Phalera constructions

[Renatus]

in my own opinion it was put there by the maker MEDAMI and is not that of a second owner.

All I can say to that is, 'Why?' but we are in danger of going over old ground here.

Then in fact even the centurian was not the true owner for it is also my opinion that centurians only held and wore these things on behalf of their units or companies as an overall award to that unit and I think the Lauersfort dish says that as this looks to be the extra personal award given to the centurian .

I think that this is highly questionable. I am not aware of any evidence that centurions wore decorations on behalf of their units but there is plenty of evidence of awards to individuals. Some units are designated as torquata and one is torquata et armillata but there are none that I know of that are described as phalerata. On the analogy of the torquatae units, it is theoretically possible that some were awarded phalerae but they may be represented by the discs displayed on the units' standards. On the question of the Lauersfort dish, Maxfield makes the point that there are occasional references to dishes being awarded during the Republic but no evidence of such awards during the Principate, although she does not rule it out. Even so, if the dish were awarded to T. Flavius Festus as a form of decoration, there is nothing that need associate it with the award of phalerae. It could be an award for an entirely seperate act of bravery and that is assuming that it is not simply a personal possession anyway, acquired during his military career or even after it.