BYU Exhibition
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
Two ancient Roman Bronze plates dated October 14, A.D. 109, have been donated to BYU's Harold B. Lee library and will be on display to the public through March 2008.
Issued by imperial decree during the reign of emperor Trajan of Rome, the plates are an official military diploma granting citizenship and retirement benefits to a Roman soldier, Marcus Herennius Polymita, and his family.
The plates were acquired and gifted to the university by a group of private donors and researchers led by John W. Welch, founder of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, and curator for the library's exhibit.
During a lecture given to students, faculty and the community in the library auditorium Friday, March 2, Brother Welch said the artifacts are a rarity for various reasons and feels it is more than a mere coincidence that they have made their way to the university.
"The metal in these plates is intrinsically valuable and, for that reason alone, few of these plates have survived from antiquity. After they had served their legal and political purposes, plates like these were typically melted down or cut into small pieces that were then used as a type of informal currency," said Brother Welch.
Found somewhere near the border of Bulgaria and Romania, the two plates, which were designed to be bound together, along with a sealed portion, have a striking resemblance to the description of the Book of Mormon plates.
The exterior of the first plate contains the full text in portrait, or vertical, format; the back of the second plate contains the names of the seven witnesses under whose authority the plates were issued.
When bound together, the interior becomes the sealed portion and contains a protected version in landscape, or horizontal, format of the same text found on the front.
The dimensions are 5x7 inches, a close resemblance to Mormon's plates, which were said to be approximately 6x8 inches.
It was under the rule of Emperor Trajan that the Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. He was best known for his peaceable treatment of Christians and his victory over the province of Dacia.
It was after this famous Dacian conquest that the emperor granted these diplomas to soldiers across his empire.
Through his lecture and the exhibition, Brother Welch hopes to point out that this pattern of documentary preservation, implemented in a variety of ways, was widely recognized in several ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean civilizations.
He concluded his lecture by quoting notable LDS scholar Hugh Nibley, "... the knowledge and use of metal plates for the keeping of important records (existed at one point) as a general practice throughout the ancient world. It will not be long before men forget that in Joseph Smith's day the Prophet was mocked and derided for his description of the plates more than anything else."
E-mail to: cmorales@desnews.com
