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| 0:00 | · | this is a letter written by a Roman |
| 0:01 | · | Marine over 1,800 years ago it was |
| 0:04 | · | preserved by the dry heat of the |
| 0:06 | · | Egyptian desert and is perfectly legible |
| 0:08 | · | today it was written by apion a Roman of |
| 0:11 | · | Egyptian descent he was a Marine in myum |
| 0:14 | · | which was an Italian Naval base and he |
| 0:16 | · | sent this letter back to Egypt via the |
| 0:18 | · | military Postal Service It Was Written |
| 0:20 | · | in Greek which was the linga Franco of |
| 0:22 | · | the Eastern Mediterranean at the time |
| 0:24 | · | now you're about to hear what appion |
| 0:26 | · | wrote over 18800 years ago to his father |
| 0:29 | · | appion to epimachus his father and Lord |
| 0:32 | · | very many greetings before all else I |
| 0:35 | · | pray for your health and that you may |
| 0:37 | · | always be well and prosperous together |
| 0:39 | · | with my sister her daughter and my |
| 0:41 | · | brother thank the Lord carpus that when |
| 0:43 | · | I was in danger at Sea he straight away |
| 0:45 | · | saved me on arriving at my scum I |
| 0:47 | · | received from the emperor three gold |
| 0:49 | · | pieces for traveling expenses and it was |
| 0:51 | · | well with me now I ask you my lord and |
| 0:53 | · | father write me a letter telling me |
| 0:55 | · | first of your welfare second of how my |
| 0:57 | · | brother and sister are doing and third |
| 0:59 | · | that am I devoutly greet your hand |
| 1:01 | · | because you educated me well and I hope |
| 1:03 | · | thereby to have quick advancement if the |
| 1:06 | · | gods so will give my salutations to |
| 1:08 | · | capiton my brother my sister sanilla and |
| 1:12 | · | my friends I have sent you a portrait of |
| 1:14 | · | Myself by the way of UK teon my new |
| 1:17 | · | Roman name is Antonius Maximus and my |
| 1:20 | · | ship is called the athenon I pray for |
| 1:23 | · | your health one of the most striking |
| 1:25 | · | elements about this letter is just how |
| 1:27 | · | much gratitude Aon shows towards his |
| 1:29 | · | father maos and how devot religious he |
| 1:32 | · | is especially towards his Patron God |
| 1:35 | · | carapus I mean Aion seems so grateful at |
| 1:37 | · | the prospect of receiving a letter from |
| 1:39 | · | his father carapus is a really |
| 1:41 | · | interesting deity he was worshiped |
| 1:43 | · | primarily by Greeks who lived in |
| 1:45 | · | Northern Egypt and he was a sort of |
| 1:47 | · | mixture of the Egyptian gods Osiris and |
| 1:49 | · | AIS he talks about receiving three gold |
| 1:52 | · | pieces from the Emperor as a traveling |
| 1:54 | · | expense and this can sort of be seen as |
| 1:56 | · | a signing on bonus it's really hard to |
| 1:58 | · | put into words just how much money these |
| 2:00 | · | three gold pieces would have been worth |
| 2:03 | · | but I'm going to give it a go if Aon |
| 2:04 | · | took one of these gold pieces known as |
| 2:06 | · | an alas down to the Local Tavern he |
| 2:09 | · | could get about 300 pints of beer he |
| 2:12 | · | could live it quite large indeed but as |
| 2:14 | · | we're going to find out from one of his |
| 2:16 | · | later letters he decides instead to |
| 2:19 | · | build a family with this money instead |
| 2:20 | · | of going down the tavern good for appion |
| 2:23 | · | so appion is a marine based at myum now |
| 2:25 | · | we might think that being a marine is |
| 2:27 | · | quite glamorous but in Roman times it |
| 2:29 | · | really wasn't it was the Bottom Rung of |
| 2:31 | · | the Roman military you really didn't |
| 2:33 | · | want to be a marine and yet appion seems |
| 2:36 | · | really grateful for the opportunity he |
| 2:38 | · | received instead of gloriously fighting |
| 2:40 | · | from boats Marines were responsible for |
| 2:42 | · | things like building boats uh cleaning |
| 2:45 | · | roadways doing some real grubby manual |
| 2:48 | · | labor not the Glorious fighting that you |
| 2:50 | · | might expect so appon did include a |
| 2:52 | · | portrait with his letter sent via the |
| 2:54 | · | military post service but unfortunately |
| 2:56 | · | we don't have this preserved the example |
| 2:58 | · | I showed you was from something called |
| 3:00 | · | The fiam Mummy portraits these portraits |
