Edictum imperatoris incerti de violatione sepulcrorum ( Riccobono )

EDICTUM IMPERATORIS INCERTI DE VIOLATIONE SEPULCRORUM

Imperial edict concerning violation of sepulchres

( 27 BC - AD 54 )

( S. Riccobono, Fontes iuris Romani antejustiniani, I, Firenze, 1941, pp. 414-416, n. 69 ).

Latin translation

Edictum Caesaris.

Placet mihi sepulchra tumulosque, quae ad religionem maiorum facta sunt uel filiorum uel propinquorum, manere immutabilia in perpetuum. Si quis autem probauerit aliquem ea destruxisse, siue alio quocumque modo sepultos eruisse, siue in alium locum dolo malo transtulisse per iniuriam sepultorum, siue titulos uel lapides amouisse, contra illum iudicium iubeo fieri, sicut de diis, ( ita ) in hominum religionibus ( Manium sacris ? ). Multo enim magis oportebit sepultos colere. Omnino ne cuiquam liceat loco mouere. Qui autem fecerit, illum ego capitis damnatum nomine sepulchri uiolati uolo.

Greek text ( J. E. Hondius, SEG, VIII, n. 13 ).

διάταγμα Καίσαρος. | ἀρέσκει μοι τάφους τύνβους | τε οἵτινες εἰς θρησκείαν προγόνων | ἐποίησαν ἢ τέκνων ἢ οἰκείων, | τούτους μένειν ἀμετακεινήτους | τὸν αἰῶνα· ἐὰν δέ τις ἐπιδίξῃ τι-|νὰ ἢ καταλελυκότα ἢ ἄλλῳ τινὶ | τρόπῳ τοὺς κεκηδευμένους | ἐξερριφφότα ἢ εἰς ἑτέρους | τόπους δώλῳ {sic} πονηρῷ̣ με-|τατεθεικότα ἐπ’ ἀδικίᾳ τῇ τῶν | κεκηδευμένων ἢ κατόχους ἢ λί-|θους μετατεθεικότα, κατὰ τοῦ | τοιούτου κριτήριον ἐγὼ κελεύω | γενέσθαι, καθάπερ περὶ θεῶν | ε[ἰ]ς τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων θρησκ̣-|κε̣ί̣ας· πολὺ γὰρ μᾶλλον δεήσει | τοὺς κεκηδευμένους τειμᾶν· | καθόλου μηδενὶ ἐξέστω μετα-|κεινῆσαι· εἰ δὲ μή, τοῦτον ἐγὼ κε-|φαλῆς κατάκριτον ὀνόματι | τυμβωρυχίας θέλω γενέσθαι.

► Bibliography

Abel, Revue biblique, 39, 1930, pp. 567 ss. ; Capocci, BIDR, 38, 1930, pp. 215 ss. ; Cumont, RH, 163, 1930, pp. 241-266 ; Cuq, RHD, 9, 1930, pp. 383 ss. ; de Sanctis, RFIC, 58, 1930, pp. 260 ss. ; Lagrange, Revue biblique, 39, 1930, pp. 570 ss. ; Brown, AJP, 52, 1931, pp. 1-29 ; Carcopino, RH, 166, 1931, pp. 77 ss. and 434 ss. ; de Sanctis, RFIC, 59, 1931, p. 134 ; Wenger, ZSS, 51, 1931, pp. 373 ss. and 395 ; Zancan, Atti Ist. Ven., 91, 1931-32, pp. 241 ss. ; de Zulueta, JRS, 22, 1932, pp. 184 ss. ; Momigliano, L'opera dell'imperatore Claudio, Firenze, 1932, pp. 73 ss. ; Seston, REA, 35, 1933, pp. 205 ss. ; Momigliano, Claudius : The Emperor and his Achievement, Oxford, 1934, pp. 35-36 and 100-101 ; Arangio-Ruiz, SDHI, 2, 1936, p. 519 ; Robert, Collection Fröhner, I, Paris, 1936, n. 70 ; Hondius, Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, VIII, Leiden, 1937, n. 13 ; Seston, Phil, 1937, pp. 124 ss. ; Arangio-Ruiz, SDHI, 5, 1939, pp. 530 ss. ; Parrot, Malédictions et violations de tombes, Paris, 1939, pp. 64 ss. ; Gerner, ZSS, 61, 1941, pp. 264 ss. ; Guarducci, RPAA, 18, 1941-2 ; Luzzatto, Epigrafia giuridica greca e romana, Milano, 1942, p. 235 ; Latte, RE, Suppl. VII (1950), c. 1612 ss. and 1643 ss. ; Carcopino, CRAI, 1953, p. 91 ; Schönbauer, JJP, 7-8, 1953-54, p. 114 ; d'Ors, SDHI, 20, 1954, pp. 480 ss. ; Oliver, CP, 49, 1954, pp. 180-182 ; Tod, JHS, 74, 1954, pp. 59-84 ; Ehrenberg & Jones, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, Oxford, 1955, p. 149, n. 322 ; Berger, Labeo, 3, 1957, pp. 538 ss. ; d'Ors, SDHI, 23, 1957, p. 538 ; Luzzatto, IURA, 8, 1957, p. 399 ; Casavola, Studi sulle azioni popolari romane, Napoli, 1958, pp. 23-148 ; Cerfaux, RIDA, 5, 1958, pp. 347 ss. ; Schmitt, Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible, 1958, c. 333-364 ; de Visscher, IURA, 10, 1959, pp. 197 ss. ; d'Ors, SDHI, 26, 1960, p. 533 ; Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne, Ancient Roman Statutes, Austin, 1961, p. 113, n. 133 ; de Visscher, Le droit des tombeaux romains, Milano, 1963, pp. 16 ss. = CRAI, 1953, pp. 83 ss. = RIDA, 2, 1953, pp. 283 ss. ; Luzzatto, NDI, XVII, 1970, pp. 31 ss. ; Kaser, Das römisches Privatrecht, I, München, 1971, pp. 378 ss. ; Leipoldt, El mundo del nuevo testamento, II, Madrid, 1973, p. 71 ; Girard & Senn, Les lois des Romains, Napoli, 1977, pp. 422-424, n. 3 ; Delling, ANRW, II, 20, 1, 1987, p. 23 ; Sherk, The Roman Empire : Augustus to Hadrian, Cambridge, 1988, pp. 52-53, n. 27 ; van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs : An Introductory Survey of a Millennium of Jewish Funerary Epigraphy (300 BCE-700 CE), Kampen, 1991, p. 159 ; Charlesworth, Jesus and Archaeology, Grand Rapids, 2006, p. 276.

► Source : Marble slab discovered at Nazareth before 1878 ( Paris, National Library ).