Tabula Clesiana

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tabula Clesiana

The Tabula Clesiana is a bronze plaque from Roman times, which was found in 1869 on the "Campi Neri" near the town of Cles in Val di Non in western Trentino while digging a ditch at a depth of 60 cm. It is now kept in the Museum of the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento .

Nature and content

description

The board with the dimensions 50 × 38 × 0.61 cm is made of high quality material, weighs 7.140 kg and is in good condition. The regularity of the writing, the overall visual impression and the officially correct style of the inscription indicate a highly specialized workshop. At the corners of the board you can see the holes for the nails to attach them.

content

It is inscribed with a decree of the Roman emperor Claudius from the year 46 AD. In the opening credits of the actual decree, the exact date (March 15), the two consuls in charge and the emperor and his titles are listed. The text is an imperial decree in which he takes a position on two specific and independent facts brought to his attention. Apparently the only thing they have in common is that they are cases related to the Alps.

The first case concerns old disputes between two tribes that settled in the area of ​​Lake Como and north of it in what is now Bergell . They fought over lands that were in the possession of the emperor in the light of new information brought to the emperor through Camurius' statute. The emperor instructs his administrator Julius Planta to investigate the case on the spot and to make a decision at his discretion, which he should then bring to his attention.

The second case concerns the legal status of tribesmen who lived in the Tridentine valleys. The Anauni , who lived in the Val di Non and the Sinduni and Tuliassi, who may have settled in neighboring valleys, had not yet enjoyed Roman citizenship even decades after the territory in which they lived had been incorporated into the Roman Empire . At most they had the legal status of adtributi , who were affiliated to a municipium and could hope to be granted full Roman citizenship at some point in the future - after a probationary period, as it were. Only the Roman citizens, the cives , could conclude certain legal transactions or perform certain administrative functions. As can be seen from the text, there seems to have been such a close familial, social and economic intermingling between the cives des municipium tridentinum and the named affiliated tribes that they passed themselves off as Roman citizens and, as a matter of course, held important posts in the Roman administration (e.g. B. in the Praetorian Guard ) were to be found, which should only have been accessible to full citizens. The emperor seems to have found the legal situation so confused that he decides to undertake the subsequent rehabilitation of a myriad of individual cases in such a way that he gives the cited tribes general Roman civil rights.

meaning

The discovery of this bronze plaque caused a considerable stir at the time, so that even Theodor Mommsen dealt with the legal matter contained therein in a treatise. The table provides valuable insights into local conditions at that time, how quickly the Romanesque assimilation of peripheral mountainous (Rhaetian) areas took place, whose population has adopted the Roman way of life in all areas. For the first time it names the tribes of the Tuliassi and the Sinduni, whose correct localization is only possible today hypothetically.

text

M (arco) Iunio Silano Q (uinto) Sulpicio Camerino co (n) s (ulibus)
Idibus Marti (i) s Bai (i) s in praetorio edictum
Ti (beri) Claudi Caesaris Augusti Germanici propositum fuit id quod infra scriptum est
Ti (berius) Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus pont (ifex)
maxim (us) trib (unicia) potest (ate) VI imp (erator) XI p (ater) p (atriae) co (n) s (ul) designatus IIII dicit
cum ex veteribus controversis petentibus aliquamdiu etiam
temporibus Ti (beri) Caesaris patrui mei ad quas ordinandas
Pinarium Apollinarem miserat quae tantum modo
inter Comenses essent quantum memoria refero et
Bergaleos isque primum apsentia pertinaci patrui mei
deinde etiam Gai principatu quod ab eo non exigebatur
referre non stulte quidem neglexserit et posteac
detulerit Camurius Statutus ad me agros plerosque
et saltus mei iuris eat in rem praesentem misi
Plantam Iulium amicum et comitem meum qui
cum adhibitis procuratoribus meis quisque in alia
regione quique in vicinia erant summa cura inqui
sierit et cognoverit cetera quidem ut mihi demons
trata commentario facto from ipso sunt statuat pronun
tietque ipsi permitto
quod ad condicionem Anaunorum et Tulliassium et Sindu
norum pertinet quorum partem delator adtributam Triden
tinis partem ne adtributam quidem arguisse dicitur
tam et si animadverto non nimium firmam id genus homi
num habere civitatis Romanae originem tamen cum longa
usurpatione in possessionem eius fuisse dicatur et ita permix
tum cum Tridentinis ut diduci ab i (i) s sine gravi splendi municipi (i)
iniuria non possit patior eos in eo iure in quo esse se existima
verunt permanere benificio meo eo quidem libentius quod
plerisque ex eo genere hominum etiam militare in praetorio
meo dicuntur quidam vero ordines quoque duxisse
non nulli collecti in decurias Romae res iudicare
quod benificium i (i) s ita tribuo ut quaecumque tanquam
cives Romani gesserunt egeruntque aut inter se aut cum
Tridentinis alisve ratam esse iubeat nominaque ea
quae habuerunt antea tanquam cives Romani ita habere i (i) s permittam

translation

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Pontifex Maximus ... has:

There have long been old quarrels that go back to the times of my uncle, the emperor Tiberius, who had commissioned Pinarius Apollinaris to settle the quarrel between the Comerians and, as far as I remember, the Bergalis, because of the constant absence of my uncle it never came to a decision and that was just as little under the rule of Gaius (Caligula), because he had probably never asked for a report on it from a better understanding. When Camurius Statutus had informed me that a large part of the grounds and forests in question belonged to my property, I sent my friend and comrade Julius Planta on the spot so that he and my authorized representatives could learn from the local authorities and are to be determined from neighboring areas, diligent surveys instead and the real facts, I have also authorized them to determine and decide what seems most favorable to him - he should then report to me personally.

As for the situation of the Anauni, Tulliassi and Sinduni, of whom I have been told that some of them have been assigned to the Tridentines, but some have not yet been assigned to anyone, I must admit that the Roman citizenship of these tribes is based on a rather unclear origin; on the other hand, it is said that these people have long had it and that they are so mixed up with the Tridentines that they could not be detached from it without doing serious harm to this glorious community. I therefore permit that, by virtue of my grace and favor, they may remain in the condition they have presumed to be, and all the more so since I am told that many of them also serve with the Praetorians and some of them serve there even hold command posts, and that not a few of them exercised judicial functions in the Decuria in Rome. I bestow this favor of mine on them in such a way that everything they did and carried out as Roman citizens, both with one another, with the Tridentines or with others, on my command, and I allow them to be confirmed those titles which they already have previously held as if they were Roman citizens.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ http://alpiantiche.unitn.it/archeologia/iscrizioni/non/epi_non1.htm
  2. ↑ http://alpiantiche.unitn.it/archeologia/iscrizioni/non/tav_img.htm Representation of the board
  3. ↑ should be called pendentibus
  4. ↑ should be called quique
  5. ↑ should be called splendidi
  6. ↑ should be called plerique
  7. ↑ should read allecti
  8. ↑ should read rata
  9. ↑ should be called iubeam