Lex Luci Spoletina
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The Lex Luci Spoletina is a Roman law dated to around the 3rd-century BCE, likely shortly after Spoletium became a Roman colony in 241 BCE.[1][2] The text, preserved in two distinct tablets,[1] forbids the cutting of woods or the removal of timber from a nearby lucus dedicated to Jupiter,[3][4] except for the purpose worship on the specific day in which a festival of divine worship was performed.[5] This law is one of the most detailed and well-preserved examples of Roman laws concerning sacred groves. The law further outlined the appropriate punishments for individuals that violated thus law: those that had desecrated the area were required to sacrifice an ox to Jupiter and were fined 300 asses as punishment.[6][7] According to the text, the responsibility for the exaction of the fine fell upon a local magistrate termed the "dicator," which has been interpreted as a misspelling of "dictator," a title used for magistrates in other towns.[5] The law makes particular reference to notion of malintent ("scies violasit dolo malo"),[8] indicating that the determination of ill-intent was essential to deciding the ultimate punishment.[9] It was uncovered in 1876 by the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Sordini, who discovered the artifact at the church of San Quirico in Castel Ritaldi.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Mann 2019, p. 138.
- ^ a b Molinari 2020, p. 5.
- ^ Simón 2021, p. 228.
- ^ Bodel 1994, p. 25.
- ^ a b Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne 1961, p. 20.
- ^ Gabrielli 2012, pp. 257–258.
- ^ Scheid 1999, p. 334.
- ^ CIL 11, 04766
- ^ Valditara 2018, p. 233.
Bibliography
[edit]- Bodel, John (1994). "Graveyards and Groves. A Study of the Lex Lucerina". American Journal of Ancient History. 11.
- Johnson, Allan Chester; Coleman-Norton, Paul Robinson; Bourne, Frank Card (1961). Ancient Roman Statutes: A Translation, with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary, and Index. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-598-27360-4.
- Gabrielli, Chantal (2012-03-01). "Moral Reflections and Sacred Constraints: About a lucus at Gabii". Archiv für Religionsgeschichte. 13 (1): 253–262. doi:10.1515/afgs.2012.253. hdl:2158/431097. ISSN 1868-8888.
- Mann, Caroline Palo (2019). Religious Transgression in the Roman Republic (PhD thesis). Princeton University.
- Molinari, Maria Cristina (2020-01-01). "The Carbognano hoard (VT): new reflections on the dating and function of the sub-libral aes grave". Ancient Numismatics.
- Scheid, John (1999-01-01), "The Expiation of Impieties Committed without Intention and the Formation of Roman Theology", Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions, Brill, pp. 331–347, ISBN 978-90-04-37908-4, retrieved 2025-03-09
- Simón, Francisco Marco (2021-01-01). "From the Botorrita Bronze to Peñalba de Villastar: Celtiberian religious epigraphy in a context of cultural change in a". Des mots pour les dieux.
- Valditara, Giuseppe (2018), du Plessis, Paul J. (ed.), "Roman Law and Civil Law Reflections upon the Meaning of Iniuria in Damnum Iniuria Datum", Wrongful Damage to Property in Roman Law: British perspectives, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 224–254, ISBN 978-1-4744-3447-8, retrieved 2025-03-09
Further reading
[edit]- Panciera, Silvio. La lex luci spoletina e la legislazione sui boschi sacri in età romana.
External Links
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