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A military diploma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

A. H. Smith
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Extract

The military diploma, which is here published, was acquired by the British Museum in 1923. It was bought from a dealer at Cairo, and was included in a purchase consisting mainly of MSS. made by the Museum jointly with the University of Michigan. No further source can be named, but the contents make it probable that it was found in or near the Arsenoite Nome.

The document conforms closely to the normal type. It consists of a pair of bronze tablets measuring 16 by 19 cm. Two holes pierced in each near the angles of a long side (one is now lost from the first tablet) served for the insertion of rings to form hinges. Two holes pierced near the centre of each long side served for the wire or string, which fastened the tablets, and was sealed by the seven witnesses who attested the certificate. On the outside of the second tablet are remains of the metal shield which protected the seals, but which has itself perished in almost every instance.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , 1926 , pp. 95 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © A. H. Smith 1926. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

page 95 note 1 For hinges and wiring, see Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. DIPLOMA, fig. 2452.

page 95 note 2 Mon. Ant. i, p. 430; L'Année épigr. 1891, no. 153; C.I.L. iii, Suppt. i, p. 1968, no. xxviii.

page 95 note 3 C.I.L. iii, 2 (1873), pp. 843–919Google Scholar, gives a series of 58 tablets, incorporated by reference only, in the fuller series C.I.L. iii, Supplementum i (1902), pp. 1956–2038Google Scholar. I cite in each case the volume which gives the text.

page 100 note 1 Cf. Mattingly, and Sydenham, , Roman Imperial Coinage, ii, p. 121Google Scholar, no. 39.

page 100 note 2 C.I.L. iii, Suppt. i, p. 2010.

page 100 note 3 According to my counting there are about 114 known diplomata, or fragments. C.I.L. iii, Suppt. i of 1902 enumerates 96. About fifteen per cent. are naval.

page 100 note 4 C.I.L. iii, 2, p. 856, no. xiii.

page 101 note 1 Pliny, N.H. xxxiii, 9Google Scholar, and 24.

page 101 note 2 C.I.L. iii, 2, p. 846, no. iii.

page 101 note 3 C.I.L. iii, Suppt.; i, p. 2035.