Sermo Militaris Imperatoris Anastasii. The Anastasian inscription from Perge

It is already known through codices and inscriptions, that the Roman army was in a disorder and Anastasius worked hard in legislation in order to fix the problems when he succeeded to Byzantine throne. Especially the institutions, which dealt with the promotions and salaries of soldiers, confronted an ambiquity and corruption. Ranks and discharges, due to abuse of the current laws, turned into a metter of internal trade in legions and bribe became a promotion routin, which was accepted and openly practiced by anyone. Some young soldiers, even though they didn?t deserve, were able to advance to higher grades through some tricks and the conditions of some corrupt officers. At the same time, the soldiers, who dedicated theirselves to the service of empire and deserved promotion through their merits, were not able to get the grades and to obtain their rights and to have the profits of promotion, that was supposed to be taken by them. This grave injustice made them depressed and put them into poverty. Emperor Anastasius, promulgating a legislation, which covers the seriousness of the situation comprehensively, carried out a reform that determined the appointments, promotions and salaries. This reform is included in a monumental inscription, which was uncovered at Perge of Pamphylia in Asia Minor. This inscription and its implications are the matter of this work. The inscription was found near to the nymphaion at the northern end of the main street which leads to the southern slope of the acropol, as broken into ca. 800 thin marble fragments. The examination of the fragments revealed that the inscription in fact consisted of three slabs, of which the first contains the legislative speech (sermo) of Anastasius, the second the order of army commander, and the third a notice in which the numbers of soldiers and salaries detailed per grade groups (scholae). These slabs offered much new detail for Late Roman/Early Byzantine army and disclosed the hidden information for military appointments, promotions and numbers in the Anastasian period.