Testamentum Dasumii

Last updated

The Testamentum Dasumii refers to an inscription in several pieces found in Rome, that bears the only Roman will inscribed on stone. Originally presenting the complete will, while the surviving pieces of the inscription include parts of all 133 lines, much of the beginning and ends of all of the lines are missing. Nevertheless, it is of great value for prosopographic reasons, as well as an example of a Roman legal document for which otherwise there are few examples.

Contents

Description

Pieces of this inscription were first found in 1820, containing lines 1-56 and more were identified in 1830, containing lines 57-133. Theodor Mommsen reconstructed this document for publication in the series Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum , [1] which was considered as faithful as possible until the recovery of a further piece by Antonio Ferrua in the 1970s, which added to the first 19 lines of the inscription. [2] This new fragment proved Mommsen's restorations of those lines as inaccurate, and brought into question his restoration of the rest of the inscription. Since then, Werner Eck has offered a new restoration of those lines based on Ferrua's discovery, which while commonly accepted is still considered tentative. [3]

The inscription is dated to the consulate of Publius Aelius Hadrianus and Marcus Trebatius Priscus, or the summer of 108.

The testator

The will mentions a number of people -- the Epigraphische Datenbank Heidelberg counts 87 different people [4] -- most prominent are the emperor Trajan, the consuls Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus, and Quintus Sosius Senecio. However, scholarly interest has primarily focused on the identity of the testator of the will. Bartolomeo Borghesi, noting a Da[sumia] amongst the heirs, and observing mention of a nurse Dasumia Syche, whom Borghesi concluded was a freedman of the testator, identified him as a member of the gens Dasumius -- hence the name of the stone. Mommsen embraced this identification, and at one point the testator was identified with Lucius Dasumius Hadrianus, suffect consul about 93, but various details prevented complete acceptance. [5] It took Werner Eck's work to refute the identification decisively and show the testator did not belong to that gens. [3]

Following Eck's article, Ronald Syme proposed Gnaeus Domitius Tullus as the testator. [6] More recently, Joshua Tate has raised the possibility that the testator may not even be a senator, but points out that many problems in the document are resolved if he had been a wealthy freedman. "Until further research provides a more definite answer," Tate concludes, "we must remain open to the possibility that the testator was not only an Ignotus, but an Ignotus libertus". [7]

Other examples of Roman wills

There are few other examples of Roman wills. Literary sources present a few fictional examples, the will of Trimalchio in Petronius' Satyricon being the best known one. A less well known fictive example is the humorous Testamentum Porcelli, the last testament of a pig named M. Grunnius Corocotta, who dictates his testament in his last hours before being slaughtered by a butcher. [8] Pliny the Younger recounts the opening of the will of his friend Domitius Tullus, without providing any information on the legal language of the document. [9] A handful of actual wills have been identified amongst the papyrus, written by soldiers in Egypt such as Antonius Silvanus, [10] but these are military wills and observe practices different than the so-called Testamentum Dasumii, which is an example of a will amentum per aes ci libram .

Related Research Articles

Pliny the Elder 1st century Roman military commander and writer

Gaius Plinius Secundus, called Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field.

Will and testament Legal declaration by which a person distributes their property at death

A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property (estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the property until its final distribution. For the distribution (devolution) of property not determined by a will, see inheritance and intestacy.

Aulus Didius Gallus Fabricius Veiento was a Roman senator who played a major role in the courts of several Roman emperors during the first century AD. For his usefulness, Veiento was rewarded with the office of suffect consul three times.

Quintus Pompeius Falco was a Roman senator and general of the early 2nd century AD. He was governor of several provinces, most notably Roman Britain, where he hosted a visit to the province by the Emperor Hadrian in the last year. Falco achieved the rank of suffect consul for the nundinium of September to December 108 with Marcus Titius Lustricus Bruttianus as his colleague.

Publius Pomponius Secundus was a distinguished statesman and poet in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. He was suffect consul for the nundinium of January to June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus and as the colleague of the other ordinary consul, Titus Statilius Taurus. Publius was on intimate terms with the elder Pliny, who wrote a biography of him, now lost.

Titus Vestricius Spurinna was a Roman senator, consul, and a friend and role model of Pliny the Younger. He was consul at least twice, the first time possibly in 72, and the second in the year 98 as the colleague of the emperor Trajan. Spurinna is one of the correspondents in Pliny's Letters, and had literary interests of his own, including writing lyric poetry. Pliny says dinner parties at his home were often enlivened by scenes from Roman comedy.

