Military diploma for the Centurion Plator
The military diploma for the Centurio Plator is a bronze document issued during the reign of the Roman Emperor Vespasian . It regulated the granting of Roman citizenship to a centurion named Plator. The military diploma was found in Salona and is now under inventory number 7485 in the warehouse of the Berlin Collection of Antiquities . The panels were shown in various special exhibitions.
description
The military diploma consists of two massive bronze plates of the same size, each 12.8 cm × 16.6 cm. The plates have three holes on one long side, one on the edges and in the middle and one in the middle on the other long side. The text is reproduced continuously across both panels. The actual text of the certificate is on the inside of the respective board. The insides are completely flat and therefore fit exactly on top of each other. The certificate was closed by pulling either a wire or a cord through the two central holes. This fastener was sealed on the front. The outside of both panels have a decorative profile. Seven witnesses are named on one side of the board. Their seals closed both plates and were kept in a narrow metal capsule that was soldered in the middle of the plate to protect them from damage. It was therefore not possible to read the text of the certificate. So that the content of the certificate was still clear, the text was engraved again on the outside of the second plate.
Inscriptions
The Latin text of the certificate reads:
Inside panel I:
- Imp (erator) Caesar Vespasianus Aug (ustus), pont (ifex) max (imus), tr (ibunicia) pot (estate) II, imp (erator) VI, p (ater) p (atriae), co (n) s (ul) III desig (natus) IIII, veteranis, qui militaverunt in classe Ravennate sub Sex. Lucilio Basso, qui senna et vicena stipendia aut plura meruerunt et sunt deducti in Pannoniam, quorum nomina subscripta sunt, ipsis liberis posterisque eorum civitatem dedit et et conubium com
Inside panel II:
- uxoribus, quas tunc habuissent, cum est civitas iis data, aut siqui caelibes essent, cum iis, quas postea duxisseni dumtaxant singulis singilas
- non (is) April (is) Caesare Augusti F (ilio) Domitiano, Cn. Pedio Casco co (n) s (ulibus), Platori Veniti f (ilio,) centurioni, Maezeio
- Descriptum et recognitum ex tabula aenea, quae est Romae in Capitolio ad aram gentis Iuliae de foras Podio sinisteriore tab (ula) I, pag (ina) II, leco XXXXIIII.
Translation of the inside text:
- The Emperor Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, with tribunic power for the second time, Emperor for the sixth time, Father of the Fatherland, Consul for the third time, designated for the fourth consulate, has the veterans who served in the Ravennatic fleet under Sextus Lucilius Bassus, who have 25 or more years of service and have been settled in Pannonia and whose names have been listed below are granted citizenship for themselves, their children and descendants, and the right to marry their wives as they had when they were granted citizenship , or if they are single, with the women they later marry, insofar as there is only one woman at a time.
- On April 5th under the consulate of Caesar Domitian, son of Augustus, and of Cn. Pedius Cascus. To Plator, son of Venetus, centurio, from the tribe of the Maezeier . Checked copy of the bronze plaque posted in Rome on the Capitol by the altar of Gens Julia on the outside of the left pedestal on panel I, second column, 44th line.
Outside panel II:
- T. IULI RUFI - SALONIT (ani) EQ (ues) R (omanus)
- P. VIBI MAXIMI - EPITAUR (i) EQ (ues) R (omanus)
- T. FANI CELERIS - IADESTIN (i) DEC (urio)
- C. MARCI PROCULI - IADESTIN (i) DEC (urio)
- P. CAETENNI CLEM - ENTIS SALON (itani)
- P. LURI MODERA - TI RISINTAN (i)
- Q. POBLICI CRES - CENTIS IADEST (ini)
The certificate, issued on April 5th of the year 71 on behalf of the Emperor Vespasian in the year of the consulate of the later Emperor Domitian and Gnaeus Pedius Cascus , confirms the centurion of the Plator fleet stationed in Ravenna , from the tribe of the Dalmatian Maezeier, after at least 25 served Years of service Roman citizenship. This also applies to his descendants and an already existing woman or a woman who is still to be taken. The thus awarded ius conubii said that there should be no obstacles to marriage and that a woman also had to receive Roman citizenship.
The Ravenna fleet played a key role in Vespasian's victory in the year of the four emperors 69. At first it belonged to the forces of Vitellius, but ran over to Vespasian under their commander Sextus Lucilius Bassus when the legions of Vespasian approached . The conversion occurred at a critical moment in the civil war for Vespasian and was linked to promises to the soldiers that he now had to keep. The fleet merged with the new Legio II Adiutrix , which received the honorary title of Pia Fidelis , the one who was loyal to duty and reliable . The establishment of the Legion was completed at the beginning of March 70. The Legion veterans were allocated land in Pannonia as part of the restructuring . Plator was one of those veterans.
The document was certified by seven Romans. Among them were Titus Iulius Rufus and Publius Vibius Maximus, two members of the equestrian order , and two decurions , Titus Fanius Celeris and Gaius Marcus Proculus , which Plator was entitled to as Centurion. Like Plator himself, all seven Witnesses came from Illyria , three of them from Iader , two from Salona , and one each from Epitaurum and Risinium . They were probably Plator's personal friends.
The original of the imperial decree on which this diploma was based was also recorded on a bronze plaque and was publicly displayed on the Capitol in Rome , at the altar of the Julians . Other places of hanging on the altar are known from other diplomas of the time, so it can be assumed that the altar was full of such decrees. Here all the names of the veterans were probably listed on large boards next to the actual text. Copies may have been sent to the governors of the provinces in which the soldiers were stationed. Either in one of his offices or in the legionary camp itself, the copies were issued in diploma form on request. At first, an engraver seems to have made several diplomas with the same text. Releases for the entry of personal information such as the name of the applicant ensured that the certificate could be supplemented individually. On this diploma one can see clear differences in the font style between the general and the individual information. The names of the witnesses and the repetition of the text on the outside also have their own handwriting.
The text was published in Volume XVI of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (number 14, panel I).
literature
- Wilhelm Kubitschek : A soldier's diploma from Emperor Vespasian. In: Annual books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna. Vol. 17, 1914, ISSN 0078-3579 , pp. 148-193, here p. 154 ff.
- Herbert Nesselhauf (Ed.): Diplomata militaria ex constitutionibus imperatorum de civitate et conubio militum veteranorumque expressa (= Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum. Vol. 16). de Gruyter, Berlin 1936, No. 14, plate 1.
- Klaus Vierneisel (Ed.): Römisches im Antikenmuseum. Antikenmuseum, Berlin 1978, pp. 65–68.