"For each time I remind myself of you, neither do I eat, nor do I drink, but I cry": family relations of Roman soldiers according to papyri

Ivanova Elena Sergeevna Master's Degree Student, Department of History of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages, N.I.Lobachevsky National Research University 603159, Russia, Nizhegorodskaya oblast', g. Nizhnii Novgorod, ul. Sergeya Akimova, 28, of. 1 selenai.ei95@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The family plays a fundamental role in all societies. Nevertheless, in some periods of time, there were social groups in certain spaces that, for one reason or another, were forbidden to create families. In the Roman Empire, such a population group, starting from the reign of Octavian Augustus and up to 197 AD, were military personnel of all units, but not of all ranks — the ban did not apply to top commanders ^{[1, p. 154; 2, p. 353]}. However, despite the existence of a legal ban, the military still formed marriage unions and had children, as evidenced by epigraphic sources ^{[3, p. 139-145]}.

Indeed, among the commemorating persons in the soldiers' epitaphs of the I-II centuries AD, there are not only comrades in the service, but also wives, children, parents, brothers and sisters. For example, "Gaius Julius Maximus, son of Gaius, tribe of Claudius, originally from Savaria, soldier of the XV Apollonian Legion, 34 years old, in service for 16 years, he is buried here. During his lifetime, Julia, the daughter of Komat, was made a spouse to the most worthy and Julius Maximus to his father as a sign of devotion" [AE 1978, 625; See other examples in 4-6: AE 1900, 223; AE 1983, 756; AE 1940, 5; AE 1967, 370; AE 1965, 165; RIU 192, 629; CIL III, 3273]. In this regard, we were interested in the question of what role the family played in the life of servicemen, how the relations within the family developed after one of its members left for the army. Letters of servicemen to relatives preserved on papyri allow us to get an answer to this question.

To conduct this study, we used letters mainly from the Michigan Papyrus Collection [Papyrus texts are available in the TM Texts database [Electronic resource] / Trismegistos. An interdisciplinary Platform for Ancient World Texts and Related Information. — Access mode: www.trismegistos.org/tm/index .php; translation of the above quotes is ours — E. I.]. They were found on the territory of the Egyptian cities — Karanis, Copta, Tebtunis, as well as in the Fayum oasis. The papyri date back to the II century AD .

Speaking about their content, first of all, it is worth noting that these letters have a clear structure. In the beginning of the greeting of the sender to the recipient, for example, " " — "Saturnin mother Aphrodite sends a big Hello" ^{[7; P. Mich. III. 203_1 (1)]}. This is followed by the wish of health or well being: " " — "first of all, I pray that you are healthy and happy" [P. Mich. III. 203_1 (2)]. Despite the commonality of language, such requests cannot be called a mere formality ^{[8, 9]}. German researcher of emotions Creasy Kotsifou connects pray for the health of the letters pilgrims mark the names of relatives on the walls of temples, which enabled it to receive the blessing of God for them ^{[10, p. 65]}. In addition, the researcher notes that this formula is present in letters to relatives and friends, but it is not present in correspondence between slaves and masters ^{[10, p. 66]}. Also, it is worth noting that some letters are almost entirely devoted to the welfare of the addressee. Thus, the soldier Julius Apollinaris, in a letter to his father Julius Sabein, reproaches the latter several times for ignoring his son's questions about his own well-being: "It depresses me that I have written to you many times through Saturninus, the standard-bearer, as well as through Julian, the son of Longinus, and through Dius, and you are still I was not answered about my well-being. Now I ask you directly, first of all, to write to me about your well-being" (5-11), "Now, if you love me, you will immediately take up the task of writing to me about your well-being" (33-34) [P. Mich. VIII. 466]. In general, according to Roger Bagnall ^{[11, p. 14]}, for ancient people separated by a long distance, knowing about each other's well-being was already more than enough.

As for the main content of the letters, it can begin with a reproach phrase to the addressee caused by the lack of a response on his part. Moreover, in the letters of military personnel, such a reproach is often not a literary cliche. Thus, from Valery Gemellus' letter to his brother, we can conclude that the reason for the latter's silence is resentment against Gemellus, since he preferred military service to peaceful life at home: "I urge you, brother, make peace with me, because in military service I need frank conversations with you. After all, you haven't treated me like a brother since I left home?" [P. Mich. VIII. 502 (8–10)]. The family of Aurelius Polion could have had similar motives, to whom he sent six letters and did not receive a single response. Due to the silence of family members, Aurelius Polion was going to take a vacation to visit his relatives to prove to them that he was "their brother" ^{[12, p. 83-85]}.

The letters of those soldiers whose families sympathized with the choice of military service by their relatives are imbued with no less a sense of homesickness. These soldiers also often write about their attempts to get a vacation or find another way to visit their family. So, Saturnil in a letter to his mother Aphrodite tells her the following: "If the gods allow, then I will find an opportunity to get a task and come to you with letters. I want you to know that it's been three months since I came to Pselkis, but I still haven't found an opportunity to come to you. Recently I was afraid to go, because they say that the prefect is on the road, he will take my letters and send them back to the military unit, I would only incur extra expenses" [P. Mich. III. 203_1 (7-12)]. Saturnilus probably wanted to be assigned to deliver military documents to the prefect of Egypt. And on the way to Alexandria, he hoped to stop by Karanis to visit his family. But if the prefect had met him south of Karanis, Saturnil's plan would have failed ^{[13, p. 288-292]}.

