Late Antiquity, loosely 300-600 CE, is frequently regarded as a golden era of letter writing due to the sheer volume of text that has survived. In that time, we can see both a general substantial increase in epistolary writing and a boom in the number of surviving letter collections. Analysis of late antique social networks through such correspondence has shown that social ties in this period often spanned the Mediterranean, although toward the end of the sixth century contact between east and west was beginning to dwindle. However, while late antique letters show some changes from earlier periods in the content of their letters (particularly among Christian writers, although much of this is more self-styling than actual substance, as letter types that are, at face value, particular to Christian epistolary writing are often related to non-Christian predecessors), much less changes in terms of the practicalities of posting a letter. Also, in this instance we generally can’t but also don’t actually need to go as specific as a fifty year period, as we’re dealing with more continuity than disruption. Changes in practice in late antiquity are more a matter of access, which was broadened somewhat, than anything.

A large number of extant letters from antiquity, including the period from 300-600 CE, survive on papyrus, which could then be folded, secured, and sealed before being sent out (the use of a seal or autograph as a mark of authenticity continues in late antiquity, but their use long predate this period). But papyrus was not the only available option. In addition to papyrus, ancient letters were written on either waxed or whitened wooden tablets, potsherds, lead, and wood. Additionally, if the letter was thought to have some kind of public importance that might make its memorialization important, they were sometimes inscribed in stone. Obviously the last of these only happened when the letter was sent by someone important, and different groups may have had unequal access to high quality writing materials (we do hear some complaints about damaged letters with low-quality papyrus, for instance, whereas potsherds are both cheap and available to everyone, etc.), but at least in Egypt archives show papyrus letters written by correspondents of a wide range of social statuses, indicating a certain level of broad availability.

We also have multiple extant examples in papyrus of directions for letter couriers which might accompany such a letter as well, which in some instances have survived to us independently - it’s been suggested that these instructional letters could be brought back to the original sender with the recipient’s response and re-used multiple times, explaining why they have been found at the location of the sender rather than the recipient.

So if you were sending a letter in late antiquity, you had a lot of options available to you for writing materials and those materials might have traveled all over the Mediterranean world. What was in the letter you were sending would depend on individual status and situation, but there were certain necessary consistencies in how it was sent out.

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Allen, Pauline. Greek and Latin Letters in Late Antiquity: The Christianisation of a Literary Form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Ebbeler, Jennifer. “Tradition, Innovation, and Epistolary Mores.” In A Companion to Late Antiquity. Edited by Philip Rousseau. Blackwell, 2009. 270-284.

Hutchinson, G.O. “Down Among the Documents: Criticism and Papyrus Letters.” In Ancient Letters: Classical and Late Antique Epistolography. Edited by Ruth Morello and A.D. Morrison. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Llewelyn, S.R. “The Function of the σημασία-Texts, P.Oxy. XXXIV 2719 and SB XVI 12550.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 104 (1994): 230-232.

Sogno, Cristiana, Bradley K. Storin, and Edward J. Watts. Late Antique Letter Collections: A Critical Introduction and Reference Guide. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2016.

Trapp. M.B. Greek and Latin Letters: An Anthology with Translation. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003.