Sacrosanctity

In ancient Rome, Sacrosanctity was the declaration of physical inviolability of a temple, a sacred object or a person through the Lex Sacrata (fr) (sacred law), which had religious connotations. Festus explained that: "Sacred laws are laws which have the sanction that anyone who broke them becomes accursed to one of the gods, together with his family and property". It is thought that in some cases the law was applied to protect temples from being defiled. It could also be applied to protect a person who was declared sacrosanct (inviolable). Those who harmed a sacrosanct person became sacer (accursed) through the declaration sacer esto! (Let him be accursed). The offender was considered as having harmed the gods/a god, as well as the sacrosanct person and therefore accursed to the gods/a god. This meant that the offender became forfeit to the god(s) and on his death he was surrendered to the god(s) in question. The implication was that anyone who killed him was considered as performing a sacred duty and enjoyed impunity.