Sacrosanctity

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article chiefly concerns Roman concepts of inviolability. For inviolability more generally, see sacredness and sanctity of life.

Sacrosanctity (

inviolable). Those who harmed a sacrosanct person became sacer (accursed) through the declaration sacer esto! ("Let him be accursed"). The offender was considered as having harmed the gods or a god, as well as the sacrosanct person and therefore accursed to the gods or a god. This meant that the offender became forfeit to the god(s) and on his death he was surrendered to the god(s) in question.[3] The implication was that anyone who killed him was considered as performing a sacred duty and enjoyed impunity.[4]

History

Within Roman literature itself, the term sacrosanctitas is usually found in relation to the

plebeian tribune
, or the Roman emperors who appropriated the tribunician power in large part because of its ritual protection.

During the rebellion of the

Roman state, which were controlled by the patricians. The bones of contention in the Conflict of the Orders
were the economic grievances of the poor, the protection of plebeians and, later, power-sharing with the patricians (who monopolised political power) with the rich plebeians. The patricians resisted the plebeian movement and its demands because the interests of the plebeians most often clashed with theirs and they saw this movement as a threat to their political and economic privileges.

The first plebeian secession was spontaneous and was the result of the exasperation of the plebeians with the refusal of the senate to address their demands. They lost faith in the Roman state. After the rebellion the disaffected plebeians effectively created a “state within the state.”

Comitia Centuriata, the Assembly of the Soldiers.[7]

Given the extra-legal character of the plebeian institutions, the plebeians found a way to give power to the plebeian tribunes by using the lex sacrata and declaring the person of a plebeian tribune sacrosanct. The lex sacrata was a collective resolution sanctioned by a collective oath. It was found among other Italic people as a military arrangement whereby, at times of military emergency, the compulsorily levied soldiers swore to follow their commanders to the death.

Tribunes of the Plebs
was accepted by the patricians and implemented into Roman law.

References

Look up sacrosanct in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Sacrosanctity.
  1. ^ Festus, de Verborum Significatione Quae Supersunt Cum Pauli Epitome
  2. ^ Coarelli, F. (1983) Foro Romano I: Periodo archaico, Rome, p. 178
  3. ^ Ogilvie, R.M. (1995) A Commentary on Livy, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 500-2
  4. ^ Altheim, F. (1940) Lex Sacrata, Amsterdam
  5. ^ This phrase was used by Mommsen to describe the plebeian organisation; Romisches Staatsrecht, vol. III 3rd edition, Leipzig, 1887-8.
  6. ^ Livy, ab Urbe Condita, 2.44.9.
  7. ^ Lintott, A. (1999). The Constitution of the Roman Republic. Oxford University Press, pp. 44-48
  8. ^ Altheim F. (1940) Lex Sacrata, Amsterdam; Livy mentions such arrangements in several passages
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sacrosanctity&oldid=1203848873"