| 3:02 | · | were placed on sarcophagy of Egyptian |
| 3:05 | · | mummies I say Egyptian but actually |
| 3:07 | · | they're more like Greco Egyptians |
| 3:09 | · | because the region where these were |
| 3:10 | · | found was primarily inhabited by Greeks |
| 3:13 | · | who had conquered Egypt many centuries |
| 3:15 | · | prior at the end of the letter appion |
| 3:18 | · | says that he has a new Roman name which |
| 3:20 | · | suggests that he was made a citizen |
| 3:22 | · | Antonius Maximus or big Tony as we'd |
| 3:25 | · | probably call him today in New York was |
| 3:27 | · | his new Roman name and this shows one |
| 3:29 | · | really interesting point the appion |
| 3:31 | · | although he is from Egypt and he's of |
| 3:33 | · | Greek descent he really is proud of his |
| 3:36 | · | new Roman identity he's proud of it so |
| 3:38 | · | much so even though he was at the Bottom |
| 3:41 | · | Rung of the Roman military as a marine |
| 3:43 | · | that's quite something if we look at the |
| 3:45 | · | back of the letter we can actually see |
| 3:46 | · | who this is addressed to so it says two |
| 3:48 | · | epim makas from his son appion and the |
| 3:51 | · | address is Philadelphia which isn't just |
| 3:54 | · | a city in the United States it was |
| 3:56 | · | originally a Greek city in Egypt but |
| 3:58 | · | there's something really interesting the |
| 4:00 | · | second line here it says deliver at the |
| 4:02 | · | camp of the first cohort of the appaman |
| 4:04 | · | to julianis Vice secretary this letter |
| 4:07 | · | from appion to be forwarded to his |
| 4:09 | · | father epimachus the reason this is |
| 4:12 | · | interesting is because you were not |
| 4:14 | · | allowed to use the military postal |
| 4:16 | · | service for personal correspondence that |
| 4:18 | · | was considered a nogo so many historians |
| 4:21 | · | have debated what this line actually |
| 4:22 | · | means some people think that julianus |
| 4:24 | · | was a friend of epimachus and that he |
| 4:26 | · | could Grease the wheels of the military |
| 4:28 | · | Postal Service but no one will ever know |
| 4:30 | · | for certain how appon was able to send a |
| 4:33 | · | personal letter via the military Postal |
| 4:35 | · | Service luckily we have quite a few of |
| 4:37 | · | these Papyrus letters that do survive |
| 4:39 | · | but amazingly we have two from appion |
| 4:43 | · | this time he doesn't use his Greek name |
| 4:44 | · | appion he uses exclusively his Roman |
| 4:47 | · | name so here is a second letter from |
| 4:50 | · | apion the Roman Marine over 18800 years |
| 4:54 | · | ago Antonius Maximus to his sister |
| 4:57 | · | Sabina many greetings |
| 4:59 | · | or else I pray that you are healthy for |
| 5:01 | · | I myself are well making mention of you |
| 5:04 | · | before the gods here I received a little |
| 5:06 | · | letter from antoninus our fellow Citizen |
| 5:10 | · | and when I learned that you were well I |
| 5:11 | · | rejoiced much and I do not hesitate to |
| 5:14 | · | write to you about my welfare and that |
| 5:16 | · | of my family at every opportunity greet |
| 5:19 | · | Maximus and copre my Lord my spouse |
| 5:21 | · | alidia greets you and so does Maximus my |
| 5:25 | · | son whose birthday is on the 13th of 5 |
| 5:28 | · | according to Greek Reckoning |
| 5:30 | · | as well as elpis and Fortuna greet my |
| 5:32 | · | Lord I pray that you may be well this |
| 5:35 | · | letter is addressed to his sister Sabina |
| 5:38 | · | from her brother Antonius Maximus it's |
| 5:41 | · | simply amazing how we have this family |
| 5:42 | · | correspondence from appion to his family |
| 5:45 | · | all the way in Egypt he has a wife now |
| 5:47 | · | and a son and he regularly updates his |
| 5:49 | · | sister about them if you're curious |
| 5:51 | · | about maximus's birthday a p is probably |
| 5:54 | · | around July so I hope you enjoyed |
| 5:56 | · | hearing the words of apion 18800 years |
| 5:59 | · | after he wrote wrote them this is really |
| 6:01 | · | interesting because we know that people |
| 6:02 | · | in the past were just like us but |
| 6:04 | · | letters like this prove that they |
| 6:06 | · | thought about things like their family |
| 6:08 | · | their gods and their job and career |
| 6:11 | · | prospects just like we do today |
