Iunia Libertas

From leisure we return to the house and work. In 1939 a much-quoted inscription was found in the Porticus of the Triumphal Arches (V,XI,7), shops opposite the theatre. It had been re-used as pavement, sometime in late antiquity. The inscription itself can only be dated on the basis of its writing style, but must belong to the first two centuries AD.

IVNIA D(ecimi) F(ilia) LIBERTAS HORTORVM ET AEDIFICIORVM ET TABERNARVM HILAR ONIANORVM IVNIANORVM ITA VTI MACERIE SVA PROPRIA CLVSI SVNT QVAE IVRIS EIVS IN HIS SVNT VSVM FRVCTVMQV[e] DEDIT CONCESSIT LIBERTIS LIBERTABVSQVE SVIS QVIVE AB [iis] POSTERISQVE EORVM MANVMISSI MANVMISSAEVE SVN[t] ERVNTVE ET NE QVI EX IS VSVM FRVCTVMVE PORTIONI[s] SVAE VENDIDISSE AVT ALIENASSE AVT ALI(o) CONCESSISSE VELIT DONEC AD VNVM VNAMVE VSVS FRVCTVS PERVENIAT ET SI NEMO EX FAMILIA SVPERAVERIT TVNC EOS HORTOS CVM AEDIFICIS ET TABERNIS ITA VTI MACERIE CLVSI SVNT FINIBVS SVIS PROPRIETATIS IVRISQVE ESSE VOLO COLONORVM COLONIAE REI PVBLICAE OSTIENSIV[m] EX QVORVM REDITV AB RE PV(b)LICA OSTIENSIVM INPENDI VOLO IN ORNATIONEM SEPVLCHRI ET SACRIFICIS DIE PARENTALIORVM HS C VIOLAE HS C ROSAE HS C HANC VOLVNTATEM MEAM PVBLICARI VOLO AD LIB(ertos) LIBERTASQ(ue) MEOS PRIMO LOCO IVS PERTINEAT      POST EOS AD POSTEROS EOR(um)

Iunia Libertas, daughter of Decimus, has given and ceded, of the Hilarian-Iunian gardens and buildings and shops, as defined by their own boundary wall, the rights she holds in them and the usufruct to her freedmen and freedwomen and to those who by them or their descendents have been or will have been manumitted. The usufruct of their share none of them may sell, alienate or cede to anyone until the usufruct descends to a single individual, male or female. And if no-one from the familia has survived, then I wish that of the gardens, together with the buildings and the shops, as defined by their own boundary wall and borders, the ownership and rights pass to the colonists of the colony of the city of Ostia. From their profits, by the city of Ostia, I wish to be spent for the adornment of the tomb and for sacrifices on the day of the Parentalia sesterces 100, on the day of violets 100, on the day of roses 100. I want this wish of mine to be made public. May the right vest in the first place in my freedmen and freedwomen      and after them in their descendents.

The inscription of Iunia Libertas. Meas. 0.97 x. 0.76.
GdS 25, 94; EDR073435; EDCS-12700080. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

The phrase Iunia Libertas Decimi filia has been taken to indicate that the woman responsible for the inscription was freeborn, while the (rare) cognomen Libertas would have been given to celebrate the manumission of her family. The inscription has three distinct parts. The first is in the third person and seems to be an extract from the will of Libertas. The second is in the first person. The last line, written in smaller letters, seems to be an afterthought. Jurists have discussed especially the legally problematic transmission of the usufruct to the heirs of the first generation of heirs. It is perhaps to be understood as a wish or intention.

The property in question was named after two families. Iuniani is derived from the nomen Iunius, Hilaroniani from a cognomen such as Hilarus. The inscription does not record who would become the owner(s) of the gardens, buildings and shops after the death of Libertas. The freedmen and freedwomen of the family would have the usufruct, presumably meaning that they could either live there or rent out parts of it. When the familia was extinct the property would pass to the city of Ostia, which in return had to take care of the grave of Libertas and commemorate her periodically, until that time an obligation for the freedmen and freedwomen. The Parentalia were annual ceremonies held by relatives and friends at the tomb, on the Days of the Violins and of the Roses flowers were placed on the tombs.

A close parallel for the Ostian text is an inscription that was in 1762 in the villa Perucchi (or Pelucchi) on the Via Salaria. It is now in the British Museum. It stipulates the usufruct of the insula ...alatiana by freedmen and freedwomen, mentions the Parentalia and the Days of the Roses and Violins, and the placing of a burning lamp with incense.

[---] [--i]N CVIVS [loci et m]ONIMENTI RELIQVI [aru]MQUE SVARUM CVLTVRAM [dedi]T LIBERTIS LIBERTABVS [que s]VIS VSVM FRVCTVM INSVLAE [---]ALATIANAE PARTIS QVARTAE ET QVARTAE ET VICENSIMAE QVAE IVRIS SVI ESSET ITA VT EX REDITV EIVS INSV LAE QVODANNIS DIE NATALIS SVI ET ROSATIONIS ET VIOLAE ET PARENTALIB(us) MEMORIAM SVI SACRIFICI(i)S QVATER IN AN NVM FACTIS CELEBRENT ET PRAETEREA OMNIB(us) K(alendis) NONIS IDIBVS SVIS QVIBVSQ(ue) MENSIB(us) LVCERNA LVCENS SIBI PONATVR INCENSO INPOSITO

CIL VI, 10248; EDR129626; EDCS-16100475. Photo: British Museum.