Plato and the Theodosian Code

The codification project initiated in 429 ad that resulted in the Theodosian Code was originally designed to integrate three types of law: one, imperial constitutions since Constantine; two, the legal material collected in the tetrarchic Codices Gregorianus and Hermogenianus; and three, a florilegiu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEarly medieval Europe Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 35 - 60
Main Author Schmidt‐Hofner, Sebastian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2019
Subjects
5th century
Ethics
European culture
European history
Law
Legal history
Medieval period
Plato (427-347 BC)
Roman civilization
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Summary:The codification project initiated in 429 ad that resulted in the Theodosian Code was originally designed to integrate three types of law: one, imperial constitutions since Constantine; two, the legal material collected in the tetrarchic Codices Gregorianus and Hermogenianus; and three, a florilegium of juristic writings and responsa. The ultimate aim was to condense all this in a single comprehensive law book that would govern the entire life of the empire and its subjects. As this paper shows, such a project had no precedent in Roman legal history and in fact ran counter to the traditional multiplicity of legal sources in Rome. This prompts a question: from where did the intellectual fathers of the codification project drew inspiration for such a revolutionary idea? In the paper's second part, I argue that one important model for the codification project of 429 could have been the legal code Plato designed for the ideal state of the Laws.
ISSN:0963-9462
1468-0254
DOI:10.1111/emed.12313