III. Dis Manibus. Zum römischen Grabrecht

Abstract

Summary The Roman law of burial can be reconstructed not only from the legal sources, but also from the numerous funerary inscriptions that have been found in the city of Rome. Doing so requires resolving various inconsistencies between the two groups of sources. The main conflict stems from the categorisation of the tomb as a res religiosa in the legal sources, while the inscriptions seem to allow the transfer of the ius sepulchri through transactions and wills. Furthermore, the legal nature of the funerary inscriptions for qualifying a tomb and establishing burial rights needs to be clarified. Contrary to a scholarly opinion, the inscriptions themselves do not constitute the burial order. Instead, they merely reproduce parts of the underlying legal transactions that were used to establish the order of the tomb and the burial rights associated with it. Against this background, an analysis of the well-known distinction between sepulchra hereditaria and sepulchra familiaria provides for new insights into the design and the limits of the grave founder’s dispositions. In sum, the thorough comparison of the epigraphic and the legal material demonstrates the reliability of the funerary inscriptions for the legal analysis of Roman burial law.