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Primary sourceDocument1st century BC

Tables of Heraclea

1st century BC

Bronze tablets inscribed with Roman municipal law, traditionally linked to legislation passed under Caesar reorganising Italian towns.

These municipal regulations are traditionally associated with legislation issued under Caesar reorganising Italian towns.

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Two bronze tablets mounted in a dark metal stand, opened like a pair of doors. Both are framed in brass and covered with green and reddish patina. The left tablet has raised Greek letters across its surface, with a heading at the top. The right tablet has a dense band of smaller inscribed lines in its lower half.
Tables of Heraclea, bronze tablets, Naples National Archaeological Museum.

About this source

What it is

These bronze tablets, found near Heraclea Lucania in the 1730s, carry a long Latin inscription on municipal regulations, with an earlier Greek inscription on the reverse defining temple land boundaries. They are held today in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.

Why it matters

Scholars have long linked the Latin inscription to the Lex Iulia Municipalis, a law associated with Julius Caesar for regulating Italian towns, though it is now believed the tablets combine material from several laws. Either way, they are a major source for understanding Roman municipal law and administration in Caesar's time.

Look closer

  • Why would ancient legal texts be inscribed permanently on bronze rather than written on perishable materials?
  • What does the reuse of the tablet's back side, with an older Greek text, tell you about how objects were recycled?
  • Why might scholars still debate exactly which law this inscription records?

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