Abstract

In the ancient Roman world, on the threshold between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead, dwelt monstrous and anarchic beings, known as larvae. By analyzing the figure of the insolvent debtor in archaic and republican times, the article aims to understand the genesis of these monstrous beings. Following Gianfranco Purpura’s considerations in relation to the debtor’s fate after death and analyzing the legal institution of the pledge in Roman times, we will show how, in relation to the insolvent debtor, the creation of a larval being is structured on an unquenchable debt and the distraction that sanctions its epilogue. By subsequently linking the figure of the insolvent debtor to that of the homo sacer, we will discover how the relation of exception creates these monstrous beings.