In a revelation shedding light on the Roman presence in Egypt, an ancient pet cemetery situated in Berenike, a Red Sea port in southern Egypt, is emerging as a treasure trove of historical artifacts. The cemetery, housing over 200 meticulously laid graves of cherished cats, dogs, and monkeys, has now yielded an unexpected find: letters inscribed nearly two millennia ago by Roman centurions stationed in the vicinity.
Lead researcher Marta Osypińska, an archaeologist from Poland’s University of Wrocław’s Institute of Archaeology, elucidated to Ewelina Krajczyńska of Science in Poland about the scarcity of Roman remnants in Egypt. Despite Rome’s prolonged dominion over Egypt from 30 BCE to the mid-600s CE, few tangible vestiges of Roman occupation endure in the region. The burial site, dating back to the first and second centuries CE, resides in Berenike, established by Roman Emperor Tiberius as a vital maritime nexus.
The discovery of the cemetery by Osypińska’s team in 2011 marked the commencement of a meticulous excavation endeavor. Amidst the interred feline, canine, and exotic simian remains, a cache of ceramics, Roman currency, and now, a corpus of letters inscribed on papyrus, attributed to military officers overseeing units of Roman legions, has come to light.
In a communiqué from the University of Wrocław, these epistolary artifacts are hailed as “invaluable reservoirs of insight into the ancient denizens of Berenike,” originating from the epoch of Emperor Nero, a tyrannical figure reigning over the mid-first century CE. During Nero’s tenure, Berenike burgeoned into a crucible of transcontinental commerce, serving as a conduit for merchandise traversing from India, Arabia, and East Africa, Osypińska elucidates. The port teemed with indigenous traders, Roman dignitaries managing commerce, and, as conjectured by historians but hitherto unconfirmed, a contingent of the Roman military.
The newly unearthed correspondence bears the names of presumed Roman centurions: Haosus, Lucinius, and Petronius. One missive, attributed to Petronius, solicits from Lucinius, stationed in Berenike, intelligence regarding the pricing of exclusive commodities, as relayed by Osypińska to Science in Poland. Petronius dispatches funds via “dromedarius,” a contingent of Roman soldiers traversing atop camels, instructing Lucinius to furnish the soldiers with veal and tent poles.
Scholars posit that the ancient Romans likely stored the papyri in a nearby administrative edifice, subsequently razed, inadvertently dispersing its contents across the pet cemetery, as recounted by Aspen Pflughoeft of McClatchy. Excavators chanced upon the papyri in rolled fragments, which were presented to Rodney Asta, a savant in ancient inscriptions, who meticulously reconstructed a page approximately one and a half feet long and one foot wide, according to Osypińska. Amidst the sepulchral precinct, researchers have stumbled upon myriad ostraca—fragments of pottery etched with inscriptions—yet the papyri represent the premiere textual artifacts discovered on-site.
These epistolary revelations constitute the latest testament to the sophisticated commercial endeavors of ancient Rome, as articulated in the statement. The skeletal remains of several entombed monkeys, recently identified as macaques indigenous to India, attest to the Roman importation of non-utilitarian fauna across vast expanses of ocean. These primates, alongside long-maned cats and diminutive canines, epitomized “elite pets,” many of whom were interred with playthings, ceramics, or congenial companions.
As underscored by Osypińska in the statement, reconciling the depiction of ancient foreign legion commanders with such creatures, regarded as “kin,” may pose a challenge.
“Nevertheless, our discoveries unequivocally affirm that the military elite nurtured an affinity for elite pets and maintained a privileged lifestyle,” she concludes.
