Limiti alla vendita di beni pubblici nelle comunità locali dell'impero romano

Starting from a rescript of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, which prohibited the unauthorized sale of public lands, the paper explores further juridical sources referring to analogue bans. Epigraphic documents confirm how the Roman administration aimed at preserving the public properties of local communities by employing various legislative instruments and by resorting to different kinds of magistrates. Eventually, it will be proposed that such a policy was an expression of the financial difficulties which regarded the cities of the Roman Empire in the Antonine age.