| LETTER
OF VALERIAN ON BAETOCAECEAN PRIVILEGES ( AD 258-260 ) |
( Johnson, Coleman-Norton & Bourne, Ancient Roman Statutes, Austin, 1961, p. 233, n. 291 ). |
| A
certain Antiochus, one of the Seleucid kings of Syria, had granted the
Syrian village of Baetocaece and its Temple of Baal various immunities
and privileges as regards taxation, asylum, and billeting. The document
here translated is a letter of Valerian written in Latin confirming
these ancient rights. The stone, reported in 1774, also contains in
Greek the terms of the original grant by Antiochus. |
ENGLISH TRANSLATION. |
| Emperor
Caesar Publius Licinius Valerian Pius Felix Augustus and Emperor Caesar
Publius Licinius Gallien Pius Felix Augustus and the most noble Caesar
Licinius Cornelius Saloninus Valerian to Aurelius Marea and others. The governor of the province shall provide that the ancient benefits of the kings, which have been confirmed also by the usage of succeeding ages, shall remain unimpaired for you and that the violence of the opposition shall be removed. |