Dorotheus ( el, Δωρόθεος) was a professor of

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

in the law school of Berytus in

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

. While his date of birth is unknown, he must at least have died before 542. He was one of the three commissioners appointed by the

Eastern Roman emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as l ...

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...

to draw up a book of

Institutes An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

, after the model of the

Gaius Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People * Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist *Gaius Acilius *Gaius Antonius * Gaius Antonius Hybrida *Gaius Asinius Gallus * Gaius Asiniu ...

, which should serve as an introduction to the Digest (or

Pandects The ''Digest'', also known as the Pandects ( la, Digesta seu Pandectae, adapted from grc, πανδέκτης , "all-containing"), is a name given to a compendium or digest of juristic writings on Roman law compiled by order of the Byzantine ...

) already completed and promulgated on 16 December 533. His colleagues in this project were

Tribonian Tribonian ( Greek: Τριβωνιανός rivonia'nos c. 485?–542) was a notable Byzantine jurist and advisor, who during the reign of the Emperor Justinian I, supervised the revision of the legal code of the Byzantine Empire. He has been desc ...

and

Theophilus Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (God) and φιλία (love or affection) can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend of God", i.e., it is a theoph ...

; and their work was accomplished in 533 and they were all granted with the highest title '' quaestor sacri palatii illustris''. Except for the first code of 7 April 529, Dorotheus participated in the compiling of all Justinian's codes (Institutes, Digest and ''Codex repetitae praelectionis''), including the second edition of the Codex Constitutionum (promulgated in 534). As a method of teaching, the ancient law professors (so-called ''antecessores'') used to write commentaries (sometimes mere translations) on all parts of Justinian's law. While Justinian's law was promulgated in Latin, these commentaries were written in Greek, because lawyers (students and practitioners) were hardly able to read Latin anymore. Fragments of this commentary, which was in the

Greek language Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), souther ...

, have been preserved in the

Scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...

appended to the body of law compiled by order of the emperor Basilius the Macedonian and his son

Leo the Wise Leo VI, called the Wise ( gr, Λέων ὁ Σοφός, Léōn ho Sophós, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well r ...

, in the 9th century, known as the ''

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

''. From this, it seems probable that the commentary of Dorotheus contained the substance of a course of lectures on the Digest delivered by him in the law school of Berytus. This course of lectures followed a strict order, which was prescribed by Justinian in his ''constitutio Omnem''. According to this schedule the Institutes, a part of the Digest (Books 1 - 22) and all of the code were taught successively and most of the lecture would consist of dictation. In this dictation pattern comes firstly the Index of the statute at stake, secondly the original text in Latin and thirdly the veritable lecture on conceptual, literal and substantial problems of the respective provision.Simon, Dieter: Aus dem Kodexunterricht des Thaleleios, Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte (ZSSt) / Romanistische Abteilung / Band 86, 1969, p. 334

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorotheus Byzantine jurists Justinian I Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 6th-century Latin writers 6th-century Byzantine writers 6th-century jurists 540s BC deaths