ANCIENT LETTER

ANCIENT LETTER

Letter of Isias to Hephaistion

Isias to her brother Hephaistion [greeting].

If you are well and other things are going right, it would accord with the prayer which I make continually to the gods. I myself and the child and all the household are in good health and think of you always. When I received your letter from Horos, in which you announce that you are in katoche in the Serapeum at Memphis, for the news that you are well I straightway thanked the gods, but about your not coming home, when all the others who had been secluded there have come, I am ill-pleased, because after having piloted myself and your child through such bad times and been driven to every extremity owing to the price of wheat, I thought that now at least, with you at home, I should enjoy some respite, whereas you have not even thought of coming home nor given any regard to our circumstances, remembering how I was in want of everything while you were still here, not to mention this long lapse of time and these critical days, during which you have sent us nothing. As, moreover, Horos who delivered the letter has brought news of your having been released from detention, I am thoroughly ill-pleased. Notwithstanding, as your mother also is annoyed, for her sake as well as for mine please return to the city, if nothing more pressing holds you back. You will do me a favor by taking care of your bodily health. Farewell.

Year 2, Epeiph 30. (Address) To Hephaistion.

Read by Valdemir Mota de Menezes, the Scribe

AUGUSTALES

Augustales: were members of a religious and social institution common in the cities of the western Roman empire. The vast majority of Augustales were freedpersons. They attended to the veneration of the emperor and often acted as benefactors funding public entertainments and building-projects as well as paying entry fees. In return, they enjoyed the prestige of their office, which functioned almost as a magistracy. The institution thus provided wealthy freedpersons, who were legally barred from holding civic magistracies, with opportunities for public display and prestige. See also freedperson.

GOD OF MEDICINE

Asklepios (or Asclepius): was the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek religion. The son of Apollo and Coronis, he was worshipped throughout the Greek world, but his most famous sanctuary was located in Epidaurus which is situated in the northeastern Peloponnese. Sanctuaries at Pergamon (in modern-day Turkey) and Kos were also renowned. The main attribute of Asklepios is a physician’s staff with an Asklepian snake wrapped around it. The cult of Asklepios became very popular during the 300s BCE and the cult centers (known as Askleieia, singular Asklepieion) were used by priests to cure the sick. The patient would spend the night at the sanctuary in a healing process known as incubation. During the night they would supposedly be visited by the god in a dream. Priests would interpret the dreams and then recommend a remedy or give advice on how they could be cured with perhaps a recommended visit to the baths and gymnasiums. Surgical implements and reliefs depicting surgical tools have been found associated with Asklepieia.

AELIA CAPITOLINA

By: Scribe Valdemir Mota de Menezes

Aelia Capitolina: is the name given to the Roman colony city of Jerusalem on the western hill in the area of the modern Jewish Quarter, built and named by the Roman emperor Hadrian. “Aelia” was derived from one of the emperor’s names; “Capitolina” recalled Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the deities of the Capitoline Triad in Rome, who became the patrons of Hadrian’s new city. He also erected a temple honoring Jupiter Capitolinus on the Temple Mount, and a temple to the Roman goddess Aphrodite on the present site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Probably Hadrian’s rebuilding and renaming of Jerusalem sparked in part the Second Jewish revolt under Bar Kokhba (132-135 CE).

ACHAIAN

By: Scribe Valdemir Mota de Menezes

Achaian (or Achaean): is a native or inhabitant of the later Greek province of Achaia (Achaea). Achaia is the northernmost region of the Peloponnese, a large peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece, which is separated from the northern part of the country by the Gulf of Corinth.

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Achaeans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Achaeans are the inhabitants of Achaea in Greece. However, the meaning of Achaea changed during the course of Ancient history, and thus Achaeans may refer to:

• Achaeans (Homer), a name used by Homer in the Iliad for Mycenaean-era Greeks in general
• Achaeans (tribe), one of the major tribes of Greece according to the Hesiodic foundation myth
• Achaea (ancient region), historical inhabitants, during the Archaic and Classical periods, of the Peloponnesian region of Achaea
• Achaea Phthiotis, a central Greek region throughout the ancient Greek period
• Achaean League
• Achaea, the modern Greek administrative unit