A Soldier Retires

An Excerpt from the Epikrisis Acts of the Prefect Vibius Maximus

Leah Mascia and Olivier Bonnerot

Lesen Sie hier die deutsche Version dieses Texts.

P.Hamb. I 31 = P.Hamb.graec. 294 = P.Strasb.gr. V 340

This official document, P.Hamb.graec 294, from the Roman administration was written in Greek in 103 CE (reign of Trajan) in the region of the nomos Arsinoites, which is located in the Fayyum pseudooasis. It is an excerpt from the volume of certifications of the status of Lucius Cornelius Antas, a veteran who served for 26 years in the ala Augusta. As was the procedure for veterans of the Roman army who wanted to settle in Egypt, Lucius had to go through a judicial examination called epikrisis to prove his status. At the end of the procedure, he and his family – his wife Antonia, their two daughters Crispina and Ammonarion, and their son Herakleides – could settle in the nomos Arsinoites and were exempt from taxes. The papyrus certifies that he presented a bronze tablet proving his registration along with his family, as well as a copy of the records from the temple of Castor and Pollux, which proved that he had fulfilled his military duties and had been honourably discharged. The reference to a bronze tablet provides an insight into a practice known throughout the provinces of the Roman Empire. Indeed, the tablet probably featured a military diploma, namely a document which certified that the holder had been honourably discharged and/or granted Roman citizenship in exchange for his services. These documents were traditionally engraved on bronze tablets, hundreds of which have been found in various provinces of the empire from Roman Britain to the territories of Cappadocia. While museum collections acquired such bronze tablets predominantly from the antiquarian market, the information that these tablets provide suggests that they were frequently displayed in temples.

A roman military diploma engraved on a bronze tablet.

The end of the text mentions the names (unfortunately incomplete) of three witnesses to the identity of Lucius Cornelius Antas: (Claudius [ _ _ _ ], Ignatius Niger, Iulius [ _ _ _ ]). All three have names of Latin origin, which suggests that, like our veteran Lucius, they settled in the area after serving in the Roman army. Lucius’ father was apparently a soldier himself, since Lucius is said to have been born in a military camp. His father’s name, Herakleides, is typically Greek, and might indicate that he was a native of one of the many Greek-speaking Roman provinces, such as the area of Asia Minor. But it could also have been a nickname, which, as shown by contemporary papyrological records, was a common practice among native and foreign citizens. Lucius named one of his sons after his father Herakleides, which has its origins in the name of the Greek hero Herakles, and one of his daughters after the Egyptian god Ammon. The practice does not come as a surprise; the use of theophoric names, for instance, derived from Egyptian deities was common among immigrants from various areas of the Roman Empire who had settled in the Egyptian lands.

Reed calami and bronze inkwell, courtesy of the archaeological mission of the University of Barcelona in Oxyrhynchus.

Interestingly, the whole text, except for the summary note on the verso, is penned in red ink. Greek documents written in red ink are very rare, and the practice is known in Roman Egypt predominantly in the context of the production of the so-called Greco-Egyptian magical texts and liturgical compositions in the indigenous Egyptian language. However, a number of administrative texts and contracts, mostly from the Fayyum region, including minor findings from other settlements like Oxyrhynchus, were also penned in red ink in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. This colour might have been chosen to highlight the official status of specific documents, like personal certificates and contracts.

The ink analysis shows that the red ink is based on ochre. The graph shows the Raman spectrum for the ink and the reference spectrum for hematite, the main component of red ochre.

A close look at the text reveals several features that provide us with an insight into how this document was produced. Our writer clearly dipped the calamus in the inkwell (atramentarium) many times; for this reason, we can see many shades of red throughout the text. The scribe probably took some time to find the most comfortable position for writing, which might explain the chaotic appearance of the first section of our papyrus. In the laboratory of the Cluster, we used near-infrared reflectography, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and Raman spectroscopy to analyse the inks of this papyrus. The red ink is red ochre, and the black ink used for the summary on the verso is carbon ink.