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Roman law

Roman wills, heirs and legacies, the source of much of the civil law of inheritance.

62 storiesThe law overview

How does roman law decide who inherits?

A head of family can rewrite succession rules while alive, but only the courts decide who owns the property. A will can transfer a political base as well as money; the adoption clause was worth more to Octavian than the cash.

Stories
62
Years
322 BCE to 2017
Main regions
Europe, Middle East, Africa
Main subjects
Greece and Rome, Egypt and Africa, Probate and trust law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every roman law story, newest first

  1. 2017Romania's King Michael was forced to sign a pre-typed abdication, and his grandson was later struck from the successionWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  2. 1938Brașov gave Bran Castle to Queen Marie in 1920, her daughter lost it in 1948, and Romania returned it to her grandchildren's generation in 2006bran-castle.com and 5 more
  3. 1601Tycho Brahe's heirs were never paid for his observations, so they took them back from Kepler and won the right to censor his bookscambridge.org and 3 more
  4. 1525Jakob Fugger paid for Charles V's election, and his heirs lost much of the fortune when the Spanish crown stopped payingEncyclopaedia Britannica and 7 more
  5. 1430Polish lords stopped the crown sent for Vytautas in 1430, he died uncrowned, and his grave in Vilnius Cathedral has never been foundold.lituanus.org and 2 more
  6. 1423An emperor gave Nuremberg the crown jewels "for permanent custody" in 1423; Vienna took them in 1800, Hitler took them back, and an American found them walled in a bunkertext-message.blogs.archives.gov and 3 more
  7. 1246The last Babenberg duke died without sons in 1246, his widowed sister of about 47 married a 19-year-old Ottokar and handed him her title deeds, and he divorced herdeutsche-biographie.de and 3 more
  8. 524Theodoric had Boethius clubbed to death and seized his estates, and the king's daughter gave them back to his sonsUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  9. 439Melania the Younger sold estates across the Roman West and freed 8,000 slaves, and a later account says opponents tried to have her estates seizedtertullian.org and 2 more
  10. 425Rome stripped the last patriarch of the house of Hillel, let no son succeed him, and took the patriarch's tax for the imperial treasuryjewishencyclopedia.com and 4 more
  11. 267Palmyra's ruler and his heir were murdered in 267, and his widow Zenobia ruled for her own son; one Roman history says she was in on the plotUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  12. 211Severus left Rome to two sons, their mother stopped them dividing the empire, and Caracalla had his brother killed in her armsUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  13. 193The Praetorian Guard sold the Roman Empire to Didius Julianus for 25,000 sesterces a soldier, and he lasted 66 daysUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  14. 177A father found a treasure in his Athens house and willed every citizen a mina a year; his son paid it by collecting their grandfathers' debtsInternet Archive and 2 more
  15. 177Herodes Atticus paid out his father's legacy to Athens by deducting debts, gave his son only his mother's property, and the Athenians took his body from MarathonInternet Archive and 2 more
  16. 158Apuleius married a rich widow, her family charged him with winning her by magic, and he read her will aloud in court to show her son was the heirProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  17. 132Babatha hid her lawsuits over her son's guardianship and her dead husband's orchards in a cave during the Bar Kokhba revoltcambridge.org and 4 more
  18. 108An orator ruined two brothers' father, made them his heirs, and the fortune passed down a chain of adoptions to Marcus Aurelius's motherProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  19. 106Cassius Dio says Dacia's king buried his gold under a diverted river and killed the diggers, and a companion told the Romans where it wasUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  20. 104Pliny says an 80-year-old father disinherited his daughter 11 days after remarrying, and 180 judges in four panels split two against twoattalus.org and 2 more
  21. 100Pliny tells of an Athens house let cheap because of its ghost; the philosopher who took it found a chained skeleton in the yardProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  22. 70Rome carried the Temple treasures in triumph, the Vandals took them to Carthage, and Procopius says Justinian sent them to Jerusalem because a Jew warned they brought down every palace that held themsourcebooks.web.fordham.edu and 3 more
  23. 69A senator was accused of biting the severed head of Galba's heir, and years later he swore on his son's life to get into the heir's widow's willUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 1 more
  24. 66Petronius's will listed Nero's sex partners by name, and Pliny says he smashed a 300,000-sesterce basin to keep it from NeroWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  25. 65Seneca offered Nero his 300-million-sesterce fortune, was refused, and three years later was ordered to die and denied the tablets to write his willWikisource (primary text) and 4 more
  26. 60King Prasutagus left half his kingdom to Nero to protect his daughters, and Tacitus says Roman officers flogged his widow Boudica and raped his daughtersWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  27. 54Claudius's will was never read in public, and Nero poisoned Claudius's son Britannicus four months after taking the throneUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  28. 54Pliny says six men owned half of Roman Africa when Nero had them killed, and Suetonius says Nero seized the estates of anyone whose will left him too littleperseus.tufts.edu and 3 more
