"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Letters Home

Namely, a translation of a letter home from a Roman soldier, about 1800 years ago.

“I pray that you are in good health night and day, and I always make obeisance before all the gods on your behalf,” Polion wrote. “I do not cease writing to you, but you do not have me in mind. But I do my part writing to you always and do not cease bearing you [in mind] and having you in my heart. But you never wrote to me concerning your health, how you are doing. I am worried about you because although you received letters from me often, you never wrote back to me so that I may know how you.[. . .]”

Sound familiar?

The papyrus itself has been in storage for about a hundred years -- it's in pretty bad shape, so no one wanted to tackle it. Here's the story:


You can find the complete letter and Adamson's paper here.



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