[Red Badger]

Dating back about 1,800 years, this letter was written, mainly in Greek, by Aurelius Polion, an Egyptian man who served with the legio II Adiutrix legion around modern-day Hungary. In the letter, discovered more than a century ago in the Egyptian town of Tebunis and only recently translated, Polion pleads with his family to respond. Credit: Image courtesy Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley

The back of the letter contains instructions for the carrier to deliver it to a military veteran whose name may have been Acutius Leon who could forward it to Polion's family. Although the Roman Empire had a military postal system, Polion appears not to have used it, entrusting the veteran instead. Credit: Image courtesy Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley

[Red Badger]

GGG PING!..................

[12th_Monkey]

Seen that article the other day, didn’t think anyone would be interested in it but me. Thanks for posting it.

[goldstategop]

Touching and very sad. Not a native Egyptian but one of the descendants of Alexander’s army that conquered Egypt.

Love is so overrated... even 1800 years ago.

[Psalm 144]

Poor guy. You have to wonder what was going on. Since his letter survived, he probably was very loved by someone.

[goldstategop]

Pannonia largely corresponds to what today called Hungary. This was in the 3rd Century, a time of crisis for the Roman Empire. It isn’t surprising it was not a happy time for people alive then.

And this guy is homesick serving far from his land and every one he knew. Human nature hasn’t changed since then.

[The KG9 Kid]

Hello Mu'Ptah,
Hello Pharoah,
Here I am at,
Camp Legionario.

[windcliff]

Maybe he should have tried the military postal service instead.

[dblshot]

I wonder who the first soldier was to get a Dear John letter from his girl back home.Dear Aurilious, it has been so long since we have been together and Joesephus has asked me to marry him so many times that I finally had to say yes. I hope you find some nice Roman girl and have lots of chidren. P.S.If you don’t need the sandals I sent you last year since your last letter said you were up to your knees in snow, please return them. It is as you know very warm here.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Sheeesh! And I thought my grandfather’s WW II V-Mails were hard to read!

[Tallguy]

Probably complaining about the MRE’s...

[Billthedrill]

Dear Mom,

My detailer guaranteed me duty on the French Riviera if I re-upped and here I am up to my butt in mud in this godforsaken place...

[minnesota_bound]

Hello Muddah, hello Fadduh,
Here I am at Camp Gaul
Camp is very entertaining
and they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining.

I went hiking with Cassius
He developed poison ivy
You remember Brutas
He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.

All the soldiers hate the slaves
And the lake has alligators
And the head Roman soldier wants no sissies
So he reads to us from something called Ulysses.

Now I don’t want this should scare ya
But my bunkmate has malaria
You remember Augustas
They’re about to organize a searching party.

Take me home, oh muddah fadduh, take me home, I hate Gaul
Don’t leave me out in the forest where I might get eaten by a bear.
Take me home, I promise I will not make noise or mess the house with other boys, oh please don’t make me stay, I’ve been here one whole day.

Dearest fadduh, darling muddah,
How’s my precious little bruddah?
Let me come home if ya miss me
I will even let Aunt Agrippina hug and kiss me.

Wait a minute, it stopped hailing,
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing,
Playing Harpustum gee that’s better,
Muddah Fadduh please disregard this letter.

[Squantos]

Tell it to the Chaplin troop...now get back on point !