  29. 41Suetonius says Caligula ignored Tiberius's will, killed his co-heir, and haunted the gardens he inherited until his sisters reburied himUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  30. 40Cleopatra's grandson Ptolemy inherited Mauretania from his father Juba, and Caligula summoned him to Rome and had him killedUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  31. 33Tacitus says Tiberius had Spain's richest man thrown from the Tarpeian Rock and kept his gold and copper mines for himselfUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  32. 30The Gospel of John says soldiers diced for the executed Jesus's seamless robe, and three churches claim to have itbiblegateway.com and 2 more
  33. 29Livia left Galba 50 million sesterces in figures, and her son Tiberius read it as 500,000 and paid nothingUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  34. 25Suetonius says Tiberius frightened a man worth 400 million sesterces into suicide to inherit, and Caligula sent poisoned sweets to men who named him heirProject Gutenberg and 5 more
  35. 14Augustus's will, read to the Senate by the Vestal Virgins, barred his daughter and granddaughter from his tombUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  36. 4 BCEHerod the Great executed three sons, changed his will in his last days, and died five days after the last execution; Augustus split his kingdom among the survivorsperseus.tufts.edu and 6 more
  37. 19 BCEVirgil asked for the Aeneid to be burned, and Augustus ordered it publishedlivingpoets.awh.durham.ac.uk and 1 more
  38. 27 BCESepticia married an old man to spite her sons and left them nothing, and Augustus gave them her estateattalus.org and 2 more
  39. 30 BCEMark Antony gave Cleopatra's children kingdoms in 34 BC, and after 30 BC Octavian killed Caesarion and gave the others to his sister to raiseUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 5 more
  40. 30 BCECleopatra filled her tomb with treasure and torchwood so Octavian could not take it from her, and the tomb has never been foundUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  41. 30 BCEPliny says Cleopatra drank one of the two greatest pearls she inherited from eastern kings, and Rome cut the other in half for a statue of VenusUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  42. 30 BCEHorace's Tiresias tells Ulysses to court rich old men's wills, and Petronius's Eumolpus wills his body to be eaten by his heirsProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  43. 43 BCERome's triumvirs ordered the 1,400 richest women to value their property for a war tax, and Hortensia's speech cut the list to 400University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  44. 43 BCEOctavian traded Cicero to Antony for the proscription list, and Antony's wife pierced the dead orator's tongue with her hairpinsUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  45. 43 BCEClodius burned Cicero's house and built a shrine to Liberty on the site, and Cicero's son was consul the year Antony's statues came downUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  46. 44 BCEJulius Caesar's will, opened after his murder, made Octavian his son and gave every Roman 300 sestercesUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  47. 48 BCEPompey's son held the sea, feasted Antony aboard his flagship, called it the only family house Antony had left him, and refused to cut the cablesUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  48. 49 BCEA Roman husband's funeral inscription says relatives tried to void his wife's father's will after her parents were murdered, and she stopped themdroitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr and 2 more
  49. 50 BCECato gave his pregnant wife Marcia to the orator Hortensius, and took her back as Hortensius's rich widowUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  50. 51 BCEPtolemy XII's will named Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII joint heirs under Roman protection, and the heirs went to warclassics.mit.edu and 3 more
  51. 55 BCEBerenice IV took her father's throne, had one husband strangled within days, and was executed when Rome restored her father for 10,000 talentsUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  52. 74 BCENicomedes IV left Bithynia to Rome, Mithridates said the queen had borne him a son, and Mithridates invadedUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 4 more
  53. 75 BCEPublius Annius Asellus left everything to his only daughter, and the praetor Verres wrote an edict to take it from hercts.perseids.org and 3 more
  54. 80 BCESulla sent Ptolemy XI to marry Queen Berenice III, he had her killed within three weeks, the Alexandrians killed him, and Rome produced a will leaving Egypt to RomeUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 4 more
  55. 81 BCESulla's freedman bought a murdered man's estate of 6 million sesterces for 2,000, and the son was charged with killing his fatherUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  56. 91 BCEA Roman soldier came home from war to find that his father, told he was dead, had willed the family estate to othersattalus.org and 2 more
  57. 93 BCEA Roman wrote his will for a son who was never born, and Rome's two leading lawyers fought over whether the words or the intention ruledcts.perseids.org and 3 more
  58. 96 BCEPtolemy VIII willed Cyrene to Rome in 155 BC, and his son Ptolemy Apion's will handed it over in 96 BCigcyr2.unibo.it and 4 more
  59. 133 BCEKing Attalus III left his kingdom to Rome in his will, and a man claiming to be a royal bastard fought Rome for itUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  60. 133 BCETiberius Gracchus tried to enforce a 500-iugera cap on public land, senators clubbed him to death, and his brother's head was filled with lead for a rewardUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  61. 270 BCEEpicurus willed his Garden to his school for ever, and two centuries later a Roman exile owned the ruins of his house and planned to pull it downWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  62. 322 BCEAristotle's heirs hid his library in a trench to keep it from the kings of Pergamum, and Sulla carried it to Romeperseus.tufts.edu and 2 more