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Lex spoletina

Lex spoletina

The most complete was the Italian wiki, so I've translated for convenience sharing with native English speakers.  https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex_spoletina


is an epigraphic document
 (cataloged: Lex spoletina, CIL , XI, 4766)
 written in archaic Latin
on limestone dating back to the last decades of the third century BC and the beginning of the second . It consists of two inscriptions that
impose regulations on the use of the woods considered sacred.

Both are kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Spoleto . The document is known as one of the most important and ancient testimonies concerning lights in the Roman world [1] .

History 

Over the centuries, peoples harbored a certain fear of forests; to the fear, often magnified with imaginative descriptions, they combined an attitude of sacred veneration for them. The bond with the recognized sacred wood was essentially religious in nature, entering it had only celebratory and ritual purposes.

The lucus therefore was subject to a very particular regime; many actions that would have been perfectly lawful in any silva , were strictly prohibited and punished in the sacred wood , where they assumed a meaning of real profanation , to be expiated with pacifying sacrifices, often followed by fines.

The presence of sacred woods in the Spoleto area is well indicated, in addition to the toponymy , by the discovery of two epigraphic specimens which constitute a first example of forest law.

The Lex spoletina or Lex luci spoletina is an epigraphic document (cataloged: Lex spoletina, CIL , XI, 4766) written in archaic Latin on limestone dating back to the last decades of the third century BC and the beginning of the second . It consists of two inscriptions that impose regulations on the use of the woods considered sacred.

Both are kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Spoleto . The document is known as one of the most important and ancient testimonies concerning lights in the Roman world [1] .

The finding 
Both specimens were found by the Spoleto archaeologist Giuseppe Sordini ; 

<<< INSERT PHOTO OF STONE #1 HERE >>> 

the first was found in 1876; it was walled into the wall of a small church in San Quirico di Castel Ritaldi about 13 km from Spoleto [2] . The text is engraved on both main faces of a parallelepiped stone of local stone, a red siliceous limestone called colombino . It measures 55.7 x 51 x 23 cm. Some characters continue on the side faces [3] .

The Latin text with the appropriate additions of missing letters: photos

«Honce loucum - neque violated - neque exvehito - neque exferto quod louci siet - neque cedito - nesei quo die res dei anua fiet - eod die quod rei dinai causa fiat sine dolo cedere licetod -sei quis scies violasid dolo malo - iovei bovid piaclum given a .CCC. a lot of suntod eius piacli a lot of dicatori exsactio estod "

translation:

«Nobody profane this sacred wood, neither take away on wagon or arms what belongs to the sacred wood, nor cut it, except on the day in which the annual sacrifice will be made; on that day it is permissible to cut it without committing an illegal action as it is done for the sacrifice. If someone [against these provisions] profane it, make atonement by offering an ox to Jupiter and also pay a fine of 300 axes [4] . The task of enforcing the obligation of both the expiation and the fine is carried out by the dicator [5] "


<<< INSERT PHOTO OF STONE #2 St. Stefano Stone HERE >>>

The second stone, more dilapidated than the first, also quadrangular, was found in 1913;
 was built into the facade of the church of Santo Stefano in Picciche , near Trevi , also 13 km away. from Spoleto [2] .
 It measures 63 x 48 x 14 cm. The text occupies only the two main faces and repeats, with few variations, the same words as in the previous document.  The two texts and their related characters are very similar, therefore almost all scholars consider the two stones contemporary [6] .

The place of their original location is not known, nor if they have undergone displacements of a few kilometers before being reused in the walls of churches. Between the two places of discovery there is a distance of less than 5 km.


<<< INSERT PHOTO HERE >>> 
Monteluco. Beniamino Gigli visiting the sacred wood. 1939. The reproduction of the original stones, made from drawings by professor Decio Scuppa, were placed on a pedestal inside the sacred wood of Monteluco in August 1937 in memory of Arnaldo Mussolini [7] .

The two inscriptions made it possible to study Archaic Latin, Legal Latin, Umbrian Latin and the progressive use of the Latin language itself; moreover they have been published several times as sources for the study of Roman law [8] .

The forest law  

The first rule warns that nothing of what constitutes a sacred wood (branches, dead branches, fallen trunks) can be taken away. The second establishes that the cutting of the forest is allowed only on the occasion of the annual religious ceremonies. Other interventions in other periods with different purposes are prohibited, and will be atoned with the sacrifice of a bos to Jupiter , the main divinity to which the lucus , in this specific case, was consecrated.

The statement is therefore essentially divided into three points:
  • what cannot be done there (or can only be done in derogation in certain circumstances)
  • peacemaking sacrifices and fines in case of transgression
  • the body responsible for supervision and collection 
This structure is found in other similar documents, in other leges , both in Latin and Italic fields; one of these is the lex luci lucerina (CIL IX, 782 = I², 401); unlike that of Spoleto, it imposes an explicit prohibition of profanation with the abandonment of corpses and garbage [9] 

The prize

Since 1986, the Amici di Spoleto association has made the reproduction of the Lex Spoletina a recognition of natural or legal persons who have contributed to the concrete defense of the historical, cultural and environmental heritage, to the knowledge of the city and to the development of its economy. The prize is awarded annually [10] [11] [12] .[10] [11] [12] .




...
  1. ^ Silvio Panciera, The Spoleto lex luci and the legislation on sacred woods in Roman times , in Monteluco and the sacred mountains. Proceedings of the study meeting. Spoleto, 30 September - 2 October 1993 , Spoleto, Italian Center for Studies on the Early Middle Ages , 1993, p. 27.
  2. ^ Jump to:a b Panciera , p. 44.
  3. ^ Panciera , p. 28 .
  4. ^ The axis was the fourth part of a sestertius which was the fourth part of a denarius in Roman times
  5. ^ Magistrate with religious assignment. For other possible meanings of dicator cf. Panciera , p. 43
  6. ^ Panciera , p. 29 .
  7. ^ Liana Di Marco, Spoleto: a construction site during the Twenties. Urban history album 1922-1943 , Spoleto, Pro Spoleto Association , 1999, p. 21.
  8. ^ Panciera , p. 27 .
  9. ^ Panciera , p. 32
  10. ^ List of Honors , in Associazione Amici di Spoleto Onlus, official page . Retrieved July 10, 2020 .
  11. ^ To Carla Fendi and Gianfrancesco Marignoli the Lex spoletina 2013 , on www.spoleto7giorni.it/ , 2013.
  12. ^ Lex spoletina, awarded to Carla Fendi , on http://tuttoggi.info , July 2014.


...

Bibliography 

  • Giovanni Pascucci, The lex sacra of Spoleto , in Spoletium , art history culture magazine , Spoleto, Spoleto Academy , 1990 n. 34-35, pp. 5-10.
  • Silvio Panciera, The Spoleto lex luci and the legislation on sacred woods in Roman times , in Monteluco and the sacred mountains. Proceedings of the study meeting. Spoleto, 30 September - 2 October 1993 , Spoleto, Italian Center for Studies on the Early Middle Ages , 1994, p. 26, ISBN  8879883313 .

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