Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.31141/zrpfs.2024.61.153.315
Roman inscription on the agreement between the Ortoplini and Parentini on delineation and access to water
Ivan Milotić
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu Pravni fakultet
Sažetak
Landmark inscriptions bear testament to the first stage of the establishment of Roman rule in Dalmatia following the Bellum Batonianum. Among them, a specific one is the inscription about the Ortoplini and the Parentini. Unlike others, it does not contain references to a dispute and its arbitration, but rather to the two tribes’ own agreement on a boundary and right of access to a source of water. This epigraphic testimony is located in situ in Begovača forest on Mount Velebit, in a locality above Kosinjski Bakovac. The contents of that inscription, which is usually called the Inscribed Stone, reveals that it is actually a legal act that refers to a situation which essentially most certainly dates back to pre-Roman times. However, its inscription style and institutional framework place it under Classical Roman Law in the epigraphic sense. Even though there is some philological uncertainty in the inscription, the legal determinant analysed in this paper, exhaustively and comprehensively for the first time, contributes to its clarity. The Inscribed Stone records the establishment of a boundary (finis) and aquae haustus property easement so that the Ortoplini could access the water source on the territory of the Parentini and draw from it daily. During Roman times, in that isolated, water-scarce and overall harsh region cut off from communications, the inscription was also a permanent document on the consistency, universality and thoughtfulness of the application of Roman law. It is also a testament to its penetrating power wherever necessary in order to regulate legal relations in regard to goods of existential importance for the population in a sustainable, permanent and legally certain manner, with the application of private-law concepts. From the point of view of the method of scientific assessment, the case of the inscription is an example of how certain epigraphic and philological deficiencies of an inscription on law can perhaps be resolved or at least somewhat clarified using legal historical research instruments.
Ključne riječi
landmark inscription; boundary; aquae haustus easement; epigraphy; Roman law; Begovača woods; Mt Velebit; Roman Dalmatia; inscribed stone
Hrčak ID:
321199
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.9.2024.
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