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''Ius Italicum'' (Latin, Italian or Italic law) was a law in the early
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
that allowed the
emperors
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
to grant cities outside Italy the legal fiction that they were on Italian soil. This meant that the city would be governed under
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
rather than local law, would have a greater degree of autonomy in their relations with provincial governors, and that people born in the city automatically gained
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...
.
As Rome citizens, people were able to buy and sell property, were exempt from land tax, and the poll tax and were entitled to protection under Roman law.
''Ius Italicum'' was the highest liberty a municipality or province could obtain and was considered very favorable. Emperors, such as
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
and
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa (Roman province), Africa. As a young man he advanced thro ...
, made use of the law during their reign.
Augustus' enactment of the law
Emperor Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
was one of the first Emperors to implement the law of ''Ius Italicum'' during his reign. During Emperor Augustus' reign he gave land-grants to veterans who participated in civil wars to reward them for their efforts. The early Roman Empire saw the creation of colonies; settlers in Roman citizen colonies (''colonia civium Romanorum)'' had the same rights and legal privileges as ''
cives''. Military Roman colonies founded by Augustus, the first Roman emperor, were to house the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
veterans while overseas civilian colonies were settled by Roman civilians who were deprived of their property by returning soldiers. Ancient literary sources enumerate some of the cities that were granted the privilege of ''Ius Italicum.'' The ''
Digest,'' a book compiled of published Ancient Roman laws, lists the Roman colonies that were granted the privilege of ''Ius Italicum.''
This list comprises 16 colonies founded by Augustus Caesar:
Berytus
) or Laodicea in Canaan (2nd century to 64 BCE)
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,
Apamea
Apamea or Apameia ( grc, Απάμεια) is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see.
Places called Apamea in ...
, Sinope,
Philippi
Philippi (; grc-gre, Φίλιπποι, ''Philippoi'') was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides ( grc-gre, Κρηνῖδες, ''Krenides'' "Fountains") after its establishment by Thasian colon ...
,
Alexandria Troas
Alexandria Troas ("Alexandria of the Troad"; el, Αλεξάνδρεια Τρωάς; tr, Eski Stambul) is the site of an ancient Greek city situated on the Aegean Sea near the northern tip of Turkey's western coast, the area known historically a ...
,
Dyrrhacium,
Pax Julia ''Pax Iulia'' (also known as ''Colonia Civitas Pacensis'') was a city in the Roman province of Lusitania (today situated in the Portuguese municipality of Beja).
History
The region was inhabited during 400 BC by Celtic tribes, but there are indic ...
,
Emerita,
Valentia,
Ilici,
Lugdunum
Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but continued an existing Gallic settle ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
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,
Cassandrea
Cassandreia, Cassandrea, or Kassandreia ( grc, Κασσάνδρεια, ''Kassándreia'') was once one of the most important cities in Ancient Macedonia, founded by and named after Cassander in 316 BC. It was located on the site of the earlier An ...
,
Dium
Dion ( el, Δίον; grc, Δῖον; la, Dium) is a village and municipal unit in the municipality of Dion-Olympos in the Pieria regional unit, Greece. It is located at the foot of Mount Olympus at a distance of 17 km from the capital c ...
,
Parium
Parium (or Parion; el, Πάριον) was a Greek city of Adrasteia in Mysia on the Hellespont. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Cyzicus, the metropolitan see of the Roman province of Hellespontus.
History
Founded in 709 B.C., the ancient ci ...
,
Antioch of Pisidia
Antioch in Pisidia – alternatively Antiochia in Pisidia or Pisidian Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Πισιδίας) and in Roman Empire, Latin: ''Antiochia Caesareia'' or ''Antiochia Colonia Caesarea'' – was a city in th ...
. Augustus also enacted the law of Ius Italicum on the following cities in order to househis military legion:
Arausio
Orange (; Provençal: ''Aurenja'' or ''Aurenjo'' ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is about north of Avignon, on the departmental border with Gard, which follows th ...
, Baeterrae,
Barcino,
Caesaraugusta
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
,
Cartenna,
Corduba,
Forum Julii,
Gunugu
Gunugus or Gunugu ( xpu, 𐤂𐤍𐤂𐤍 , ) was a Berbers, Berber and Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian town in northwest Africa in classical antiquity, antiquity. It passed into Roman Republic, Roman control during the Punic Wars and was the site o ...
,
Narbo
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...
,
Patrae
)
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Rusazu
Rusazus was a Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Roman town located near Cape Corbelin, Algeria. Its ruins are near the town of Azeffoun.
Name
( phn, 𐤓𐤔𐤆) was the Phoenician and Punic name of Cape Corbelin and meant "Cape of ...
, Rusguinae,
Saldae,
Thermae Himeraeae,
Thuburbo Minus
Tebourba ( aeb, طبربة ') is a town in Tunisia, located about 20 miles (30 km) from the capital Tunis, former ancient city ( Thuburbo Minus) and bishopric, now a Latin Catholic titular see.
Thuburbo Minus
Historically Thuburbo Minus w ...
,
Thuburnica,
Tubusuctu
Tubusuctu also known as Colonia Iulia Augusta Legionis VII, was a Roman colony founded by Augustus for military veterans and known for its olive oil.
Location
The town is located at 36.667565, 4.8462225 near El Ksour, Algeria and flourished from ...
and
Uthina
:''Uthina'' is also a spider genus (Pholcidae)
Uthina or Oudna ( ar, أوذنة) was an ancient Roman- Berber city located near Tunis, Tunisia.
History
Uthina was a town in the province of Africa Proconsularis, now northern Tunisia.
Uthina becam ...
.
Providing land for veterans was a high priority to Augustus and is reflected by the number of colonies that received ''Ius Italicum.'' This act was done sparingly as it was economically costly for the Roman Empire because the empire could not receive taxes from cities under this law.
Later emperors' enactment of the Law
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa (Roman province), Africa. As a young man he advanced thro ...
, an emperor of African origin, granted ''Ius Italicum'' to several Roman municipalities in Africa including his own. The effects of this were that their land, although outside the physical boundaries of Rome, would fall under Roman law.
[John Roberts. "Iūs Italicum." Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World (2007): Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World, 2007-01-01. Web.] The colony of
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
was founded by
Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
, re-founded by Augustus, and given ''Ius Italicum'' by Septimius Severus. After a civil war in which Greece cooperated with Severus he then granted several more cities this honour as a reward.
According to the
Digest, under
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
's rule the Flavians, Trajan, and Ara
Agrippinensium and three other colonies are known to have been founded and received ''Ius Italicum.'' In his ''
Natural History'' (3.25),
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
adds
Acci
Acci ( grc, Ἄκκι) was an ancient inland city of Hispania Tarraconensis, on the borders of Baetica. Under the Ancient Rome, Romans, and with the Jus Latinum, it was a colony with the full name of Colonia Julia Gemella Accitana. Its coins are n ...
and Libisosa to the list of Augustan cities possessing ''Ius Italicum.''
Later, Trajan founded two colonies on the Danube, one of which,
Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa, also received this honour.
References
Government of the Roman Empire
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