Le immunità delle Vestali nella documentazione epigrafica di età imperiale: le tabellae immunitatis di Flavia Publicia

The epigraphic documentation of imperial age represents an important legal testimony regarding the immunities of the Vestals. In particular, the tabellae immunitatitis, in which the Vestale Massima Flavia Publicia, who lived in the 3rd century A.D., is literally mentioned, contribute to outline a complete picture of the types of immunities inherent in the priestesses of Vesta. After having framedthe legal value of the tabellae immunitatis, this contribution will specifically examine the tables certifying the granting of the immunitas in iugoto Flavia Publicia (both the one published in CIL XV 7126 and the “twin” table kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts of New York, published by McLess in 1924) as well as the tabella immunitatisof Turris Libisonisfound in 2007 during the works of adaptation of the port quay of Porto Torres in Sardinia. This last important epigraphic document attested the existence of a new and unpublished immunity concerning the exemption from the payment of portoriafor the goods transported in the ship owned by the Vestale Massima Flavia Publicia, from Turris Libisonisto Ostia, through the involvement of the magister navisEudromos, servusof the priestess.