REIGN OF MARCUS AURELIUS, CIRCA 178 A.D.

Details

A ROMAN BRONZE MILITARY DIPLOMA
REIGN OF MARCUS AURELIUS, CIRCA 178 A.D.
Issued by Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, reading: "The Emperor Caesar, son of the deified Antoninus Pius, brother of the deified Verus Parthicus Maximus, grandson of the deified Hadrianus, great grandson of the deified Traianus Parthicus, great-great-grandson of the deified Nerva, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Aug[ustus] Germanicus Sarmaticus Pontifex Maximus, holding tribunician power for the thirty-second time, Imperator for the eighth time, consul for the third time...". The date corresponds to 23 March, 178 A.D., in the consulship of Sergius Scipio Orfitus and P. Velius Rufus, granting honourable discharge to the cavalry and foot soldiers of named regiments located in Britannia under the general command of Ulpius Marcellus, together with Roman citizenship and marriage rights, to the cavalryman Thiophorus, a Dacian of the VII Thracian cohort under the command of Ulpius Marcianus. Copied and checked from the bronze tablet fixed to the wall at Rome behind the temple of the deified Augustus at the shrine of Minerva. The outside face of the reverse tablet lists the names of seven witnesses. The whole comprising two joined tablets of rectangular form each with Latin inscription, pierced twice in the centre and bound together by twisted bronze band, a further pierced hole in one corner, small corner repair on reverse
5 5/8 x 4½ in. (14.4 x 11.4 cm.)

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Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:

M. M. Roxan, Roman Military Diplomas 1985-1993, Institute of Archaeology, London, 1994, vol. 14, no. 184.

The above diploma is of considerable interest as it is for a Dacian cavalryman stationed in Britain, belonging to the VII Thracian cohort. It is of historical importance as it names Ulpius Marcellus as being the general commander in Britain in 178 A.D., the earliest known recorded date of his office in this Roman province.

After 25 years of service an auxiliary soldier on his discharge would receive Roman citizenship and the ius connubi, i.e. the right to contract a legal marriage, the children of which would also enjoy citizenship. This grant would be inscribed on bronze sheets, a diploma of honesta missio, such as this.

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