The Bloomberg Tablets were photographed as they were excavated by Maggie Cox and Andy Chopping. They were transcribed, translated, with an introduction and comments by Roger Tomlin and published in 2016.
Not only are the tablets all available on Roman Inscriptions of Britain, but the original publication by Roger Tomlin is also available online. Roman London’s First Voices includes maps locating the find-spot of each of the tablets. They are referenced in the catalogue. I have expanded the abbreviated references in my select catalogue in order to identify where each tablet was found.
In an exchange of emails, Roger Tomlin stressed to me that it is vital that the commentary and notes of each tablet are read alongside the transcript and the translation. They have, from the outset, been designed to relate to each other. I cannot stress enough that the comments in the book are my own interpretation of the work of Bowman and Thomas, and all others who have worked on the Vindolanda Tablets and I take full responsibility for any shortcomings there may be.
As I was new to Latin Epigraphy, I made use of Alison Cooley’s Handbook of Latin Epigraphy. There is now an excellent introduction in the two-volume Manual of Roman Everyday Writing.
Cooley, Alison E. The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
The LatinNow website has many valuable resources, with open access publications. I made particular use of Alex Mullen’s Social Factors in the Latinization of the Roman West. Sadly, the other volume available here came out too late for me to use. It will be of particular interest to those interested in the local, Celtic languages, which can be glimpsed in tablets from Uley and Bath.
Imagining Luke-Acts in Roman Britain is entirely dependent on the painstaking work over many years of archaeologists, conservationists, photographers, curators, epigraphers and many more. My first thanks, therefore, must go to all those responsible for their discovery and publication. The Bloomberg Tablets were excavated by the Museum of London Archaeology, with the support of Bloomberg LP. The tablets were photographed by Andy Chopping and drawn, transcribed, translated and interpreted by Roger S. O. Tomlin. They are on display in the London Mithraeum at the Bloomberg building and in the London Museum. My thanks go to Roger Tomlin for his encouragement and permission to use his work so extensively.