Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

law schools 253
v. law schools
Roman law was taught outside Rome and Italy even from the second or
third century a.d. However, until the early fifth century Rome remained
pre-eminent and, if they could, law students made their way there from all
parts of the empire, even from the east. However, from the middle of the
fifth century their preference was for Beirut or Constantinople. We know
rather little about law teaching in Rome in late antiquity, although there is
some evidence reaching into the seventh century. 63 It would seem that it
was maintained even beyond that period, albeit at a modest level, and that
in the eleventh century it was possible for scholars in Bologna to perceive
a continuity between their school and that of Rome, perhaps through a
connection via Ravenna. There were certainly professors paid by the state
in Rome in the sixth century, 64 and probably long before. From the early
third century law students in Rome were exempted from liturgia so long as
their studies lasted. This exemption did not then apply elsewhere, 65 but
about 286 it was extended to Beirut, though limited to those under twentyfive.
66 From 370 all students at Rome were obliged to complete their study
by the age of twenty. 67 The exemption from liturgies also applied to law
teachers in Rome from the early third century, though not elsewhere. 68 An
inscription survives from the grave in Rome of the law teacher Floridus,
who died in 427, aged sixty-two. 69 The teaching proceeded on the basis of
the classical legal literature and the collections of imperial constitutions,
but until the middle of the sixth century we do not have precise information.
Justinian sent the Institutes, the Digest and the Codex to Rome without
delay, and from the 540s onwards there is good evidence of teaching based
on those books and the Novels, on the same system as in Constantinople. 70
The law school of Beirut must be mentioned next. Roman law was
taught there at a high level from the second century. 71 In the fifth century
it overtook Rome. In the fifth and sixth centuries there were two chairs liberally
maintained by the state; 72 and in addition to the two antecessores there
were perhaps other law teachers since Digest, Const. Omnem is addressed to
eight law teachers. After a devastating earthquake in 551 the law school
found a home for a while in Sidon and later evidently in Antioch, where
Athanasius taught. 73 Known figures from the fifth century are Cyrillus,
Domninus the Younger, Demosthenes, Eudoxius, Patricius and Leontius. 74
63 Liebs (1987) 195–220, 246–82. 64 Cass. Var. ix.21.5 (a.d. 533); Nov. Iust. App. 7.22 (554).
65 Fragmenta iuris Vaticana 204 (in Krüger et al.(1890) 1–106): Ulpian referring to Caracalla.
66 CJ x.50.1; for the exact dating see Honoré (1994) 150 n. 74; 181 n. 555. 67 C.Th. xiv.9.1.
68 Digest xxvii.1.612(Modestinus, about a.d. 230); others: Fragmenta iuris Vaticana 150 (Ulpian, about
210). 69 CIL vi 31 992�Carm. Epigr. 686.
70 Digest Const. Omnem 7 init.; cf. Liebs (1987) 124f., 195–220, 246–82.
71 Collinet (1925); cf. Liebs (1976) 356f., Waldstein (1980) 251f. n. 64. 72 Collinet (1925) 167–83.
73 Agathias, Hist. ii.15.2–4; Scheltema (1970) 61f. 74 Huschke et al.(1927) 515,43; Berger (1958a).
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