Ordering divine knowledge in late Roman legal discourse
Abstract
In the celebrated words of the Severan jurist Ulpian – echoed three hundred years later in the opening passages of Justinian’s Institutes – knowledge of the law entails knowledge of matters both human and divine. This essay explores how relations between the human and divine were structured and ordered in the Imperial codex of Theodosius II (438 CE). Deliberately side stepping vexed categories such as ‘Christian’, ‘pagan’, ‘heresiological’ etc., the essay self-consciously frames the question as one of ‘knowledge-ordering’ in order to develop a broader framework concerning relations between emperors and the divine. How was knowledge about the divine textualised in Book XVI of the Codex Theodosianus and with what implications for a late Roman imperial ‘ordering of knowledge’?
Citation
Humfress , C 2016 , ' Ordering divine knowledge in late Roman legal discourse ' , COLLeGIUM , vol. 20 , pp. 160-176 . < https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/161325/010_Humfress1904.pdf?sequence=1 >
Publication
COLLeGIUM
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1796-2986Type
Journal article
Rights
© Editors & Authors 2016. This is an open access article. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/journal/volumes/volume_20/index_20.htm
Description
ISBN: 9789515120243. 'Emperors and the Divine – Rome and its Influence', Edited by Maijastina KahlosCollections
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