A Latin Papyrus with a Recruit's Request for Service in the Auxiliary Cohorts

Abstract

Publication of a papyrus from the later years of Trajan, found at Theadelphia, which preserves a draft letter in Latin from a recruit to the Prefect of Egypt. The writer asks to be enrolled in the auxiliary cohorts, which shows that probatio in the Roman army was for a specific branch, such as the legions, the alae, the cohorts, or the fleet. Letters of recommendation were required, even if written by the applicant himself.