Theodore of Dekapolis or Theodore Dekapolites ( el, Θεόδωρος ὁ Δεκαπολίτης, ) was a 10th-century

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

jurist and official. He is best known from the pieces of agrarian legislation that he composed.

Life

His origin and family are unknown, but his surname indicates an origin in the Isaurian Decapolis. He is first mentioned as a ''

patrikios The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

'' and ''

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

'' in a Novel Law on the estates of ''

stratiotai ''Strateia'' ( el, στρατεία) is a term used in the Byzantine Empire, which according to the '' Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' "signified enrollment into state (civil or military) or ecclesiastical service and the attendant obligations". ...

'', which he composed and which is usually dated to 947 or slightly later. The Novel, following the principles on agrarian legislation established by Romanos I (r. 920–944), demanded the return to the peasants of any land allotted by the state which they had been forced to sell to the magnates (the ''

dynatoi The ''dynatoi'' ( el, δυνατοί, sing. Δυνατός, ''Dynatos'' "the powerful") was a legal term in the Byzantine Empire, denoting the senior levels of civil, military and ecclesiastic (including monastic) officialdom, who usually, but not ...

''), with the provision that the price of the land should be repaid in full except by the poorest peasants. If improvements had been made in the meantime, then these too should be recompensed in the case of the smaller local magnates and small monasteries. Since

Theophilos Erotikos Theophilos Erotikos ( el, ) was an 11th-century Byzantine general, and governor in Serbia and Cyprus, where he led a short-lived rebellion in 1042. Biography Serbian revolts Around 1034, according to John Skylitzes, the Serbs renounced Byzantine ...

is known to have held the post of ''quaestor'' in March 947, Theodore's appointment to the post must have been between that date and ca. 949. He remained in this post both under

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zo ...

(r. 944–959) as well as under his successor

Romanos II Romanos II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Ρωμανός, 938 – 15 March 963) was Byzantine Emperor from 959 to 963. He succeeded his father Constantine VII at the age of twenty-one and died suddenly and mysteriously four years later. His son Bas ...

(r. 959–963), being mentioned again in a Novel issued in 960 or 961. At this time, he had risen to the rank of ''

magistros The ''magister officiorum'' (Latin literally for "Master of Offices", in gr, μάγιστρος τῶν ὀφφικίων, magistros tōn offikiōn) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early cent ...

''. In the 960/1 Novel, "Theodore regulated the procedure for the restitution of peasants' and soldiers' properties illegally acquired by the ''dynatoi''" (A. Kazhdan). The time of his death is unknown, but he seems to have continued his legal career long into the reign of

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar ...

(r. 976–1025). According to the ''Peira'' of

Eustathios Rhomaios Eustathios Rhomaios ( el, Εὐστάθιος Ῥωμαῖος; ) was a senior judge and writer on law of the Byzantine Empire. Rhomaios followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, becoming a judge at the imperial court. Over the course of his c ...

, he was a member of the tribunal of the Covered Hippodrome that, in presence of the Emperor, adjudicated on an issue of document forgery. Eustathios, then still young and at the beginning of his career, proposed a different verdict than Dekapolites and the other senior judges, justifying his opinion so well that his view was eventually accepted. Based on the career of Eustathios Rhomaios, this incident is likely placed in the 990s. After Dekapolites' death, the poet

John Geometres John Geometres or Kyriotes ( el, Ιωάννης Γεωμέτρης/Κυριώτης, ), was a Byzantine poet, soldier, and monk. He is one of the main literary figures of the Macedonian Renaissance. Biography and work John was probably of noble d ...

wrote an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

in his honour, in which the personified Justice and Laws mourn his passing.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theodore Of Dekapolis Byzantine jurists Byzantine officials Magistroi Patricii Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Isaurians 10th-century Byzantine writers 10th-century jurists