Roman Military Diploma

In the Grosvenor Museum is a copy of a Roman Military Diploma. The original was found in Malpas, just outside Chester, and is now in the British Museum. Only 13 such diplomas have been discovered in Britain, and this the most complete.

Military diplomas are certificates of discharge inscribed on bronze tablets. They were issued to all auxiliary soldiers when they had served 25 years. The diplomas granted citizenship to soldiers and their children, and made marriages legal (in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD Roman soldiers were forbidden to marry).

This diploma was issued by the Roman emperor Trajan (AD 98-117) to Reburrus, a Spanish junior officer in the 1st Pannonian cavalry regiment. The original declaration would have been displayed in the Forum in Rome and a version copied onto bronze tablets as a portable proof of Roman citizenship.

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