Romerska födelsebevis. Hur de första certifikaten uppstod ur den romerska folkbokföringen och skattskrivningen.

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines the Roman birth certificates, their content and physical appearance. Twenty certificates still exist: 17 diptychs (AD 60-164) and 3 papyri documents (AD 194-240). Birth certificates were widely used in the Roman empire, but the remaining ones are from three regions in Egypt: Alexandria, Fayyum and the Roman border to Nubia. They were all discovered in the beginning of the 20th century. Sixteen of them are collected and described mainly by Kelsey, Sanders and Schultz between 1923 and 1943. The Roman census was influenced by the Egyptian, Levante and Greek census. The first Roman census was held in 509 BC. After the Second Latin War (340-338 BC) and during the expansion of Rome it became important to define citizenship and rights. The first provincial census took place in 27 BC. Laws regarding Roman provincial census were adopted in AD 3. This, in combination with the Augustan laws lex Aelia Sentia (AD 4) and lex Papia Poppaea (AD 9), created the first systematic birth registration of Roman citizens. The copies of the Archive notes became the first birth certificates, and they were valid in the entire Roman Empire.