A standard Roman military diploma consists of two bronze plaques bound together on both sides and sealed with wax by seven witnesses. The front cover contained a copy of the complete text also repeated on the two interior leafs. The back cover contained the names of seven witnesses who sealed the diploma. These diplomas are actually copies of original bronze documents that were kept in an archive in Rome. The copies were distributed to a serviceman upon his retirement as proof of his honorable service and newly acquired citizenship (at the end of a minimum twenty-five year military service, citizenship was awarded to the soldier and wife and children). The text was repeated twice, on the outside and on the inside, to prevent fraud since the sealed interior text could not be tampered with. If a former soldier enjoying retirement on the Dalmatian coast was suspected of forging the cover of his diploma, local government officials could break the seals and verify that the interior text corresponded to the front cover without having to wait for confirmation from the archives in distant Rome. Today, Roman military diplomas are beloved by scholars because they contain of wealth of information that can be precisely dated. Through such records, it is possible to track the deployment of troops throughout the empire and to chart the rise in rank of specific individuals. Likewise, in the life of a specific soldier, we can determine where he was born, raised, what wars he fought in, and where he retired to.
IMP CAES DIVI HADRIANI DIVI TRAIANI PAR-
THIC NEP DIVI NERVAE PRONEP T AELIVS HA-
DRIANVS ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PONT MAX
TRIB POT XVI IMP II COS IIII PP
EQVITIB ET PEDITIB QVI MILIT IN ALIS V
COH XI QUAE APPELL I AVG GALLOR ET
GEMELLIAN
C R ET I TAVRIAN VICTRIX C R ET III ASTVRPE C R
ET I HAMIOR SYROR SAG ET I ITVRAEOR C R ET V
DELMATAR ET II HISPANOR C R ET I ASTVR ET
GALLAE-
COR C R ET II SYROR SAG(IT?) ET III ASTVR C R ET
II HIS-
PANOR C R ET [I] LEMAVOR C R ET III GALLOR
FELIX ET IV
GALLOR CR ET IV TVNGROR VEXIL ET SVNT IN
MAVRETAN TINGITAN SVB FLAVIO FLAVIANO
PROC QVINIS ET VICEN ITEM CLASSIC SENI ET
VICEN PLVRIBVSVE STIPEND EMERIT DIMISSIS
HONEST MISSION QVOR NOMIN SVBSCRIP-
TA SVNT CIVITAT ROMAN QVI EORVM NON
HABE-
RENT DEDIT ET CONVB CVM UXORIB QVAS TVNC
HABVISS CVM EST CIVITAS IS DATA AVT CVM IS
QVAS POSTEA DVXISSENT DVMTAXAT SINGV-
LI SINGVLAS A D VII K NOV
C CATTIO MARCELLO Q PETIL DID GALLO COS
ALAE I AVG GALLOR C R CVI PRAEST
COSTORIVS TRANQVILLIANVS ROMA
EX GREGALE
P VERIBVRI DABONIS F DACO
DESCRIPT ET RECOGNIT EX TABVL AEREA
QVAE FIXA EST ROMAE IN MVRO POST
TEMPL DIVI AVG AD MINERVAM TRANSLATION
The emperor Caesar T. Aelius Hadrianus
Antoninus Augustus Pius, son
of the deified Hadrian, grandson of the deified
Trajan Parthicus, great
grandson of the deified Nerva, pontifex
maximus, in the sixteenth year of
his tribunician power, twice imperator, four
times consul, father of his
country, gives to the cavalrymen and infantrymen
who have served in
the five alae and eleven cohorts which are named
(1) Augusta Gallorum
civium Romanorum and (2) Gemelliana civium
Romanorum and (3) I
Tauriana victrix civium Romanorum and (4) III
Asturpe... civium
Romanorum and (5) I Hamiorum Syrorum
sagittaria and (6) I
Ituraeorum civium Romanorum and (7) V
Delmatarum and (8) II
Hispanorum civium Romanorum and (9) I
Asturum and Callaecorum
civium Romanorum and (10) II Syrorum
Sagittariorum and (11) III
Asturum civium Romanorum and (12) II
Hispanorum civium
Romanorum and (13) I Lemavorum civium
Romanorum and (14) III
Gallorum felix and (15) IV Gallorum civium
Romanorum and (16) IV
Tungrorum Vexillatio and are in Mauretania
Tingitana under governor
Flavius Flavianus, who served twenty-five years,
likewise members of
the fleet who served twenty-six years or more,
and have been honorably
discharged, whose names are written below: to
them who do not possess it, Roman citizenship is
given and conubium with the wives they
then had when citizenship was given to them or
with those they later
marry but only a single one each.
On the 26th of October, when C. Cattius
Marcellus, Q Petillius and
Didius Gallus were (suffect) consuls.
On behalf of the alis I Augusta Gallorum civium
Romanorum under
Costorius Tranquillianus Roma.
To the ex cavalryman P. Veriburis, son of
Dabonis of Dacia.
Copied and checked from the bronze tablet
which is fixed in Rome upon
the wall behind the temple of Augustus near the
shrine (?) of Minerva.
Witnessed by M. Servilius Geta, L. Pullius
Chresimus, M. Sentilius Iasus,
Ti. Julius Felix, C. Julius Silvanus, L. Pullius Velox,
P. Ocilius Priscus.
