Imperial Dates!

[Spedius]

Ave

When you look at a diploma the first words you will see are the Emperor's name and all of his titles, like so.

Imp Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus pontifex maximus tribunic potestat VIIII imp XIIII p p censor cos VII

If the abbreviations are expanded we arrive at this.

Imp(erator) Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus pontifex maximus tribunic(ia) potestat(e) VIIII imp(erator) XIIII p(ater) p(atriae) censor co(n)s(ul) VII

This is the Emperor Titus, oldest son of Vespasian, elder brother to Domitian and Domitillia, whose short reign was from Junii 24, 79 to Septembre 13, 81. On Augusti 27 79 and again the following year, Mount Vesuvius erupted burying Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The diploma I've chosen as an example is CIL 16, 00024 = AE 1927, 00096, the full Latin text can be found at the following website:-

http://user.uni-frankfurt.de/~clauss/index-e.html

If we are going to use the above to assist us in the dating of a diploma, issued during the reign of Titus, we need more information. We need a chart that will give us a timeline, so that we may plot the three main pieces of numerical data against it.

I've chosen that excellent book written by Chris Scarre entitled "Chronicle of the Roman Emperors" published by Thames and Hudson in 1995 (ISBN 0-500-05077-5). On page 72 there is a chart giving the main features of the life of Titus, I have reproduced it here, in full.

Please click on the image to enlarge it.

To be continued.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Spedius]

Ave

Continued from the previous page. (I'm working on the belief that only one attachment per post is permitted, also that the chart will always appear at the end and not in the middle.)

We have the basic data but we need to represent the relevant parts in a more usable form, see below.

The three most informative items are tribunic(ia) potestat(e), imp(erator) and co(n)s(ul). They can be abbreviated and used as follows:

TP VIIII or IX = 01/07/79
IMP XIIII or XIV = 78 (XV = 79)
cos VII = 79

Two of three dates are pointing us towards 79 as being the date of the diploma. The actual date of this fleet diploma was in fact Septembre 8, 79.

Another aid to dating this diploma are the two consuls, this would narrow our date range down considerably. See my post entitled "AE 1998, 00419!", as follows:-

http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=6732

You now have two of the five jigsaw puzzle pieces needed to enable you to date a diploma with some degree of accuracy.

The five pieces are the Imperial Dates, the Governor/Fleet commander etc., the A(nte) D(iem) dates, the two consuls and the seven witnesses.

There are more but they are too complicated for me to explain in a simple tabulated form.

Please click on the chart to enlarge it.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

I'm working on the belief that only one attachment per post is permitted, also that the chart will always appear at the end and not in the middle.

That is wrong, but you are right that all attachments will appear at the end of the post. If you want to write a full blown article, best to do that on Romanarmy.com.

[Spedius]

I'm working on the belief that only one attachment per post is permitted, also that the chart will always appear at the end and not in the middle.

That is wrong, but you are right that all attachments will appear at the end of the post. If you want to write a full blown article, best to do that on Romanarmy.com.

Ave Jasper,

So, if I have more than one attachment I can add as many as I like, is that right?

I'm still not competent enough to create and post "a full blown article" for Romanarmy.com yet. Maybe one day, but not yet. Please be content with these "little" articles for the moment.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

So, if I have more than one attachment I can add as many as I like, is that right?

Yes, just keep clicking the add attachment button.

I'm still not competent enough to create and post "a full blown article" for Romanarmy.com yet. Maybe one day, but not yet. Please be content with these "little" articles for the moment.

Ok.

[Spedius]

Ave

Two more items to add are the images of the diploma mentioned in the opening post of this topic (CIL XVI, 00024), these were obtained from www.romancoins.info . Thank you Andreas Pengerl.

Please click on the images to enlarge them.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo