Origine, datazione e contenuto del senatus consultum Afinianum. Alcune ipotesi su un senatoconsulto enigmatico

The paper seeks to clarify the provisions and the scope of the senatus consultum Afinianum starting from its two brief mentions in the Justinian Compilation. For this purpose, the preliminary examination of the historical sources of the Republican and Early Imperial times reveals some valuable details on the spread of the adoptio ex tribus maribus object of the senatorial decree and the reasons that led the Senate to consider it. These details also suggest that the senatus consultum Afinianum was issued in 62 AD and contained some additional provisions compared to those mentioned in the Justinian sources. Moreover, the sources of the Justinian age, albeit focused on the provision of the so-called quarta Afiniana in favor of the adopted ex tribus maribus, show, on closer inspection, that this provision had probably a wider scope than what appears prima facie, but also that it was anyway linked to the previous emancipation of the adopted.