Codicil (will)

A codicil is a testamentary or supplementary document similar but not necessarily identical to a will. In some jurisdictions, it may serve to amend, rather than replace, a previously executed will. In others, it may serve as an alternative to a will. In still others, there is no recognized distinction between a codicil and a will.

Gaius Bruttius Praesens Lucius Fulvius Rusticus was an important Roman senator of the reigns of the emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. A friend of Pliny the Younger and Hadrian, he was twice consul, governed provinces, commanded armies and ended his career as Urban prefect of Rome. Bruttius’ life and career left few coherent traces in the literary record, but a number of inscriptions, including his complete cursus honorum, fills out the picture considerably.

The gens Calvisia was an ancient Roman family, which first rose to prominence during the final decades of the Republic, and became influential in imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calvisius Sabinus in 39 BC.

Titus Prifernius Geminus was a Roman senator who lived in the second century. He is best known as a friend and correspondent of Pliny the Younger, who addresses him as Geminus; he served as quaestor to Pliny for the latter's consulship in AD 100, and five letters Pliny wrote to Geminus have survived. Although the letters convey a genuine friendship between the two, the first one appears only in the latter books of Pliny's collection; Ronald Syme explains this may be due to the fact that he, like Quintus Corellius Rufus and Calestrius Tiro, were living in Rome at the same time.

Lucius Julius Marinus Caecilius Simplex was a Roman senator who held several posts in the emperor's service. Simplex was then appointed suffect consul in late 101, with Lucius Arruntius Stella as his colleague. His career is primarily known through inscriptions.

Lucius Domitius Apollinaris was a Roman senator of the late first century. He is best known for his literary activities, as an acquaintance of Pliny the Younger and a patron of the poet Martial. He was appointed suffect consul in the nundinium of July to August 97 with Sextus Hermentidius Campanus as his colleague.

Galeo Tettienus Severus Marcus Eppuleius Proculus Tiberius Caepio Hispo was a Roman senator active in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD, who occupied a number of offices in the imperial service. He was suffect consul around the year 101 as the colleague of Rubrius Gallus.

Gnaeus Domitius Lucanus was a Roman senator and military commander active in the first century AD. His full name is Gnaeus Domitius Afer Titius Marcellus Curvius Lucanus. He was suffect consul sometime between 76 and 78.

Gaius Valerius Severus was a Roman senator of the second century. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of September to December 124 as the colleague of Gaius Julius Gallus. Severus is primarily known from inscriptions.

Publius Dasumius Rusticus was a Roman senator active during the first half of the second century AD. He was eponymous consul for AD 119 as the colleague of the emperor Hadrian. Rusticus is known only through surviving inscriptions.

Publius Pactumeius Clemens was a Roman senator and jurisconsult active during the first century AD. He was suffect consul for the nundinium April-June 138 as the colleague of Marcus Vindius Verus; according to Ronald Syme, Clemens is the earliest known consul to hold the fasces in absentia. Although he is known solely through inscriptions, his life provides examples of how patronage operated during contemporary Rome.

Publius Glitius Gallus was a Roman senator active in the late 1st century AD. He was suffect consul at some yet undetermined nundinium in the first century.

Titus Curtilius Mancia was a Roman senator, who held several offices in the emperor's service during the middle of the first century. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of November to December 55 as the colleague of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus. No other senator with his gentilicium is known, so Mancia seems to have been a homo novus.

References

  1. ↑ CIL VI, 10229
  2. ↑ Ferrua published this fragment as "Ultime Scoperte a S. Callisto", Rivista di Archeologia Christiana, 52 (1976), pp. 21ff
  3. 1 2 Eck, "Zum neuen Fragment des sogenannten Testamentum Dasumii", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik , 30 (1978), pp. 277-95
  4. ↑ "Epigraphische Text-Datenbank: Detailansicht"
  5. ↑ Ronald Syme, "The Testamentum Dasumii: Some Novelties", Chiron , 15 (1985), pp. 41-44
  6. ↑ Syme, "The Testamentum Dasumii: Some Novelties", pp. 41-63
  7. ↑ Tate, "New Thoughts on the 'Will of Dasumius'", Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Romanistische Abtheilung, 122 (2005), p. 171
  8. ↑ Discussed by Edward Champlin, "The Testament of the Piglet", Phoenix, 41 (1987), pp. 174-183
  9. ↑ Pliny, Epistulae, VIII.18
  10. ↑ Published as Fontes iuris Romani antiustiniani, second edition (1940-43), III.47
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.