Delitti passionali nell’Egitto romano del IV sec. D.C. Un’analisi giuridica di P. Aktenbuch 3-8

Within the fourteen pages of papyrus housed in the P. Philammon codex, now published as P. Aktentuch in its second edition and preserved at the Berlin Museum, six fragments reveal seven distinct judicial decisions. These documents pertain to criminal cases heard before a provincial governor in one of Egypt's provinces or even before the prefect of Egypt himself during the late 4th century AD. The second and fourth cases involve two murder cases with female protagonists, showcasing strikingly similar circumstances. In both instances, a woman, a wife in the first case and a girlfriend in the second, is discovered by her husband or boyfriend in a compromising situation with her lover. In one case, she falls victim to violence, while in the other, she takes up the weapon herself, possibly in a bid to defend her own life. The comprehensive documentation of these two legal proceedings, which adhere to the typical characteristics of cognitiones extra ordinem before Roman provincial governors, provides an insightful perspective on the treatment of crimes of passion, within the context of prevailing imperial regulations.