TESTATIO LIBERORUM EX INCERTO PATRE NATORUM
     
Birth certificate of illegitimate twins
  
(
 April 29, AD 145 
)

 

 
P. Mich. III, 169 = CPL 162 ( Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri ).
 

 
4.
M(arci) Vibi Pollionis | M(arci) Octavi Sereni | L(ucii) Aemili Maximi | L(ucii) Caponi Saturnini | C(ai) Aebuti  Saturnini  |  C(ai)  Vibievii  Crassi  |  M(arci)  Holconi  Ampiss[i]  |  Sempronia  Gemella  t(utore) a(uctore) C(aio) [Iuli]ọ | Saturninọ  testata e[st eos qui] | ṣịg̣ṇạturi [e]rant s[e] en[i]x̣ạm [esse] | ẹx inc̣[ert]o pạṭṛẹ X[II] Kal(endas) · [A]p[ril(es)] | q(uae) p(roximae) · f(uerunt) · ṇatos masculinos | g[e]minos | eosqụ[e] vocitari M(arcos) | Sẹmpṛon[iosSp( )fi]ḷios Ṣạrapiọṇ[em]
1.
et Socrationem : ideoque [s]e has | testationes · interposuisse dixit | quia  ḷẹx̣ [Ae]ḷia Sentia · et Papia | Popp̣aẹạ  [spu]ṛịo[s]  ṣpuriasve  |  in  albo  pṛ[ofiteri  ve]ṭat · d(e) · e(a) · r(e) · e(odem) · e(xemplo) ·  |  b(is) · t(abulae)  ·  s(criptae)   s(unt)  ·  a[ctum   Alex(andriae)  ad ][A]eg(yptum)   ·   III   ·   Kal(endas)   |  Maias  · Im[p(eratore) Ca]esa[reT(ito)A]elio Hadriano | Antonino Aug(usto) · P[io IIII M(arco) A]urelio · | Caesare · II co(n)s(ulibus) · anno [VI]II Imp(eratoris) Caesaris | Titi Aeli Hadriani Antonini Aug(usti) | Pii mense Pachon die · IIII · | Σεμπρωνία Γέμελλα μετὰ κυρίου | Γαίου Ἰουλίου Σατορνίλου ἐμαρτυρο-|ποιησάμην υἱοὺς δύο διδύμους γε-|γεννῆσθαι ἐξ ἀδή̣λου πατρὸς τούτους | τε ἐπικεκλῆσθαι Μάρκους Σεμπρω-|νίους Σουρίου υἱοὺς Σαραπίωνα κ(αὶ) | Σωκρατίωνα καθὼς πρόκειται. Γάιος | Ἰούλιος Σατορνῖλος ἐπεγράφην αὐτῆς | κύριος κ(αὶ) ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς μὴ εἰδυίας γρ̣ά-|μματα.
2.
Sempronia Gemella t(utore) a(uctore) C(aio) · Iulio | Saturnino | testata est eos qui signaturi | erant se enixam esse ex | incerto | patre · XII Kal(endas) · April(es) q(uae) p(roximae) f(uerunt) | natos masculinos geminos eosque | vocitari M(arcos) Sempronios Sp(urii) · filios | Sarapionem et Socrationem | ideoque se has testationes | interposuisse | dixit quia lex
3.
Aelia  Sentia  et  Papia  Poppaea  |  sp̣uriọs  spuriasve  in  albo  profiteṛị  | vetat · d(e) · e(a) · r(e) · e(odem) · e(xemplo) · b(is) · t(abulae) · s(criptae) s(unt) · | actum Alex(andriae) ad Aeg(yptum) III · K(alendas) · Maias Imp(eratore)  |  Caesare  T(ito)  ·  Aelio  Hadriano Antonino | Aug(usto) Pio IIII M(arco) · Aurelio Caesare II co(n)s(ulibus) · | anno VIII Imp(eratoris) Caesaris T(iti) Aeli Hadriani | Antonini Aug(usti) Pii mense Pachon | die · IIII ·

 
English translation ( Advanced Papyrological Information System ).
  

