Explain the Twelve Tables in your own words.

Answer 1

The Twelve Tables are the first written legal codes of Rome.

Written around 450 BCE, they were a response to the frequent disputes between the plebeians (the commoners) and the patricians (the wealthy).

Built upon preexisting customary laws, the laws addressed family inheritance, debt, property laws, marriage, and punishments suitable for each crime committed.

Although the original text has been lost to time, reconstructed versions and retellings have laid the blueprint to the laws of many Western civilizations and provide crucial context to Roman life and legal system.