Roman plates display at BYU relocated to Special Collections - BYU News Skip to main content
Intellect

Roman plates display at BYU relocated to Special Collections

Visitors who missed “Two Ancient Roman Plates: Bronze Military Diplomas and Other Sealed Documents,” when it was displayed on the third floor of the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University, can still view the two ancient plates in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections on the library's first level during the summer.

The set of Roman plates were issued by imperial decree on Oct. 14, AD 109 during the rule of Emperor Trajan. Called a military diploma, these plates conferred citizenship and military honors to a retiring Roman soldier in Dacia, and outlined that he was allowed to freely travel throughout the empire and wear a toga as a Roman citizen.

The library’s acquisition of these 2,000-year-old bronze plates was made possible by a group of donors brought together by John W. Welch, a BYU law professor and editor-in-chief of BYU Studies. Interested parties who cannot visit Special Collections in person can view images, explanations and videos about the exhibit at romanplates.byu.edu.

For more information, contact Roger Layton, Harold B. Lee Library communications manager, at (801) 422-6687, or roger_layton@byu.edu.

plates1-h.jpg
Photo by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

BYU’s 2025 awards season honors student standouts

May 15, 2025
Rise and shout! Across various disciplines, BYU students have been recognized for their world-class accomplishments.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Student inventors help BYU rank as a top U.S. university for newly-issued patents

May 12, 2025
Brigham Young University was just ranked as one of the Top 100 universities in the nation for most issued patents. But the new ranking from the National Academy of Inventors isn’t the story for BYU; it’s who holds the patents.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

BYU research: Your beliefs about money may reveal clues about your relationship

May 07, 2025
Everyone holds their own beliefs about money – what it’s for, how much we need and how to use it. But a new study from researchers at BYU says personal beliefs about money also shape the health of your relationship.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=