Dear cf,
Here we have a very interesting piece in my
Hadrian CollectionHadrian Diploma fragment, about 1/4e or 1/6e
it seems there was a correction made before EX GR[EGALE] and below C•VELIO•RVFO•L[...] on the
reverse Awarded to Malchio ..., with
his wife Memmedabus and
his son
Titus. Early years of
Hadrian, circa 119-120s AD. Unpublished
Obverse:
[
IMP CAESAR DIVI TRAIANI
PART]HICI F DIVI
NER[VAE
NEPOS TRAIANVS HADRI]ANVS AVG
PONT[
MAX TRIBVNIC POTESTAT...]III
COS III[...] ALA GEMINA
[SEBASTENORVM ET SVNT IN M]AVRETANIA
Reverse:
CVM
IIS QVAS [POSTEA DVXISSENT DVM TA]
XAT•SINGVLI SIN[GVLAS...]
C•VELIO•RVFO•L[...] /
EX GR[EGALE]
MALCHIONI MM[...]
ET MEMMEDABVT[...]
ET•TITO F EIVS[...]
DESCRIPTVM ET R[ECOGNITVM EX TABVLA AENEA]
QVAE FIXA EST R[OMAE IN MVRO POST TEM]
PLVM•DIVI [AVG AD MINERVAM]
Bronze, 48x53 mm, 19.42 g, 3 h
Unfortunately, the exact dating of this highly interesting
military diploma is uncertain, as
Hadrian's TR P is only recorded fragmentarily, and he only held three consulships in
his career, the last of which was in 119. However, it is clear from the remaining text that the diploma was awarded to the soldier Malchio ..., who served in the ala Gemina Sebastenorum. This ala was stationed in
Syria in the late 80s and early 90s, but inscriptions attest her presence in
Mauretania Caesariensis, where she is last attested in 255-258 (
CIL 8, 21000). With the emergence of our diploma, her redeployment from
Syria to
Africa can now be dated to no later than the reign of
Hadrian.
Furthermore, the diploma also records the name of one of two
Roman suffect consuls (the name of the second has broken off), namely C. Velius Rufus. This is a familiar name, for a certain C. Velius Salvi
filius Rufus was a highly decorated officer whose career we know from an
inscription on the base of a statue found in
Heliopolis. Serving as a centurion in the
Jewish War, C. Velius Rufus rose through the ranks quickly under the Flavians, becoming primus pilus of the
Legio XII Fulminata in 82, commanding 9 vexillations in the Chattan War in 83, receiving several decorations for
his campaigns across the Danube and in
Dacia against Germans and Sarmatians and serving in two subsequent procuratorships in the early 90s. However, it seems unlikely that this C. Velius Rufus was
still active in politics, or even alive, early in
Hadrian's reign, and thus the suffect
consul from our
military diploma must be a descendant, likely
his son.
As for the name of the soldier, it is worth noting that Malchio is a semitic name, but that the name of
his son
Titus is clearly
Roman. It seems likely that Malchio named
his son in
honor of the emperor
Titus, the conqueror of Jerusalem. Last but not least, the third name, Memmedabus, appears to be a variant of Emmedabous or `Immeh-de-`abû (-ha) (literally: 'mother of
his father'), a name attested in Palmyra,
Dura and Central
Syria, both in Greek and in Aramaic. Although it is occasionally encountered as a male name, in the case of our diploma, Memmedabus was clearly Malchio's wife and
Titus' mother. We can deduce from this that she was in all probability of Syrian origin, whereas Malchio himself may have also been Syrian, or perhaps Punic. Thus, the diploma is a beautiful testimony to the multiethnicity of the
Roman army, which served as a melting
pot for soldiers and their families from various cultural backgrounds, eventually merging them as citizens of
Rome.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=173960