When we read about the world of the ancient Greeks, we often hear stories of famous and wealthy men and women. But the letters of ordinary people, preserved on papyri in Egypt, show us what they thought and did in their daily lives. Human nature has not changed much in the intervening years.
A man named Zoilus wrote a letter to his mother, Teodora, about family news. He had visited the sister of Techosous, who was ill: “Zoilus to my mother Theodora, greetings.” When I arrived in Thallou today, I found everyone at my brother’s house safe and sound. But my sister Techosous is very sick, and I expect her to give birth to a child today, even if it is only in the 7th month. If we go well, I’ll let you know how it went…”
Letters like this reveal the daily joys and sorrows of those of Antiquity. People were worried about their families, employers were angry with employees, children were lashing out at their parents…
Diogenes forged money and had to flee into exile
The famous Diogenes wrote a letter to his clerkApollogenes, complaining of his laziness: “I have written to you a thousand times to cut the vineyard in Phai… But today I received a letter from you asking what should be done. I answer you: cut, cut, cut, cut!” He repeated it again and again!
Diogenes, the son of Hikesius, a nobleman, was a native of Sinope. Diocles tells that he had to be exiled from his homeland because his father, who had been entrusted with a state treasury, forged coins. Eubulides, however, in his book On Diogenes, says that Diogenes himself forged the money and that he was forced to leave the country with his father. On the other hand, even Diogenes confesses of himself, in his writing Pordalos, that he forged coins.
Some say that, being appointed to oversee the workmen, he was persuaded by them, and went to Delphi or Delos, the birthplace of Apollo, to ask the latter if he would do what they asked him to do. was asked. After the god gave him permission to change the state order, without understanding what it meant, he forged the state coin; being discovered, some say that he was exiled, and others that he voluntarily left the city, fearing the consequences.
When it came to money, the Greeks were like us: some stingy, others generous.
The philosopher Thales showed how easily you can get rich
Hieronymus of Rhodes, in the second book of his work Notes sparse, tells that the famous Thales, wanting to show how easy it is to get rich and predicting that a rich harvest of olives was announced, rents all the presses of the island and so on. he earns a lot of money
The case of Solon, son of Execestides, born in Salamis. His first success introduced in Athens was the abolition of debt. People borrowed money to guarantee their person and many drove slaves. Solon himself renounced his claim on a debt of seven talents, which someone had borrowed from his father, and he encouraged others to follow his example.
Demetrius of Magnesia recounts that he entrusted his money to a banker, with the condition that if his children proved to be plebeians, he would give them, and if they became philosophers, he would distribute them to the people, for his children, embracing philosophy. , I wouldn’t need anything
Harpalos, the embezzlement of Alexander the Great’s money and the bribes then given to escape
Harpalos was Alexander the Great’s treasurer in Babylon. When Alexander had arrived in India, Harpalos, believing that the king would not return from his campaign, squandered large sums of money on misfortunes and parties. Knowing that Alexander was alive and returning to Babylon, Harpalus, frightened, took a large amount of money, about 3000 talents, and fled with an army to Greece, asking the Athenians to receive him, placing them at the disposal of the army and the money . But it was not successful.
The Athenians imprisoned him, and deposited his money in custody on the Acropolis. But Harpalos escapes from the prison, and on the Acropolis is found a much smaller amount than that deposited originally. The rest of the money is believed to have been received as bribes from various politicians to facilitate Harpalos’ escape. The accusations go in all directions. Under the auspices of the Areopagus, an inquiry is made at the supreme criminal court in Athens, and after a long period of research, a list of politicians who have benefited from the money of Harpalos is given. At the top of the list is Demosthenes. He was sued and finally sentenced to a relatively small fine, when the penalty for corruption was death.
Menippus was of Phoenician origin, a slave, as Achaicos says in his Ethics… However, greed made him persevere with such perseverance that he managed to become a Theban citizen. II. Hermip says that he used to lend money by taking interest calculated on a daily basis. They usually give interest-bearing loans to shipowners as a guarantee (money lent to shipowners also carries the highest interest rates, the risks are proportionate); so slowly he loved a great fortune. In the end, however, he fell victim to a scam, lost everything he had and ended his days by hanging himself.
Other letters contain direct threats. People are not afraid to hide their feelings.
In the 5th century AD, for example, someone named Valerius wrote a letter to a man called Athanasius, calling him “a wicked old man, a traitor and a magnate”, adding “I should have set you on fire!”. The letter is only fragmentary. We do not know what prompted Valerius to use this language.
Another one famous letter is that written from a boy named Theon to his father in the 2nd or 3rd century AD Theon was shaken, because his father was not going to purge him in the great city of Alexandria: “if he does not bring me to Alexandria, no I would write you a letter, nor talk to you about it. and I won’t say goodbye; and if you go to Alexandria I will never hold your hand again, nor will I greet you again!
In the 2nd or 3rd century AD, a woman named Thaisarion – who was pregnant at the time – wrote a letter to the brothers his She told how she had met her brother Ptolemy before and asked him for several items that they needed: “I want you to know that our brother Ptolemy left for the country early in the morning… I used everything for his dinner that m ‘sent. Please send me two half jars of horseradish oil, as I need it when I leave… Send me also a jar of salve.’
In another letter from the same period, a man named Lucius wrote to his brother Apollinarius with a culinary question: “If you fish saltsend me also a vessel.”
There are also letters in which people describe the things they sent their recipients.
For example, in the 4th century AD, Psaeis wrote a letter to his wife Isis, informing her of the goods he would soon receive: “I have sent you two bedspreads, two kilograms of purple paint, six baskets and two napkins made from Moueis.
Sources used: Diogenes Laertios: On the Life and Doctrines of the Philosophers” – Translation by CI Balmuș, Polirom 1997, https://papyri.info/, The Conversation
