Emotional letter of ancient Roman soldier from 1,800 years ago

The letter revealed in part the sentiment and longing for the Roman soldier to participate in fighting for the army.

Recently, the content of the 1,800-year-old letter of an Egyptian soldier written to the family was revealed. The soldier's name is said to be Aurelius Polion - volunteering to fight for the Roman army in Europe.

More than a century ago, the archaeological team led by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt discovered this ancient letter outside a temple in the Egyptian town of Tebtunis. However, just recently, Grant Adamson - a doctorate candidate at Rice University created the infrared image of the letter to learn more about the content.

The front of the letter lost quite a bit

The content of the letter revealed that the young man had a conflict with his mother and was planning to return to visit his family soon. In addition to the letter writing section, I asked my mother (a bread seller), sister and younger brother, and the following paragraph also said: 'I always pray that I have good health and always show my sincerity on your behalf. glass with God. I can't stop writing for you, but I don't remember anything about you. I feel quite worried because I know that even though I receive many letters from you, I don't respond even once, let me know . '.

The end of the sentence above is not intact. The researchers translated most of the letter, but because the letter was damaged and lost a few pieces, many sections were missing.

The back of the letter with the instruction to the veteran friend's house

In the letter, the young soldier recounted that he wrote six letters back to his family but did not receive a reply. He asked anxiously, whether the family was having any problems. He also wrote: "I will ask the commanding general to come back to visit my family, then I will meet you to remind me that you are my brother '.

The letter partly demonstrates that family sentiment still governs their spirits even though they are just volunteers who join the war.

On the back of the letter are instructions to help the postman find a veteran's home named Acutius Leon who will deliver the letter to Polion's family.

The temple where the letter was found

Although at this time, the Roman Empire developed a private correspondence system in the military, but perhaps Polion did not use it. Instead, this young soldier felt more confident in the veteran Acutius. Currently, the letter is being stored at Bancroft Library, University of California (USA).