In addition, we learn from Saturnil's letter about his intention to send his wife and children to his mother's house, probably so that she would take care of them during his 18-month service in the garrison outside Pselkis [P. Mich. III. 203_1 (25-26)]. This certificate can contribute to the solution of the issue of the place of residence of soldiers' families. Since archaeologists found items (including shoes and jewelry) belonging to women and children on the territories of military camps, some researchers suggested that the "marriage ban" was not observed to such an extent that the wives and children of soldiers could live with them in the barracks ^{[14, p. 24]}. However, in this case, Saturnilus would not have had to send his family away from him. It seems more plausible to assume that soldiers' families lived in kanaba — cave settlements ^{[15, p. 28]}. The camp where Saturnil's permanent service took place was located on the territory of the city of Pselkis, where the warrior had the opportunity to purchase separate housing for his family. But during the garrison service, perhaps in the desert, Saturnil had nowhere to place his wife and children, and so he sent them to his father's house.

There are also reverse cases in the letters — when military personnel are asked to come to them because they need care. So, Claudius Terentianus asks his father to come to him in Alexandria, including because of his illness: "... you will do well if you quickly finish unresolved matters and arrive by ship to me. After all, the disease does not cause laughter now — I even need someone to feed me. You will hear about it when you are in the city" [P. Mich. VIII. 477 (35–39)]. Nevertheless, from the following letter of Claudius Terentianus, we learn that he has already recovered, and his father has not arrived [P. Mich. VIII. 478].

Returning to Saturnil's letter, we note one small detail: he reminds mothers of the need to feed their children's piglets. Although in this case we are talking, apparently, about pets, from other letters we know that the servicemen, being hundreds of kilometers from home, continued to be interested in household chores ^{[16, p. 316]}. Thus, Apollonia, the wife of Julius Terentian, informs her husband about the reduction in the amount of rent paid to them by Terentian's brother, and about the fertility of olive trees [P. Mich. VIII. 464].

In some cases, such interest could be caused by selfish motives, since from other letters we learn that families were forced to provide some maintenance for a relative who went into the army (for example, "the monthly allowance that you sent me through Julia, and a basket of olives through the slave Julia I received" [P. Mich. III. 203_1 (4-5)] or "send me another jug of olives for my friend — you won't do it for someone else" [P. Mich. III. 203_1 (27-28)A striking example is a letter from an unnamed soldier to his mother, in which he reproaches her for "abandoning him like a dog" because she did not send him any money or things. In addition to the monthly allowance, he asks her for 200 drachmas, which amounted to almost a third of his annual salary [for the amount of a soldier's salary, see 17, p. 57.], an abolla, a hooded cloak, a pair of fascias, a pair of leather tunics and oil ^{[18; BGU III 814]}.

The opposite in tone is the message of Apollinarius to his mother Tasukharia [P. Mich. VIII. 465], who informs her that he has saved up money and bought a gift for her. In general, Apollinaris' letters are the most emotional in our collection. "Whenever I remember you, I don't eat or drink, but I cry" [P. Mich. VIII. 465 (9-10)],— he confesses to Tasukharia. Apollinarius assures his mother of his well-being, informing her of the promotion and that he no longer needs to work hard cutting stones [P. Mich. VIII. 465 (13–17)]. Therefore, he asks her not to worry about him and "to be carefree happy" [P. Mich. VIII. 465 (23-24)]. Close in spirit is the message of the soldier Theon, who writes to his mother to dispel rumors about his illness: "I want you to know that for so long I did not send you a letter because I was in the camp, and not because of illness, so don't worry. I was very upset to find out that you heard that. After all, I wasn't very ill. I swear at the one who told you this" ^{[19; P. Oxy. XII 1481 (2–6)]}.

The letters usually end with a request to send greetings to other family members, relatives and friends. The number of recipients in Saturnil's letter to mother Aphrodite is particularly impressive: "Send greetings to Sokmen and his children, [...] Sabein and Fayse and her children, and my brothers and Tabenka, my sister, her husband and in-laws. <...> Say hello to Tasokmena, my lady sister, and Samban and Suera and her children, and Samba, and all relatives and friends. <...> Send greetings to Gemellus and his wife" [P.Mich. III. 203_1 (29-37)]. Despite the fact that such requests look like a simple manifestation of politeness, the lack of greeting to a loved one could cause offense to the latter. For example, Elin ends a letter to her mother with a complaint about her daughter: "When my little Geraida wrote to her father, she did not greet me, and I do not know why" [P. Giss. 78], and Artemia in a letter to her soldier husband informs him: "Your children greet you, and Allia she sends you a lot of threats because you often wrote and greeted everyone except her" [P. Grenf. I. 53].

Thus, despite the long distances and all the benefits of military service, Roman soldiers did not forget their relatives and tried to keep in regular contact with them ("I want you to know that I sent you three letters this month" [P. Mich. III. 203_1 (3)]). Moreover, the content of their letters is not limited only to practical issues, many of them are devoted to feelings and emotions. In this regard, the letters of servicemen harmoniously fit into the general context of the era, when, according to Arkady Bentsionovich Kovelman ^{[20, p. 64-92]}, representatives of different strata of Roman Egypt (from which the authors of the disassembled letters are from) begin to reflect on what is due and what is, including the proper relationship between parents and children, husband and a wife. And one of the moral requirements for the relationship between close people is the presence of love, the expression of which should have been present on the papyrus. It is love as a moral duty that "forces" Valery Gemella and Aurelius Polion to restore normal relations with family members. And it is precisely in connection with the ideas of due that Julius Apollinaris and other soldiers fill their messages with a large number of sentimental phrases.

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