Tacitus and the Lyon Tabulae

The Lyon Tabulae
by: Q. Claudius Locatus Barbatus

The Lyon Tabulae are two bronze plates, found in the 16th century in Lyon (southern France). On these plates there is an inscription of the speech of the Emperor Claudius to the Senate of Rome in the year 48CE.

In this speech Claudius pled about the permission for Gallo-Romans of the Province of Gallia Lugdunensis to become members of the Senate and other high magistrate positions. Because this motion was passed, it was engraved on bronze plates and shown in the Forum of Lugdunum (Lyon).

The 2 plates are only a part of the speech, thus there must have been more plates. The content is mainly about the enumeration of precedents.

But more important: Tacitus writes in his Annales (11.24) about this speech. The tables give us the possibility to verify Tacitus' words. Tacitus appears to give the right content, but in shorter and sometimes other words.

Thanks to this we know that we can trust Tacitus as a historian.