Same Law or Same Solution? Treasure-Trove in Roman and Jewish Law in the 1st Century BC and the 1st Century CE
Same Law or Same Solution? Treasure-Trove in Roman and Jewish Law in the 1st Century BC and the 1st Century CE

Summary/Abstract: For the period around the turn of the era, virtually no legal sources of Roman law addressing ownership rights to the discovery of treasure have survived. On the other hand, several non-legal sources exist that mention the finding of treasure. Among these, two texts stand out for their strikingly similar content – the passage from Horace’s Satires and one of the parables in the Gospel of Matthew. The article deals with the question of the legal relevance of these non-legal sources. This concerns in particular the text of Matthew, where it is not entirely clear whether it reflects Roman law or, conversely, local customary law. Unfortunately, legal sources towards the end of the Second Temple period are very scarce and later sources approach the issue somewhat differently. Nevertheless, local custom seems more likely than the application of Roman law.

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