Analysing Diplomas?

[Spedius]

Ave,

Diplomas carry a wealth of information which have added to our knowledge and understanding of the Roman army and Empire. A typical complete auxiliary diploma can contain the following:

01. The reigning Emperor with all of his titles and honorifics
02. A list of all auxiliary ala and cohors retiring men in that Province on that day
03. The name of the Province
04. The name of the Provincial Governor and in a few cases his predecessor or sucessor
05. The day and month
06. The names of the two consuls who are in office on the date of the diploma
07. The recipient's unit
08. The recipient's unit commander
09. The recipients rank
10. The recipient's name with his wife and children if applicable
11. The names of seven witnesses in some cases nine

How would you begin the analysis of the data in the list above?

I have found the most user-friendly tool for analysing the Diplomas to be MsExcel spreadsheets. I have constructed numerous charts for items 01 to 06 so far. The charts below are some examples for you to study.

01. The reigning Emperor with all of his titles and honorifics

As an aid to dating diplomas I've devised a simple chart for each Emperor. The following chart is for Titus (24/6/79 - 13/9/81)

T.P. Dates Imp. Dates Cos. Dates
I 70 I 70
I 01/07/71 II 71
II 01/07/72 III 72 II 72
IV 72
III 01/07/73 V 73
IV 01/07/74 VI 74 III 74
VII 74
VIII 74
V 01/07/75 - IV 75
VI 01/07/76 IX 76 V 76
X 76
XI 76
XII 76
VII 01/07/77 XIII 77 VI 77
VIII 01/07/78 XIV 78
IX 01/07/79 XV 79 VII 79
X 01/07/80 - VIII 80
XI 01/07/81 XVI 81
XVII 81

I also needed a thumbnail history of each Emperor, so I copied verbatim from Chris Scarre's "Chronicle of the Roman Emperors" 1995 Thames and Hudson.

TITUS (24/6/79 - 13/9/81)
Born 30 December 39 AD at Rome. Titus
Flavius Vespasianus (as with his father).
On accession of Vespasian, Titus Caesar
Vespasianus, added in September 70 AD,
after the fall of Jerusalem, the title of
Imperator', on accession to sole rule on
24 June 79 AD, Imperator Tirus Caesar
Vespasianus Augustus, added after
June 79 'Pontifex Maximus' and 'Pater
Patriae'.
Consul, I (70), II (72), III (74), IV (75),
V (76), VI (77), VII (79), VIII (80).
Imperator, I (70), II (71), III-IV (72),
V (73), VI-VIII (74), IX-XII (76), XIII (77),
XIV (78), XV (79), XVI-XVII (81)
Tribunicia potestas first on 1 July 71,
renewed annually.
Full titles on death, Imperator Titus
Caesar Vespasianus Augustus,
Pontifex Maximus, Tribunicae
potestatis XI, Imperator XVII,
Consul VIII, Pater Patriae.
Died at Aquae Cutiliae, 13 September
81 AD.

A futher chart was needed to plot each diploma within a reign for comparison purposes.

T.P. Imp. Cos. int/ext Day K/N/L Month Day Month Year Prov. CIL RMD
VIIII XIIII VII (F)/ext VI I Sep 8 Sep 79 Fleet 24
VIIII XIIII VIII (F) V ? Feb ? Jan or Feb 80 G 158
VIIII XV VIII (F) 0 I Iun 13 Jun 80 P 26
VIIII XV VIII (F) 0 I Iun 13 Jun 80 P 138
? ? ? (F) ? ? ? ? Sep 79/81 ? 27

To be continued

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Jim,
Sadly there is no English version, but Dietmar Kienast's Römische Kaisertabelle would be very useful for your project, mentioning all known dates/emperor among other things.

[Spedius]

Hi Jim,
Sadly there is no English version, but Dietmar Kienast's Römische Kaisertabelle would be very useful for your project, mentioning all known dates/emperor among other things.

Hi Jasper,

Thanks for the tip.

I looked the book up through http://used.addall.com this is what I found. Dietmar Keinast "Romische Kaisertabelle. Grundzuge einer romischen Kaiserchronologie" Darnstadt, 1990 376 pp. Boards price £20.49.

Can I ask you for some more help on the inclusion of charts from Excel spreadsheets in my posts? You can see what a mess it creates by simply copying and pasting from one to the other. How do you create something that can be read exactly as it did in the spreadsheet? Is it a case of resizing the spreadsheet and then finding a host site, finally linking the post to the graphic host site?

The main reason I put "To be continued" is, until I find a satisfactory way of including spreadsheet charts in my posts, the main purpose of this topic is lost. If you can't line the data up under their headings how can I expect anyone reading my article to be able to follow the point that I'm attempting to illustrate? Without readable charts this topic is diluted and meaningless.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Jim,
What you will want to do is put your data in a database, not a spreadsheet. It takes more work in the beginning, but the end result will be better.
I'd be happy to help you out creating one for Romanarmy.com, if you want the responsibility of fleshing it out. It'd be a lot of typing :wink:

[Spedius]

Hi Jim,
What you will want to do is put your data in a database, not a spreadsheet. It takes more work in the beginning, but the end result will be better.
I'd be happy to help you out creating one for Romanarmy.com, if you want the responsibility of fleshing it out. It'd be a lot of typing :wink:

Ave Jasper,

Thank you.

