Corpus Fontium Historiae Fodinarum: Difference between revisions
Deletion of the section "Any other references to mines and quarries" in accordance with Archiopedia Rapid review report #202210221 and restoration of the changes made by the senior editors.
(Completed sections on Pliny, the Elder; added a section on other references to mining mentioned by the classical writers and cleaned up further bits and bobs) |
(Deletion of the section "Any other references to mines and quarries" in accordance with Archiopedia Rapid review report #202210221 and restoration of the changes made by the senior editors.) |
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'''Comments:''' Agatharchides’ account of the Eastern Desert of Egypt has been copied by Strabo (16.4.5–20, but Strabo had actually copied the information from Artemidorus of Ephesus), Diodorus (3.12–14) and Photius (59–66).<ref>Burstein 1989: 22.</ref> Burstein states that although Photius is the least well-known writer he gives the most accurate copy of Agatharchidus’ work. Diodorus’ copies are often more prosaic than factual. Strabo’s version does not mention gold mines; he only refers briefly to the topaz mines and appeared to be more interested in the various population groups living in and close to the desert (Strabo, 16.4.5–20).
===Legal sources===
====Julius Paulus====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''<small>Name-reference</small>'''
|<small>Paulus, ''Sententiae'', 5.23.14 (2nd-3rd centuries) commenting on the ''Lex Cornelia Sullæ de sicariis et veneficis'' of 81 BC</small>
|<small>Strabo 16.4.5-20</small>▼
|-
|'''<small>Modern reference</small>'''
|<small>[https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/Paul5_Scott.htm#23 Scott 1932]; also Shrek 2001: 206.</small>
|<small> Jones 1954b: 315-350</small>▼
|-
|'''<small>Location of the mine</small>'''
|<small>
|}
'''Description-Interpretation:''' ‘Persons who administer potions for the purpose of causing abortion, or love philtres, even if they do not do so maliciously, still, because the act affords a bad example, shall if of inferior rank, be sentenced to the mines; if of superior rank, they shall be relegated to an island, after having been deprived of their property. Where, however, the man or the woman loses his or her life in consequence of their act they shall undergo the extreme penalty.’
<br>
<br>'''Comments:''' This shows the clear distinction between the social classes; banishment to the mines was considered too harsh for the upper class.▼
====Edict of Constantine I on behalf of Christians====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''<small>Name-reference</small>'''
|<small>Edict of Constantine I on behalf of Christians (324 AD)<ref>I follow the title proposed by Coleman-Norton 1966: 106.</ref> as cited by Eusebius, ''Life of Constantine'', 2.32.1-2</small>
|-
|'''<small>Modern reference</small>'''
|<small>
|-
|'''<small>Location of the mine</small>'''
|<small>
|}
'''Description-Interpretation:''' ‘(1) Those also who were condemned either to labour under harsh conditions in mines, or to perform menial tasks at public works, let them exchange incessant toils for sweet leisure, and now live an easier life of freedom, undoing the infinite hardships of their labours in gentle relaxation. (2) But if any have been deprived of their civil liberty and suffered public dishonour, then let them, with the gladness appropriate considering they have been parted by a long exile, take up again their former rank and make haste back to their native lands.’
<br>
<br>'''Comments:''' This is a section of the law under which Constantine redresses the wrongs committed by Licinius against the Christians, after the defeat of the latter. Although the authenticity of this edict has been challenged, Α.Η.Μ. Jones has demonstrated that a fragmentary papyrus ([https://papyri.info/ddbdp/sb;6;9218 P. Lond. 878]) “proves beyond all reasonable doubt the authenticity of one of the Constantinian documents cited by Eusebius in the Life, and implies that of the rest” (Jones and Skeat 1954: 200).
====Sirmondian constitutions====
▲'''Comments:''' This shows the clear distinction between the social classes; banishment to the mines was considered too harsh for the upper class.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''<small>Name-reference</small>'''
|<small>
|-
|'''<small>Modern reference</small>'''
|<small>
|-
|'''<small>Location of the mine</small>'''
|<small>
|}
'''Description-Interpretation:''' ‘With the exception of the five capital crimes, all accused persons whom the celebration of Easter finds in prison shall be released, in accordance with the joy and veneration of so great a festivity [...] [T]hroughout all the intervening time which flows between such venerable and celebrated days, We relieve such persons from their chains, We free them from exile, We remove them from the mines, and We liberate them from the exile of deportation [...] We snatch all persons from the death penalty except those who cannot properly be assisted because of the magnitude of their crimes. [...] We shall not commit an outrage upon the shades of the dead by absolving any person who is guilty of the crime of homicide; We shall not leave unavenged the marriage bed of any person by remitting the punishment of persons guitty of adultery and other such crimes; We keep intact cases of high treason, which extends widely. We do not join to the felicity of absolution those persons who sin against the stars, poisoners or magicians, or counterfeiters [...].’
====Theodosian Code====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''<small>Name-reference</small>'''
|<small>Theodosian Code 15.12.1 (01/10/325)</small>
|-
|'''<small>Modern reference</small>'''
|-
▲'''Comments:''' This is a legal document referring to sections of the law dealing with banishing people to the mines as part of their punishment. The use of prisoners in government projects is a known practice; it appears anyone could be sent to the mines as penance for various reasons. However, being sent to the mines seems to have been mainly reserved for the working class. There are also references to amnesties from penal sentences or banishment. In Egypt an inscription is preserved that mentions a man being released after fulfilling his prison sentence at an alabaster quarry (December AD209).[2]
|'''<small>Location of the mine</small>'''
|<small>Roman territory</small>
|}
'''Description-Interpretation:''' ‘Bloody spectacles displease Us amid public peace and domestic tranquillity. Wherefore, since We wholly forbid the existence of gladiators, You shall cause those persons who, perchance, on account of some crime, customarily sustained that condition and sentence, to serve rather in the mines, so that they will assume the penalty for their crimes without shedding their blood.’
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''<small>Name-reference</small>'''
|<small>Theodosian Code 15.8.2 (21/04/428)</small>
|-
|'''<small>Modern reference</small>'''
|-
|'''<small>Location of the mine</small>'''
|<small>Roman territory</small>
|}
'''Description-Interpretation:''' ‘If fathers or masters should be procurers and should impose upon their daughters or female slaves the necessity of sinning, [...] they shall not be able to enjoy the right of control over their daughters or slaves, or to acquire any gain from them in this manner. But if the slaves and daughters so wish, as well as the persons hired on account of poverty and condemned to such a condition by their humble lot, they shall be permitted to implore the aid of bishops, judges, and defenders, to be released from all the bonds of their miseries. If the procurers should suppose that they may insist or if they should compel the women to undergo the necessity of sinning against their will, they shall not only forfeit all the power which they had over them, but they shall also be proscribed and delivered to the punishment of being as signed to exile in the public mines. [...].’
===Tablets found at Metallum Vipascense===
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