 
(Scriptio interior, Pages II-III, on wax) Sempronia Gemella, under the guardianship of Gaius Iulius Saturninus, called to witness those who were about to affix their seals, that on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April just past she brought forth twin sons from uncertain father, and that these are named Marcus Sempronius Sarapion and Marcus Sempronius Sokration, the sons of [Spurius] ; and she said that she had employed these written testimonies for this reason, because the Aelian-Sentian and the Papian-Poppaean laws forbid that illegitimate sons and daughters be registered in the public record ; on this matter two (pairs of ?) tablets were written on the same model (?). Dated at Alexandria on the coast of Egypt on the third day before the Kalends of May in the fourth consulship of the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius and the second of Marcus Aurelius Caesar, in the eighth year of the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, on the fourth day of the month Pachon. ; (Witnesses, Page IV, on wood) ; (Seals of) Marcus Vibius Pollio ; of Marcus Octavius Serenus ; of Lucius Aemilius Maximus ; of Lucius Aponius Saturninus ; of Gaius Aebutius Saturninus ; of Marcus(?) Vibius Eucharistus(?) ; of Marcus Holconius Ampliatus ; (Scriptio exterior, Pages IV and I, on wood) ; Sempronia Gemella, under the guardianship of Gaius Iulius Saturninus, called to witness those who were about to affix their seals, that on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April just past she brought forth twin sons from uncertain father, and that these are named Marcus Sempronius Sarapion and Marcus Sempronius Sokration, the sons of Spurius ; and she said that she had employed these written testimonies for this reason, because the Aelian-Sentian and the Papian-Poppaean laws forbid that illegitimate sons and daughters be registered in the public record ; on this matter two (pairs of ?) tablets were written on the same model (?). Dated at Alexandria on the coast of Egypt on the third day before the Kalends of May in the fourth consulship of the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius and the second of Marcus Aurelius Caesar, in the eighth year of the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, on the fourth day of the month Pachon. ; (Greek summary, Page I, on wood) ; I, Sempronia Gemella, with my guardian Gaius Iulius Satornilos, gave testimony that twin sons were born from unknown father and that these are named Marcus Sempronius Sarapion and Marcus Sempronius Sokration, the sons of Spurius, as described above. I, Gaius Iulius Satornilos, was appointed her guardian, and I wrote for her since she does not know letters.
 

 
►  Bibliography
 
 
Sanders, AJA, 32, 1928, pp. 309-329 ; AE 1929, n. 13 ;
Cagnat, JS, 1929, pp. 74-77 ; Cuq, Mélanges Fournier, Paris, 1929, pp. 119-133 ; Kubitschek, WS, 47, 1929, pp. 130 ss. ; Weiss, ZSS, 49, 1929, pp. 260-273 ; Wilcken, APF, 9, 1930, pp. 242 ss. / 10, 1932, p. 276 ; Winter, Life and Letters in the Papyri, Ann Arbor, 1933, p. 55 ; Winter et al., Michigan Papyri, III, Ann Arbor, 1936, n. 169 ; Sanders, Aegyptus, 17, 1937, pp. 233-240 ; Guéraud, EPap, 4, 1938, pp. 28 ss. ; AE 1939, n. 314 ; Schulz, JRS, 32, 1942, pp. 81 ss. ; Arangio-Ruiz, FIRA III, Firenze, 1943, pp. 9-11, n. 4 ; Wenger, Die Quellen des römischen Rechts, Wien, 1953, pp. 76, 813 and 817 ; Taubenschlag, The law of Greco-Roman Egypt in the light of the papyri, 332 B.C.-640 A.D., Warszawa, 1955, p. 107 ; Cavenaile, Corpus Papyrorum Latinarum, Wiesbaden, 1958, n. 162 ; Taubenschlag, Opera minora, II, Paris-Warszawa, 1959, p. 370 ; Seidl, Claus & Müller, Rechtsgeschichte Ägyptens als römischer Provinz : Die Behauptung des ägyptischen Rechts neben dem römischen, Sankt Augustin, 1973, p. 142 ; Recueils de la Société Jean Bodin pour l'histoire comparative des institutions, XXXV, 1, Bruxelles, 1975, p. 262 ; Bonner Historia-Augusta-Colloquium, 1977/1978, Bonn, 1980, p. 212 ; Breveglieri, Scrittura e civiltà, 9, 1985, p. 98 ; Pestman & Rupprecht, Berichtigungsliste der griechischen Papyrusurkunden aus Aegypten, VIII, Leiden, 1992, p. 211 / XII, p. 120 ; Crawford et al., Roman Statutes, I, London, 1996, p. 31 ; Gourevitch, ANRW, II, 37, 3, 1996, p. 2124 ; Rochette, CdE, 71, 1996, p. 160 ; Terreni, SDHI, 62, 1996, pp. 573-582 ; Arjava, Women and law in late antiquity, Oxford, 1998, pp. 113 and 218 ; Jördens & Zauzich, Griechische papyri aus Soknopaiu Nesos (P. Louvre I), Bonn, 1998, p. 122 ; Rowlandson, Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt, Cambridge, 1998, p. 71 ; Wesch-Klein, Soziale Aspekte des römischen Heerwesens in der Kaiserzeit, Stuttgart, 1998, p. 101 ; Haensch, Scripta classica Israelica, 20, 2001, p. 166 ; Phang, The Marriage of Roman Soldiers (13 B.C.-A.D. 235) : Law and Family in the Imperial Army, Leiden-Boston-Köln, 2001, p. 42 ; Sánchez-Moreno Ellart, Professio liberorum : Las declaraciones y los registros de nacimientos en Derecho Romano, con especial atención a las fuentes papirológicas, Madrid, 2001, p. 82 ; Sandberg, Magistrates and assemblies : A study of legislative practice in republican Rome, Roma, 2001, pp. 82-83 and 167 ; Alston, The city in Roman and Byzantine Egypt, London-New York, 2002, p. 175 ; Adams, CQ, 53, 2003, pp. 184-205 ; Haensch & Weiss, Chiron, 35, 2005, p. 474 ; Harker, Loyalty and dissidence in Roman Egypt : The case of the Acta Alexandrinorum, Cambridge, 2008, p. 113.
 
 
►  Source : Arsinoite diptych found in 1927.