My mind is flooded with random questions.

01. Will I need to learn how to use a database?
02. Will it be open-source, can anyone add data?
03. Will I need to learn how to use html?
04. Where do I sign up for this project?
05. Can I copy and paste from a spreadsheet into this database?
06. Is a database organised in rows and columns like a spreadsheets?
07. Can I create "dynamic links" within the database?
08. Can I create a "map" of this database?
09. Can I create "flow-charts" in this database?
10. Can I create "macros" within this database?
11. Will there be a book of instructions or a large help file?
12. Will it all be in English?

Lead on Jasper.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

01. No, that would be my job
02. Do you want it to be?
03. See 01.
04. Here
05. If you kept a very strict separation between elements, we might even be able to copy everything into the db in one go.
06. Yes, basically, but you can display it in different ways
07. It'd would have to be designed like that, but yeah
08. ?
09. Straight from the data? Possibly, but you could add articles
10. Perhaps.
11. We'd work it out all together and write instructions, if necessary
12. Sure.

Basically, we'd be using the structure of the CMS on this site (i.e. Romanarmy.com), which can be extended with modules for special tasks. Needs some planning, but I think it could be usefully done. Have you ever seen my imagebase ([url:w8fk28ty]http://www.romanarmy.com/imb[/url])? That is database based.

[Spedius]

01. No, that would be my job
02. Do you want it to be?
03. See 01.
04. Here
05. If you kept a very strict separation between elements, we might even be able to copy everything into the db in one go.
06. Yes, basically, but you can display it in different ways
07. It'd would have to be designed like that, but yeah
08. ?
09. Straight from the data? Possibly, but you could add articles
10. Perhaps.
11. We'd work it out all together and write instructions, if necessary
12. Sure.
Basically, we'd be using the structure of the CMS on this site (i.e. Romanarmy.com), which can be extended with modules for special tasks. Needs some planning, but I think it could be usefully done. Have you ever seen my imagebase ([url:2j5s9fx5]http://www.romanarmy.com/imb[/url])? That is database based.

Ave Jasper,

My question about open-source means quite simply that we could all add to it not just you or me. This could be the beginning of the "Project" I wrote about in another topic. We would have to build in some safety measures to protect our own data.

I did check out your imagebase, very impressive, for gravestones only, correct? Wouldn't an equivalent database for Diplomas be something to aim for? Pictures of all parts of the diploma, the Latin text, an English translation and finally the source? The ultimate Diploma database!!

There is so much I don't know Jasper, I would very much like to try to initiate this project, but you will have to bear with me if I ask "stupid" questions. BTW, what does CMS mean?

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

I can take 'stupid' questions. :wink:
CMS: Content Management System.

We can go ahead with that. I likes it for sure! What I'd need you to do is make a very exact list of what data you want to collect for every diploma.

[Spedius]

I can take 'stupid' questions. :wink:
CMS: Content Management System.
We can go ahead with that. I likes it for sure! What I'd need you to do is make a very exact list of what data you want to collect for every diploma.

Ave Jasper,

I've checked back with your imagebase and these are the basics:-

01. Found in: eg Province and date
02. Now kept in: eg Private collection or Museum
03. Approximate date:
04. Emperor:
05. Province:
06. Governor:
07. Type of Diploma: eg. Auxiliary, Fleet etc
08. Tablet 1: eg inner or outer sides, complete or fragment
09. Tablet 2: ditto
10. Inscription References:
11. Publications:

The sequence may need some rejigging, but you get the idea? Items 08 & 09 may be redundant if good, clear pictures are available.

The same layout as your image base, pictures on the left with two scrollable sections containing the Latin text and English translations. Followed by any notes that we may wish to add.

Where the text came from ie Manfred Klaus of Frankfurt University etc. the source. Ditto for the images. Who did the translating, too.

Would it be possible to set up a test page so that we could experiment to come up with the best composition for our data?

An after thought. This is the "face" of the database. The database feeds the "face", yes? Manfred Klaus has all of the texts for CIL, RMD 1-3, and the embryo of RMD 4. They are not usable as they are though each diploma has line seperators "/" in them. I have built a "gizmo" in Excel to rid the text of these line seperators.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

Ok. That's one. Now we have to think of the ways in which you want to query this database. How do you want to be able to pull up the data?[/quote]

[Spedius]

Ok. That's one. Now we have to think of the ways in which you want to query this database. How do you want to be able to pull up the data?

[/quote]

Ave Jasper,

Have you read my after thought in my previous post?

Before I answer your question, please translate the captions in the following site:

http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888 ... epigraphik

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Jim,
Yes, the database feeds the face, but I wouldn't make the database refer straight to the Clauss thing for various reasons.
The / is actually a line separator, the digital version of |. As you may or may not know, epigraphists use a load of markings to denote missing letters, emendations and line endings. That is one of them. To make it academically useful, 'our' database should include such markings as well.

