Petrarchive – Theon, the angry boy from Roman Egypt

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No.12812 Anonymous 2026-09-21 09:14:12
Theon, the angry boy from Roman Egypt
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more historical posting. this one is not as obscure(?) as Al-Ma'arri, the medieval vegan and you will have probably come across this if you're on reddit.

Context for those who have not- Theon was a young boy in Roman Egypt, probably a preteen who who wrote this very passive aggressive letter to his father in 2 or 3AD.

"Theon to his father Theon greetings.
It was so nice of you not to take me with you to the city. If you refuse to take me with you to Alexandria I won’t write you a letter or speak to you or wish you good health. So, if you go to Alexandria I won’t take your hand or greet you ever again. If you refuse to take me, this is what will happen. And my mother said to Archelaos that he is upsetting me, take him away! It was so nice of you, sending me these great presents, just rubbish. They put me off the track on the 12th, the day when you sailed. Well then, send for me, I beg you. If you don’t, I won’t eat, I won’t drink; there! I pray for your health. Tybi 18th.

Deliver to Theon from Theonas his son"




wordpress has a very nice article about this letter that succinctly draws many plausible conclusions about this boy's lifestyle but I don't think linking articles is allowed so I'm not linking it here
No.12814 Anonymous 2026-09-21 09:53:16
You used to be able to just do this and not have the nanny state stop it
No.12815 Anonymous>>12816 2026-09-21 09:59:03
What's "the track"?
No.12816 Anonymous 2026-09-21 10:20:45
>>12815
"off the track on 12th, the day you sailed"? his other family members probably distracted the day his father set off for alexandria so he wouldn't find out
No.12817 Anonymous 2026-09-21 10:21:13
distracted him*
No.12823 Anonymous 2026-09-21 10:59:18
Good post.
No.12826 Anonymous 2026-09-21 11:13:59
found the wordpress article and i find its analysis very interesting. an excerpt i particularly liked:

>Perhaps the most interesting point in our present context is that he seems to think this actually could help. Theon is not an oppressed or frightened child. He is not afraid of losing the emotional support of his nearest and dearest even if he is himself angry and irritating.

i never would have thought to infer this information only from the passage of text attached, yet when it's put this way it seems only natural that it would arise from a straightforward reading of the letter's contents. i guess that's the value in a college education in history!
No.12834 Anonymous 2026-09-21 11:50:50
Anon you are welcome to link the WordPress article, just post it without the https:// suffix. The filter is just to discourage spam.
No.12836 Anonymous 2026-09-21 12:02:31
paidesblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/theon-an-angry-boy-p-oxy-i-119/