Exile

• Exile was the usual method of Punishment under the Roman Legal System which was applied in various degrees.

The Three Types of Banishment:

Exsilium

• ‘Exsilium’ in Latin – meaning Banishment.
  • Under the Roman Republic, Prominent Roman Citizens accused of a Capital Crime, would be Exiled or go into voluntary Exile before Judgement was pronounced.

Relegatio

• There were various degrees of Voluntary and Prescribed Banishment:
  • ‘Relegatio’: was the mildest and it had two Forms:
    • 1. The ‘Relegatus’ was forbidden to live in Rome or a certain Province.
    • 2. The ‘Relegatus’ was banished to reside on a particular Island.
      • The ‘Relegatus’ went voluntarily to his place of Exile.

Deportatio

• ‘Deportatio’: introduced under the Emperors, was the more severe and it also had two Forms:
  • 1. The ‘Deportatus’ was Banished for Life and all Property confiscated, but he retained his Roman Citizenship and certain freedoms.
  • 2. The ‘Deportatus’ was Banished for Life, all Property confiscated, and he was stripped of his Roman Citizenship.
    • The ‘Deportatus’ was escorted to his place of Exile, often in chains.

Places of Exile: under the Roman Republic

Albania

• Dyrrhachium (Durres, Albania)
  • 116 BCE Lucius Opimius. Consul in 121 BCE he was responsible for a massacre of 3,000 of Gracchus’ supporters, for which he was later Prosecuted but Acquitted in 120 BCE. He was placed in charge of a Commision to divide Numidia between Jugurtha and his brother Adherbal.
  • After accusations of accepting Bribes from Jugurtha he went into Exile.

Gallia Transalpina

• Marseilles
  • In 70 BCE Gaius Verres went into voluntary Exile to Marseilles, when Cicero successfully prosecuted him for his misgovernment of Sicily whilst he was Propraetor (73-71 BCE). Verres remained in Exile there until his death in 43 BCE.

Places of Exile: in the Early Roman Empire:

Italy

• Pandateria
  • A tiny Island south of Rome (1km long, 700m wide) in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy.
  • Julia the Elder: Augustus accused his only daughter of Adultery and Treason. She escaped Execution and instead was banished in 2 BCE to Ventotene for 5 years, accompanied by her Mother Scribonia.
  • Agrippina the Elder (Daughter of Julia the Elder): Tiberius Banished and imprisoned her in 29 CE until she died there on the 17th October 33 CE.
• Trimiti Islands in the Adriatic.
  • Julia the Younger was exiled here on Trimerus for 20 years where she died in 29 CE.

Tunisia

• Kerkennah Islands
  • Sempronius Gracchus was Exiled here by Augustus for 14 years.

Corsica

• Corsica:
  • The Main centre for Banishment of Political Exiles:
    • Seneca: (between 41-49 CE) accused of Adultary with Claudius‘s neice.
    • C. Casius Longinus: accused of conspiracy under Nero,
    • Anicentus: murderer of Agrippina, Nero‘s Mother.
    • Also many Christians and Jews were exiled here under Tiberius.

Greece

• Rhodes
  • Tiberius was briefly exiled here before he became Roman Emperor.

• Gyaros
  • An Island of the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea, Greece. Considered to be a barren and arid island.

• Patmos
  • An Island in the Sporades, in the Aegean Sea, Greece. Exiles were put to Forced Labour in the Mines and Quarries. According to Eusebius, in 95 CE Domitian banished the Apostle John to Patmos, also known as John of Patmos, where he was inspired to write the Book of Revelation.

• Amorgos and Serifos

Black Sea

• Tomis (Constanta, Roumania):
  • 8 – 17 CE Augustus banished the Poet Ovid to Tomis for reasons unknown, where he died.
  • Ovid wrote two works in Tomis:
    • ‘Tristia’: A collection of Poetry in five books.
    • ‘Epistulae ex Ponto’. A collection of Letters to friends in Rome in four books.