LA DONNA E IL CARCERE ALLA LUCE DELLE COSTITUZIONI ІMPERIALI DEL TARDO IMPERO ROMANO
WOMEN AND PRISON IN THE LIGHT OF THE IMPERIAL CONSTITUTIONS OF THE LATE ROMAN EMPIRE

Summary/Abstract: The Roman women were sometimes imprisoned. We read about it in legal and non-legal sources. We can talk about the increase in the number of women prisoners with the beginning of the persecution of Christians. While the literature about prisons in ancient Rome is extraordinarily rich, the situation is different regarding the correlation between mulieres and the Roman carcer. In my paper, I would like to make a legal analysis of women in prison in the light of imperial law, in particular the constitution of Constantius (CTh. 9.3.3 of 340) and the novel 134 of Justinian, chapter 9 of 556. I try to answer the question why women held in prisons in the late Empire were treated differently than men. A woman accused while awaiting a criminal trial or sentenced while waiting for the sentence to be executed appeared as a being with a lower legal status. Due to her physical delicacy or sexual weakness (infirmitas sexus), she was often treated more gently. When looking for the ratio legis of two laws, namely the constitution of Constantius (CTh. 9.3.3 of 340) and the novel of Justinian 134 chapter 9 of 556, it is necessary to point out the general tendencies to humanize the situation of the prisoners, reinforced by religious and Christian factors. In the case of Justinian, the Great's penitentiary policy regarding women, for example in Novel 134, we can see the enormous role that the emperor gave to monastic life. He treated the choice of a monastery as more important than the choice of marriage. He hoped that a stay in a monastery would be appropriate for a woman who had committed various offenses. In both constitutions we can also see concern for the psychophysical integrity of the detained woman.

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