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Case file s1523 · Greece and Rome · 108

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108

Marcus Aurelius: Portrait of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (type III). Roman artwork of the Antonine period. Discovered at Acqua Traversa, near Rome, 1674. — Marcus Aurelius. Unknown author. CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons.

Died: c. AD 108 (Domitius Tullus)
Place: Rome, Italy
Field: Roman senators, brickworks owners · Politics and government on the timeline
Legal tradition: Roman law of wills, emancipation and adoption · Roman law
Historical event: Senatorial fortunes under Domitian and Trajan

Greece and Rome Conditions from the grave Seized by the state Ancient world Europe Italy

An orator ruined two brothers' father, made them his heirs, and the fortune passed down a chain of adoptions to Marcus Aurelius's mother

Pliny the Younger tells the story. The orator Domitius Afer helped have the estate of Sextus Curvius Tullus of Gallia Narbonensis confiscated. Eighteen years before his own death he had made a will naming that man's two sons, Lucanus and Tullus, his heirs on condition that they take his name. Afer died in AD 59. Lucanus's father-in-law, Curtilius Mancia, disliked Lucanus. He left his fortune to Lucanus's daughter Lucilla on condition that Lucanus free her from his paternal power. Lucanus did so, and his brother Tullus then adopted her, so the fortune came back under the brothers' control. Lucanus made Tullus his sole heir. Tullus was so crippled that others had to wash him and brush his teeth. Legacy hunters courted him for years. He left his estate to the niece he had adopted, with legacies to grandchildren, a great-grandson and his wife, who received several villas and a large sum. Pliny says Rome called him false and ungrateful, or praised him for disappointing the legacy hunters. Lucilla's daughter, Domitia Lucilla, inherited a great fortune that included a brick and tile works near Rome. Her son was the emperor Marcus Aurelius, who inherited the works^†.

What the law took from it

Each condition in a Roman will was met by a matching legal move, and the money ended where the testators did not intend.

Sources

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “An orator ruined two brothers' father, made them his heirs, and the fortune passed down a chain of adoptions to Marcus Aurelius's mother,” story s1523, https://www.celebrity.estate/domitius-tullus-108, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Greece and Rome Conditions from the grave Seized by the state Ancient world Europe Roman law Italy