The Letters of Claudius Terentianus: A 2nd-Century Roman Soldier’s Life

Claudius Terentianus (imagined above) was a Roman soldier who lived almost two thousand years ago, but what did it take to become a part of the Roman legions? Well, for a start, it was a hard life but because he couldn’t get a good enough letter of recommendation, poor old Claudius couldn’t get in except as an auxiliary – and then he had to write a begging letter to his father asking for equipment. Amazingly, this letter - and others from the son - still survives to this day. The letters of Claudius Terentianus survived because they were written on papyrus and preserved by the unusually dry conditions of Roman Egypt (he was a Greek speaking Egyptian, not uncommon at the time). They tell a story of a fairly miserable time, but because he could read and write, this was the key to his advancement. His letters to his father were probably discarded at some point, buried in a rubbish heap among dry sands where the conditions allowed them to survive for almost two thousand years. What's…

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