11. Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

NEW ROMAN MILITARY DIPLOMAS IN THEALANYAAND ANAMUR MUSEUMSJames RVSSELL*The subject of this report is a pair of Roman military auxiliary diplomasthat have recently been acquired by the local museums of Alanyaand Anamur'. In their present condition both are fragments, but if completethey would have consisted of two bronze tablets attached by meansof wire drawn through holes pierced in the bronze. Both faces were engravedwith a similar text. Such documents are fairly common, about 400being known, the vast majority from the military provinces of theWestem Empire, often found as a result of scientific exeavation. Lessthan 5% originate from the eastem provinces of the Empire, despite thepresence of numerous auxiliary units along the Euphrates and Arabianfrontiers and in Egypt. There has in recent years, however, been considerableincrease in examples believed to be of eastem origin, but this isprobably a consequence of widespread use of metal detectors. Theseusually end up in the hands of dealers, and the secretive ways of theantiquities trade ensure that their provenance remains obscure. It is virtuallycertain that a considerable number of those that have appeared on themarket in recent years were found in Turkey, but without informationconceming their findspot their historical value is seriously diminished.The appearance of these two examples with certain provenance in onecase and approximate in the other is amatter of considerable significance,therefore, since, to my knowledge, onlyone previous diplomadiscovered on Turkish soil has found its way into a Turkish Museum,the specimen found in the village of Burdaklar near Kandiva in the dis-*James RUSSELL, Department of Classics, University- of British Columbia, C265 MainMalı, Vancouver, B.C. V6T IZI, CANADA.(1) i am deeply grateful to the Anıtlar ve Müzeler Genel Müdürlüğü of the T.C. Kültür Bakanlığıfor permission to studyand publish these two documents. i especially appreciate thekindness of Bay Erol Mertdoğan, the former Director of the Alanya Museum and Bay VehbiUysal, Acting Director, and Bay Ramazan Peker, the present Director of the Anamur Museum,for their assistance in my study of each diploma.161