In a bronze inscription, a remnant of Roman might

Times of Israel ^ | Saturday, April 21, 2012 | Matti Friedman

[SunkenCiv]

We do not know the name of the Roman war veteran who owned this bronze certificate, which marked his discharge from active service 1,922 years ago. His name was engraved on the tablet when it was issued in Rome, but that part is missing.

We do know that he was discharged in 90 CE and that he served in one of the empire's combat units stationed in the unruly province of Judea. Because a Roman soldier served 25 years before being released, we can deduce that this anonymous fighter was in active service as a younger man during one of the key events in Jewish history: Rome's suppression of the Jewish revolt and destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. He might have been a participant.

The certificate, currently displayed along with other Roman military artifacts at the Israel Museum, was a copy given to the soldier -- the original remained the property of the government and would have been displayed in Rome, on the Capitoline Hill or in the Forum. It was issued, the text informs us, in the name of the emperor Domitian, identified here as "Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus, son of the deified Vespasian, Pontifex Maximus."

The inscription also identifies the commander of Rome's forces in Judea at the time, an imperial administrator named Titus Pomponius Bassus, who was known to scholars from other records. Bassus spent several years as a governor in Anatolia, and later ran a government program in southern Italy that offered incentives to encourage childbirth, according to a 2003 article in the museum's journal, Studies in Archaeology, which first published details of the certificate after its acquisition. But this tablet was the first indication that Bassus had ever been governor of Judea.

[Paisan]

...a copy given to the soldier — the original remained the property of the government...

And if the Government lost THEIR copy, you could kiss your retirement and medical benefits goodbye.

Red Tape - been around a L O N G time...

[Mmogamer]

And they considered themselves Roman. It was a crime against
civilization that the west did not help stop the moon-worshipers from taking Constantinople.

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[Sherman Logan]

In the 3rd Crusade western armies conquered Constantinople. The Eastern Roman Empire was re-established after a while, but it was at best a shadow of its former self. The West had at least as much to do with the eventual fall of the Empire as the Muslims.