Legal Protection Granted to Soldiers’ Partners in the Military Diplomas

The paper examines the formulas granting conubium in the military diplomas, focusing on the problem of soldiers’ relationships with women before and after their discharge. Keeping in mind the fact that between Augustus and Septimius Severus a marriage ban was imposed on soldiers in service, the study offers a reconstruction of the way in which soldiers’ de facto unions were viewed by the authorities and analyzes the legal protection against abandonment granted to soldiers’ partners by the imperial constitutions.