Eine bürokratische Eigenheit im officium des Statthalters von Pannonia inferior: item filiis classicorum in Bürgerrechtsurkunden der Zeit des Pius?

Abstract

Diplomata militaria have a very similar formula for all military units in which peregrine soldiers served. From the end of 140 onwards, the emperor granted citizenship only to the soldiers themselves, and no longer to their children born during military service. Thus, the reference that had previously made this possible disappears from all the diplomas: ipsis, liberis posterisque eorum. The new rule, granting citizenship only to the soldiers themselves, applied to all military units in the provinces, including the fleets – with one exception: Pannonia Inferior. In the diplomas for this province, even after 140, the children of fleet soldiers are said to have continued to receive civitas Romana. This is expressed by the formula: item filiis classicorum. This would have been a special right only for the classiarii in Pannonia Inferior, as this formula does not appear in any of the diplomas for fleet soldiers from other provinces. Why it appears in the diplomas for Pannonia Inferior between 143 and 153, even though it had no legal effect, and was not deleted by the imperial officium in Rome, remains an open question at present.