Most people wrote their correspondence on ostraca (broken pieces of pottery) then found someone who was heading in the right general direction to carry the message to their distant beloved or whomever. Probably this Oxyrhynchus papyrus heap came from the Byzantine era version of the NSA. :^)
“...then found someone who was heading in the right general direction to carry the message...”
And thus was born the subpoena delivery!!!!!!!!!
Those same pottery shards were used to cast votes to exclude undesirables from a community, and is from whence we get the word, "ostracize."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracon
"Voting ostraca (for ostracism, Ancient Greece) An ostracon (Greek: ὄστρακον ostrakon, plural ὄστρακα ostraka) is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ostraca refer to sherds or even small pieces of stone that have writing scratched into them. Usually these are considered to have been broken off before the writing was added; ancient people used the cheap, plentiful and durable broken pieces of pottery around them as convenient places to place writing for a wide variety of purposes, mostly very short inscriptions, but in some cases surprisingly long."
OSTRACISM
http://theconversation.com/lessons-from-ancient-athens-the-art-of-exiling-your-enemies-68983
One such unlucky winner was Aristides the Just, an aristocratic statesman and renowned general. The biographer Plutarch recounts a story of his ostracism (which is probably fanciful, but a good yarn nonetheless):
"Now at the time of which I was speaking, as the voters were inscribing their ostraka, it is said that an unlettered and utterly boorish fellow handed his ostrakon to Aristides, and asked him to write ‘Aristides’ on it. He, astonished, asked the man what possible wrong Aristides had done him."
"‘None whatever,’ was the answer, ‘I don’t even know the fellow, but I am tired of hearing him everywhere called 'The Just.“ On hearing this, Aristides made no answer, but wrote his name on the ostrakon and handed it back."
"Damn it, I didn't mean to hit 'Send'!"
"Hey, come back!"