Theodosian Code

About the Author

The composition of the Theodosian Code was a long process stretching over a century, incorporating the work of many different writers; it was based on the rescripts issued and composed by the reigning emperors between Constantine and Theodosius II and Valentinian III and their bureaucrats. The code exists because of the edict that Theodosius II gave on March 26, 429, ordering its compilation. The issuance of this order was not an isolated event, however. Whereas most emperors achieved their rank from success on the battlefield, Theodosius inherited his title when he was seven years old and managed to retain his position until adulthood. He was educated as an intellectual rather than a soldier. Like the emperors, high-ranking civil servants usually had a military background, but Theodosius increasingly tended to appoint lawyers as quaestors and praetorian prefects. These officials, in turn, insisted on having the law of the empire clarified, and Theodosius reacted to their concerns by ordering the compilation of the code.

The individual laws in the Theodosian Code consist of imperial rescripts, or documents that originated when the emperor was asked by a magistrate to clarify a point of law. A rescript is an imperial response with the full force of law. Although all rescripts were issued on the responsibility of at least one emperor, the actual wording of the rescripts was left to one of the quaestors working at the imperial court. The compilation of the code was assigned to two separate committees of quaestors and other bureaucrats, one in 429 and one in 435. According to Book I of the code, the committee of 429 included two men named Antiochus as well as Theodorus, Eudicius, Eusebius, Johannes, Eubulus, and Apelles; the committee of 435 included Antiochus, Eubulus, Maximus, Superantius, Martyrius, Alypius, Sebastianus, Apollodorus, Theodorus, Eron, Maximinus, Epigenes, Diodorus, Procopius, Erotius, Neoterius, and others whose names are no longer known. These officials edited the rescripts and added the interpretations that are appended to many of the responses.