I'm interested in the logistics of the postal system in Rome. I know a wealthy citizen could afford to simply send a courier, but lets say my family is of the poorest Roman citizens. Specifically, I want to know:
-Where does she take the letter?
-How is it sorted, how is it carried to Britain?
-Once it arrives, how does it make its way to me?
-What is the probability (just a ballpark estimate) that the letter actually gets delivered?
And for a bonus question, lets say my mother wants to send me 3 sesterces, what can she do to ensure I receive the money?
Thanks!
A similar question came up a couple of months ago, and while you are waiting for fresh responses to your enquiry, you might like to check that thread out:
We have lots of surviving letters from Roman soldiers stationed in Britain or Egypt requesting items from their families. How would those items be sent? Was there a Roman postal service?, with u/princeofnumenor and u/SleepyScholar
The short answer is that, unless you were wealthy enough to use the official postal service, you'd need to send a letter home via a comrade who was travelling in the right direction:
This would have been an incredibly slow process and lots of the Roman epistolary tradition includes admonishments and complaints of long delays between letters.