Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

justinian’s early years (527,32) 67
perspective; 27 other important chronicle sources are the Latin Chronicle of
Marcellinus Comes 28 and the early-seventh-century Greek Chronicon
Paschale, which is dependent on Malalas only for the early years. 29 Naturally,
there were always poets and writers ready to render the conventional
praises to Justinian, just as there were artists ready to commemorate his victories.
30 Since antiquity, many have wanted to claim Justinian as the prototype
for their own ideal, whether legal, religious or political. 31
Theodora had been crowned Augusta with Justinian while Justin was still
alive, and her forceful character soon revealed itself, although she did not
formally share the imperial power. In the mosaics in San Vitale she is
depicted in parallel with her husband, and she was also shown on the ceiling
of the Chalke entrance to the imperial palace, standing beside him to
receive the triumphal homage of Belisarius. 32
The new emperor was ambitious. His second consulship, in 528, was
remarkable for its lavish display and largess, 33 and significantly, after 541 the
consulship was reserved for emperors alone. 34 Less than a year had passed
since his accession when on 13 February 528 Justinian appointed a commission
to produce a new code of imperial law which would revise the existing
ones and add laws passed subsequently; by 7 April 529 the task was
complete and the Codex Justinianus was formally promulgated. 35 Excited by
this success, Justinian went further and set up a commission to codify the
writings of the Roman jurists (15 December 530), again meeting with
astonishing success. Only three years later its members, led by Tribonian,
had completed their apparently impossible task, which involved reading
some three million lines of Latin contained in two thousand books. Their
compilation, known as the ‘Digest’, appeared on 16 December 533. 36 A
month earlier, Tribonian and others had produced the Institutes, a handbook
for law students, and Justinian issued a law reforming the structure of legal
studies; finally, the Code itself was issued in a revised edition, bringing it up
to date, at the end of 534. 37 The achievement was extraordinary, and much
27 See Jeffreys et al., Chronicle;Jeffreys et al., Studies (here especially Scott, ibid., at 69–71).
28 29 See Croke (1995). Trans. with detailed notes by Whitby and Whitby (1989).
30 See Paul the Silentiary’s hexameter poem on the restoration of St Sophia, delivered in January 563:
ed. Friendländer 1912, see Whitby, Mary (1985); Magdalino and Macrides (1988); for the ‘Mirror for
Princes’ of the deacon Agapitus see Henry (1967). Little of Justinian’s triumphal art has actually survived,
but see Cameron, Corippus 140–1, 184; McCormick, Eternal Victory 67–8.
31 Capizzi, Giustiniano 17–23; Justinian the Catholic legislator: Biondi (1936); Justinian as tyrant:
Honoré (1978) ch. 1.
32 See Barber (1990); the lost Chalke mosaic is described by Procop. Buildings i.10.16–19; for the
Chalke see Mango (1959).
33 Marcell. Chron. s.a., with Croke (1995) 124; Chron. Pasch. 617; Bagnall et al., Consuls 590–1.
34 On this see Cameron and Schauer (1982).
35 Const. Haec and Summa, Corp. Iur. Civ. ii.1–3. The Code was revised and reissued in 534: Chron.
Pasch. 633–4; Const. Cordi. Corp. Iur. Civ. ii.4.
36 Const. Deo auctore, ibid. i,Dig.8 (�CJ i.17.1); Tanta, ibid. 13–14 (�CJ i.17.2).
37 Institutes: Const. Imperatoriam, Corp. Iur. Civ. i, Inst. xxi); legal education: Const. Omnem, ibid. Dig.
10–12.
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