Published Military Diploma

CNG 111, Lot: 768. Estimate $5000. Sold for $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. Æ Military Diploma (single tablet 108 x 145mm) and Fragment (470 x 566mm). Dated 7 January AD 226. Mostly intact, engraved, tablet and fragment of a single diploma.

INTERIOR OF THE TABLET:

[...] AD · VII · IDVS IANVARII/ [SEV]ERO ALEXANDO II MARCELLO II / [C]OH · II · PR SEVERIANA P(ia) V(index) / [A]VRELIO M F VLP(io) [hole for sealing the document] VALENTI / MARCIANOPOLI · / [blank line with hole for sealing the document] / DESCRIPT(um) ET RECOGNIT(um) EX TABVLA AEREA QVA(E) / FIXA EST ROM(A)E IN MVRO POS(t) / TEMPLVM / DIVI [Augusti] / AD MINERVAM

TRANSLATION OF THE INTERIOR OF THE TABLET:

(Dated) the seventh day before the Ides of January while the emperor Severus Alexander for the second time and (C. Aufidius) Marcellus for the second time were consuls (7 January AD 226). Cohors II Praetoria Severiana Pia Vindex – For Aurelius Ulpius Valens, son of Marcus at Marcianopolis. A transcribed copy from the bronze tablet which has been affixed at Rome to the wall behind the Temple of the Divus [Augustus] by Minerva.

EXTERIOR OF THE TABLET:

AVRELI · MA[...]
IVLI · IVLIA[NI]
M · TVLLI · [hole for sealing the document] VALEN(tis)
M · VLPI · BATAVI ·
C · VALERI · MVCIANI ·
[hole for sealing the document]
C · AELI · SATVRNINI ·
T · I · FLAVI · HERACLIDES ·

TRANSLATION OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE TABLET:

(Seal of) [...] Aurelius Ma[...]
(Seal of) [...] Iulius Iulia[nus]
(Seal of) Marcus Tullius [hole for sealing the document] Valens
(Seal of) Marcus Ulpius Batavius
(Seal of) Caius Valerius Mucianus
[hole for sealing the document]
(Seal of) Caius Aelius Saturninus
(Seal of) Tiberius Flavius Heraclides

EXTERIOR OF THE FRAGMENT:

[...] COS / [...] A P(ia) V(index) · / [...] VALENTI · / [MARC]IANOPOLI / [...] [REC]OGNITVM EX TABVLA AE /[RE RO]MAE IN MVRO POS[T] TEMPLVM / [AV]G AD MINERVAM ·

TRANSLATION OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE FRAGMENT:

[...] consuls (7 January AD 226). [Cohors II Praetoria Severian]a Pia Vindex [– For Aurelius Ulpius] Valens, [son of Marcus at Marc]ianopolis. A transcribed copy from the bronze tablet [which has been affixed at Ro]me to the wall behind the Temple [of the Divus Au]g(ustus) by Minerva.

INTERIOR OF THE FRAGMENT:

IMP CAES [DIVI ANTONINI MAGNI PII FI]/ L DIVI S[EVERI PII NEPOS] M AVRE AVG P / NOMI[NA MILITVM QVI MILITAVERVNT IN COHORTIBVS] PR(aetoris) S(everianis) [decem I II III IIII V VI VII] VIII [VIIII V Piis Vindicibus QVI PIE ET FOR] / TIT[ER MILITIA FACTI SVNT etc. ...]

TRANSLATION OF THE INTERIOR OF THE FRAGMENT:

Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander Pius Felix, son of the Divus Antoninus Magnus Pius (Caracalla), grandson of the Divus Septimius Severus Augustus, [Pontifex Maximus, holding tribunician power for the fifth time, consul for the third time, Pater Patriae]. The names of the soldiers who served in the ten cohortes praetoriae Severianae piae vindices – I II III IIII V VI VII VIII VIIII X – who loyally and bravely performed their military service etc. ...

RMD III 195a-b (this diploma). As made, green patina, tablet missing upper left and upper right sections, exterior showing where seal cover (now lost) was attached, both tablet and fragment with cracks. Housed in a specially made clear plastic holder. A fine extant military diploma from the 3rd century, and especially rare, as it belongs to a praetorian soldier and notes his place of final deployment on the northern frontier.