12 XII 2024: Andrea Bernier (Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika), Deconstructing the Theodosian Code. Archives and collections of laws in the later Roman empire

The Theodosian Code is a mine of information on all manner of subjects for modern historians of late Antiquity. Despite the wealth of data, however, there is a general problem that affects the entire material and undermines its value as a testimony to the administrative system of the Roman Empire: it is the transformation the imperial constitutions underwent between their enactment and their inclusion in the Code. The texts were abbreviated and arranged into a new system that was extraneous to their creation. There is also a second question to consider: does the Theodosian Code provide a complete record of the legislation enacted from Constantine to Theodosius II? Or is what we have only a sample, a selection, of this material? And if so, what criteria governed this selection? An answer to these questions can only come from an investigation on the sources used by the commissioners of Theodosius II. Since there are no ‘direct’ testimonies on these sources, on their characteristics and peculiarities, the investigation must focus on all the ‘indirect’ evidence we find within the Code (in the geographical and chronological distribution of the material, in the details recorded in the protocols, in the thematic arrangement of the constitutions…). In this paper, after discussing the modern debate on the subject, we will analyse the significance of these testimonies and, focusing on a portion of the material, we will try to identify and reconstruct the lost archives and collections of laws that were used by Theodosius II’s commissioners.