The writing on this bronze citizenship award (awarded 158 AD) says that the soldier who received it originally came from Heliopolis or Baalbek in Syria. Native people from across the Roman Empire provided soldiers to serve in the army. They were awarded Roman citizenship after serving for 25 years. Records of Roman citizenship were inscribed on a bronze sheet. The pieces of this award were found by metal-detectorists. We don’t know the soldier’s name. We think he joined a regiment that helped put down a serious rebellion in Judaea or Israel in AD 135-8. He must have stayed in the North West after leaving the army. The finders, James and Howard Meadowcroft, received a BP British Archaeological Award in 1996. Discovered in Ravenglass, Cumbria.
