古埃及尘封千年家书破解成功

古埃及尘封千年家书破解成功

American student decodes 1,800-year-old letter sent by Egyptian soldier to his family

A student has decoded a 1,800-year-old letter sent by an Egyptian soldier to his family which bears striking similarities to those serving on the front line today.
Graduate Grant Adamson, of Rice University in the United States, cracked the words on the document after being assigned the task in 2011 during a summer institute at Brigham Young University in Utah.

The letter, which was written mostly in Greek, was sent by Aurelius Polion, a military recruit serving in a Roman legion in Europe.

According to Adamson, the soldier addresses his brother, sister and family who have not been writing to him for some time.

“I pray that you are in good health night and day, and I always make obeisance before all the gods on your behalf. 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 (are),” the letter says, according.

“I sent six letters to you. The moment you have me in mind, I shall obtain leave from the consular [commander], and I shall come to you so that you may know that I am your brother. For I demanded nothing from you for the army, but I fault you because although I write to you, none of you (?) … has consideration. Look, your (?) neighbor … I am your brother.”

Adamson, who majors in religious studies, believes that Polion was stationed in the province of Pannonia Inferior at Aquincum, now Budapest, but may have travelled as far as Byzantium, now modern day Istanbul, as he was part of a legion known to be mobile.

The letter was originally discovered in 1899 by an expedition team of Grenfell and Hunt in the ancient Egyptian city of Tebtunis.

It had been catalogued briefly but no-one had been able to break its writings.

And even now, some of the letter’s contents remain uncertain and impossible to reconstruct.

In a statement, Grant Adamson said: "This letter was just one of many documents that Grenfell and Hunt unearthed. And because it was in such bad shape, no one had worked much on it for about 100 years."

"Polion was literate, and literacy was rarer then that it is now, but his handwriting, spelling and Greek grammar are erratic. He likely would have been multilingual, communicating in Egyptian or Greek at home in Egypt before he enlisted in the army and then communicating in Latin with the army in Pannonia."

To work out the date of the letter, Adamson relied on handwriting styles and other hints such as the soldier's name Aurelius.

Because of the letter’s close relation to familial concern, Adamson’s publication has featured in the latest bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists.

一封1800年前的古埃及家书重见天日，其内容和现在前线士兵的家书相差无几。该信件的破解者是一名美国莱斯大学的博士生——格兰特·阿达姆松。2011年，当他在犹他州杨百翰大学暑期学院时，他受命破解这封信上的文字，终于他不负众望，破解成功。

这封信的作者名叫奥里利乌斯·波利翁，是一位来自欧洲的军人，据推测当时他新加入罗马部队。这封信是用希腊语写成的。据阿达姆松说，信中的内容主要是问候家人。

信中写道：“我每天都向神灵祈祷，希望家里所有人身体健康。我不停地给你们写信，但你们都已把我忘记。不过我还是尽心尽力给你们写信。我非常想念你们，时刻惦记着你们。然而你们从没给我写过一封信，告诉我你们的健康和生活状况。我十分担心你们。虽然你们经常收到我写的信，但是你们从来没有给我回信，让我知道你们过得怎么样。”

信中还写道：“我给你们寄过六封信。一旦你们想我了，我就会向长官告假，回来看你们，这样你们也许才知道我还是你们的兄弟。虽然我在部队不需要你们任何东西，但我要责备你们，因为我给你们写信，你们没有一个人……想起我。看看，你们……邻居……我是你们的兄弟。”

阿达姆松所学专业是宗教学。他认为，波利翁当时驻扎在阿昆库姆（布达佩斯）的下潘诺尼亚省。但是也可能在更远的拜赞庭（伊斯坦布尔）。因为他所在部队经常转移。

这封信最早发现于1899年，是格伦费尔和亨特两名考古人员在埃及古城泰比突尼斯挖掘出来的。当时只是略做记录，没人能够破解上面的文字。甚至直到现在，信件因遭破坏严重，有些地方无法修复，其中的内容也不得而知。

格兰特·阿达姆松在一份声明中称：“这封信件只是格伦费尔和亨特发掘的许多文稿中的一封。因为信件被破坏程度非常严重，所以这一百多年来，没有人为它大花精力。”

阿达姆松还说：“波利翁是识字的，当时识字的人极少。但是他的笔迹，拼写和语法都很古怪。他可能知晓多种语言，在埃及老家的时候说埃及语或希腊语，后来在潘诺尼亚参军，就说拉丁语。”

阿达姆松根据信件的字迹以及信件主人的名字等其他信息来判断写信的日期。因为这封信广受业内人士关注，所以阿达姆松的文章一发表就在美国故纸文献考证工作者协会的最新公告中占据重要地位。

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