he letter was written in February AD 108 and was sent from Bostra in Arabia, where Apollinarius was stationed with the Legio III Cyrenaica, to his mother Tasoucharion in Alexandria (Egypt). He had enlisted around AD 103/104, while III Cyrenaica was stationed in Egypt. When he joined the legion, Apollinarius followed in the footsteps of his father, Gaius Julius Sabinus, who also served, no doubt giving his son a vital insight into military life. For a decade or more, father and son both served, albeit not in the same legion – by AD 105, Sabinus, which remained in Egypt throughout the rest of his service. The letter, along with several others written by and to both Sabinus and Apollinarius, were found as a collection during excavations at Karanis (Egypt), where the men had evidently settled after their military service.
