Bronze military diploma

Roman Britain, AD 103
From Malpas, Cheshire

This official certificate is inscribed on two joining bronze plates. It was issued by the Roman emperor Trajan (AD 98-117) to Reburrus, a Spanish decurion (junior officer) in the 1st Pannonian cavalry regiment.

It granted him Roman citizenship and the right of legal marriage with a present or future wife. These privileges were usually granted to the non-citizen auxiliary soldiers when they retired after completing the twenty-five year period of miltary service, but occasionally they were conferred earlier as a reward, for example, for conspicuous bravery in battle.

Such diplomas included information on many different military units and are of great importance today to historians of the Roman army.