Details

LOT 0178

Roman Wooden Tablet with a Sales Contract Made on the Goretiano Estate in the Province of Byzacena

4TH CENTURY A.D.

6 1/8 x 5 1/2 in. (44.3 grams, 15.6 x 14.1 cm).

Well preserved rectangular tablet made of cedar wood with a recessed panel to the inner face, the outer face flat and not inscribed; the second and last tablet of a Roman sales contract; the inner face inscribed in Roman cursive script using ink and calamus, fourteen lines of Roman cursive script written within the recess; two small holes both near the upper and lower rim (for binding the tablets of this document together); the text consists of dispositions regarding the sale of a special category of land (gemiones) and ends with the obligatory stipulatio formula: 'stipulata est Macrinia B., spopondidit Iulius L. – Macrinia B. stipulated, Iulius L. (as the vendor) gave the counter promise'. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired by Albert Sfez in the early 1950s.
Formerly the property of Monsieur Alain Sfez, a Belgian collector; acquired by gift from his father, Albert Sfez, in 1965.
Acquired by a London dealer in 1973.
From an important London collection since 1975; thence by descent.

Accompanied by a copy of an illustrated academic report by Professor Dr phil. Peter Rothenhöfer.

Literature

Cf. Rothenhoefer, P., ‘Bemerkungen zum Testament des Pomponius Maximus aus dem Jahr 371 n. Chr.’ (Notes on the Testament of Pomponius Maximus from the Year AD 371), Zeitschrift der Savigny Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte (Romanistische Abteilung) 142, 2025, pp. 200-232; Rothenhoefer, P., and Blänsdorf, J., ‘Sana mente sanaque memoria testamentum feci: Eine testamentarische Verfügung vom 12. April 340 n. Chr.’, Gephyra 13, 2016, pp.153-163; also see Thomas, J. D., Vindolanda: The Latin Writing Tablets, Britannia Monograph Series No 4, London, 1983, for examples of wooden tabulae re-used as writing surfaces; for examples of deeds of sale on wooden tablets that have survived, see Roger, S.O. Tomlin, ‘The Girl in Question: a New Text from Roman London’, Britannia 34, 2003, 41-51. - This tablet will be published by Rothenhoefer, P., Neue römische Rechtsdokumente aus dem Byzacena-Archiv / New Roman Legal Documents from the Byzacena Archive, (forthcoming).