Eine honesta missio im Sonderformat: Neuartige Bronzeurkunden für Veteranen der Legionen in Germania superior unter Gordian III.

Abstract

The unusual bronze document published here details the honesta missio of a Thracian soldier of the legio VIII Augusta that took place in Strasbourg on the 15th of December 240. This document contains unique texts: an excerpt from a letter by Gordian III to a hitherto unknown governor of Germania superior, ordering him to discharge an annual intake of soldiers and a petition by a veteran to the governor, requesting permission to produce such a bronze document containing elements of various texts. This document is the first known libellus to a governor from the Western Empire and the only known example in bronze. A fragment of a similar document related to this process for a soldier of the legio XXII Primigenia in Mainz was already known, which can now be fully reconstructed. The evidence suggests that there must have been more such documents, and that this was an action initiated and directed from above, benefitting the veterans of both legions. The reasons are sought in the military events described by Herodian for the tumultuous year 238, leading to a re-evaluation of the role of a military contingent of «Germans» in Northern Italy, which was taken over by Pupienus after the end of Maximinus and became an important factor in Rome until the revolt of Gordian III. The article closes by reconsidering a related discharge document for a member of the vigiles under the Philippi and finally looks forward to the reforms of 311.