valued work. €1000 went to the painting’s owner, €500 to the showing gallery and a token €1 to the artist.

What does this say about art?

The market rules and money talks. Art is meaningless and valueless until it is traded or, at a minimum, shown. The context a piece is seen in gives it validity. There are many artists out there, working away at their grands oeuvres in their respective garrets. In market terms these works are worthless until someone agrees to show them. This is not to say they are not legimate pieces. Nobody told Kurt Schwitters when he built his Merzbau.

Conversely artists have been making livings by taking matters into their own hands in various manners. These seldom have the impact and legitimacy of a gallery supported artist. Shepard Fairey went from graffiti artist to US politico-artist via gallery showings.

Thomas Kinkade's art is driven by demand. Taste is a rare commodity.

The questions around the relevance of art’s context have been previously discussed ubiquitously and ad nauseum. Artists have fought the situation by attempting to remove galleries’ hold on art market (see for example Michael Asher’s interventions, especially at the 1976 Venice Biennale. In essence, he produced an unmarketable piece in the middle of the largest art market). But it must be remembered that it is these same galleries, festivals, institutions and collectors that fund the artists, give them exposure and thereby allow a continuing body of work.

Concerns are regularly voiced that the market and its supremo collectors really define the direction art goes in. Its effects are seen lower down the financial scale where demand for pastoral watercolour landscapes incites galleries to stock up and sell. In essence demand fuels the market which sees art as a commodity like any other.

Of course, it should be stated that the diversity of the art world prevents this process from being a monoculture- there are plenty of examples of alternate curatorial practices that make art a heterogeneous enterprise.

Nothing new here. The unique, bohemian and experimental has always been unprofitable – see anyone from Van Gogh to Henry Miller to Faust. But over time markets can come around and these artists can become bankable.

In the end though, its all just a bit sad that its the possession of an art piece that gives it value, and not its creation. But then we are jealous creatures and want what others have… It must be conceded that art stills holds a unique place in our minds – if it was the owner’s car that had been damaged, the manufacturer would have received no recognition.

Bibliography
Seven Days in the Art World, Sarah Thornton, Granta, 2008
BBC News reports incident in question
Great discussion on meaning of incident
Cy Twombley
The Gagosian is an art market leading gallery/a>
Interesting article on the effects of greed on the art world
Artdaily on Cy Twombley’s true worth

Original content created by: The Inquisition