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]