As to your caption question: go to the link I gave you yesterday, you'll find the English version with English captions.

[Spedius]

Hi Jim,
Yes, the database feeds the face, but I wouldn't make the database refer straight to the Clauss thing for various reasons.
The / is actually a line separator, the digital version of |. As you may or may not know, epigraphists use a load of markings to denote missing letters, emendations and line endings. That is one of them. To make it academically useful, 'our' database should include such markings as well.
As to your caption question: go to the link I gave you yesterday, you'll find the English version with English captions.

Ave Jasper,

I've done as you suggested and you're quite right there is an English translation of the search criteria. Does "ort" mean find spot?

Here are some search criteria, not necessarily in the final sequence.

01. Emperor
02. Province
03. Type of Diploma
04. Date of Diploma
05. Inscription Reference
06. Literature
07. Unit
08. Name
09. Governor
10. Find Spot

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[Praefectusclassis]

:lol: You know what to ask for, dontcha?
Ort means place, so yeah, findspot.

Do you think you'll be able to find some extra help for this project?

[Spedius]

:lol: You know what to ask for, dontcha?
Ort means place, so yeah, findspot.
Do you think you'll be able to find some extra help for this project?

Ave Jasper,

Thanks for the confirmation.

No, I don't know anyone. I had hoped you would drum some extra hands to help? So far it's just you and me. I'm quite happy to do the intial work. I am willing to devote as much time as is necessary to a project that I think is worthy of my attention. This is such a project.

Below is a diploma in it's raw state, complete with line separators, tablet separators, expansions of words, etc:-

Belegstelle: RMD-01, 00002 = AE 1968, 00446 = AE 1980, 00788 = ILJug-02, 00477
Provinz: Moesia superior         Ort: Donji Milanovac / Taliata
Imp(erator) Caesar Vespasianus Augustus pontifex maxi/mus tribunic(ia) potest(ate) VI imp(erator) XIIII p(ater) p(atriae) censor / co(n)s(ul) VI designatus VII / peditibus et equitibus qui militant in cohorti/bus decem quae appellantur I Antiochensi/um et I Sugambrorum veterana et I Raeto/rum et I Lusitanorum et III et IV et V et VII et VIII / Gallorum et Cisipadensium et sunt in Moesia / sub Sex(to) Vettuleno Ceriale qui quina et vicena / stipendia aut plura meruerant quorum nomi/na subscripta sunt ipsis liberis posterisque eo/rum civitatem dedit et conubium cum uxori/bus quas tunc habuissent cum est civitas iis / data aut si qui cael(i)bes essent cum iis quas / postea duxissent dumtaxat singuli / singulas a(nte) d(iem) IIII K(alendas) Maias Caesare Aug(usti) f(ilio) / Domitiano III L(ucio) Pasidieno Firmo co(n)s(ulibus) / coh(ortis) I Raetoriae(!) / cui prae(e)st / C(aius) Quintius Laberius Tutor Sabinianus / pediti / Herae Serapionis f(ilio) Antioc(hia) / descriptum et recognitum ex tabula aenea quae / fixa est Romae in Capitolio // Imp(erator) Caesar Vespasianus Augustus pontifex ma/ximus tribunic(ia) potest(ate) VI imp(erator) XIIII p(ater) p(atriae) censor / co(n)s(ul) VI designatus VII / peditibus et equitibus qui militant in cohorti/bus decem quae appellantur I Antiochensi/um et I Sugambrorum veterana et I Raetorum / et I Lusitanorum et III et IV et V et VII et VIII Gallo/rum et Cisipadensium et sunt in Moesia sub / Sex(to) Vettuleno Ceriale qui quina et vicena sti/pendia aut plura meruerant quorum nomina / subscripta sunt ipsis liberis posterisque eorum / civitatem dedit et conubium cum uxoribus quas / tunc habuissent cum est civitas iis data aut / si qui caelibes essent cum iis quas postea / duxissent dumtaxat singuli singulas / a(nte) d(iem) IIII K(alendas) Maias Caesare Aug(usti) f(ilio) Domiti/ano III L(ucio) Pasidieno Firmo co(n)s(ulibus) / coh(ortis) I Raetorum / cui prae(e)st C(aius) Quintius Laberius Tutor Sabinianus / pediti / Herae Serapionis f(ilio) Antioc(hia) / descriptum et recognitum ex tabula aenea qua(e) / fixa est Romae in Capitolio pos(t) piscinam / in tribunal(i) deorum / L(uci) Domiti L(uci) f(ilii) Col(lina) Veri / P(ubli) Coeli Q(uinti) f(ilii) Fal(erna) Bruti Rufi / Q(uinti) Iuli Lentuli / Q(uinti) Aquili C(ai) f(ilii) Vol(tinia) Campan(i) / T(iti) Lossi T(iti) f(ilii) GAl(eria) Severi / Sex(ti) Lossi T(iti) f(ilii) Gal(eria) Apollinaris / P(ubli) Atini P(ubli) f(ilii) Vel(ina) Augustalis

How are you going to link this to the "face"?

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo