Nope! This is the genuine article. The diplomas were made of bronze both because it was a highly valued honor, and because papyrus doesn’t survive rough conditions all that well, and the last thing a retiring soldier needs is his discharge forms unable to be verified! This one, specifically, was made out to
Centurion Liccaius, son of Birsus, from Marsunnia
In place 23
These tablets do have an ‘original’ (though I don’t believe we’ve ever recovered one) also of bronze, in which the names of all the discharged soldiers for that unit/year would be listed, kept in Rome in case anyone needed to verify it. “In place 23” refers to how far down the list of names on the original Centurion Liccaius was, for quick(er) reference.
The roller-looking thing is a bronze cover to protect the wax seals of the signatories from damage, in case they need to be verified as well. I imagine verification rarely happened - the fact that they went through all this trouble was probably discouragement from forgery enough, like numbering on paper currency.
Nope! This is the genuine article. The diplomas were made of bronze both because it was a highly valued honor, and because papyrus doesn’t survive rough conditions all that well, and the last thing a retiring soldier needs is his discharge forms unable to be verified! This one, specifically, was made out to
These tablets do have an ‘original’ (though I don’t believe we’ve ever recovered one) also of bronze, in which the names of all the discharged soldiers for that unit/year would be listed, kept in Rome in case anyone needed to verify it. “In place 23” refers to how far down the list of names on the original Centurion Liccaius was, for quick(er) reference.
The roller-looking thing is a bronze cover to protect the wax seals of the signatories from damage, in case they need to be verified as well. I imagine verification rarely happened - the fact that they went through all this trouble was probably discouragement from forgery enough, like numbering on paper currency.
Thank you for the detailed reply!