19 Prohibition on Forcing Maritime Transport Liturgy on the Jewish and Samaritan Communities in Egypt, and Determination of the Status of the Senators as Citizens of Constantinople

 (Valentinian II), Theodosius (with Arcadius)

18 February 390

This law, given on 18 February 390, probably at Milan, by Theodo­sius, in his name and in the names of Valentinian II and Arcadius, was addressed to Alexander, Praefectus Augustalis of Egypt.

(A) The duty of maritime transport imposed on the Jewish and Samaritan communities was declared illegal, on grounds that it should have been imposed directly on individuals wealthy enough to perform it.

(B) Senators should be considered as citizens of Constantinople, and treated accordingly in regard to performance of liturgies.

This law offers evidence that the authorities recognized the Jew­ish community in Egypt, or in Alexandria, as a ‘corpus’ (synonym to ‘collegium’), and that the local authorities in Egypt imposed on it a collective duty of maritime transport. This is not the only source to bear evidence on the existence of Jewish shipowners and sailors in fourth century Egypt. Synesius left a very vivid descrip­tion of his passage in a ship manned by a completely Jewish crew.¹ Other sources record Jewish ‘navicularii’ in Egypt² and a profes­sional guild of Jewish shipowners and sailors.³ It is probable that the present law reflected the conditions prevalent in the provinces of Africa as well, where the maritime supply system was organized on similar lines to that of Egypt, i.e., through the imposition of that function as a duty on shipowners and wealthy individuals.

The paragraph which deals with the senators concerns one aspect in the process of propagation of holders of the senatorial title, a distinct group from that of senators actually taking part in the sen­ate’s work in each of the two capitals, Rome and Constantinople. Their spread in the provinces is well documented beginning with the middle of the fourth century. The title ‘senator’ conferred various privileges, whose importance accrued in proportion to the economic decline of the senatorial nobility in the last decades of the century.⁴

Codex Theodosianus, 13:5:18, ed. Mommsen, p. 752

IMPPP. VAL(ENTINI)ANUS, THEOD(OSIUS) ET ARCAD(IUS) AAA. ALEXANDRO* P(RAE)F(ECTO) AUGUSTALI*

ludaeorum corpus ac Samaritanum ad naviculariam functionem* non iure vocari cognoscitur; quidquid enim universe corpori videtur indici, 5 nullam specialiter potest obligate personam. Unde sicut inopes vilibus- que commerciis occupati naviculariae translationis munus obire non de­bent, ita idoneos facultatibus, qui ex his corporibus deligi poterunt ad praedictam functionem, haberi non oportet inmunes.

DAT. XII KAL. MART. CONSTAN(TINO)P(OLI) VAL(ENTINI)ANO A. IIII ET

10 NEOTERIO CONSS*

THE THREE EMPERORS AND AUGUSTI VALENTINIAN, THEODOSIUS AND AR­CADIUS TO ALEXANDER,⁵ PRAEFECTUS AUGUSTALIS⁶

It has been established that the community of the Jews and the Samaritan community are illegally nominated to the duty of mari­time transport;⁷ for what is seen to be imposed on the whole com­munity cannot bind a person specifically.

Codex Justinianus, 10:40:8, ed. Kriiger, p. 418

IMPPP. VALENTINIANUS THEODOSIUS ET ARCADIUS AAA       

PRAEFECTO AUGUSTALI

Senatores in sacratissima urbe* domicilium dignitatis* habere videntur. D.K. MART. VALENTINIANO A. ET NEOTERIO CONSS.

THE THREE EMPERORS AND AUGUSTI VALENTINIAN THEODOSIUS AND AR­CADIUS... PRAEFECTUS AUGUSTALIS

The senators are considered to have domicile in the most sacred city⁹ in reason of their dignity.¹⁰

GIVEN ON THE CALENDS OF MARCH, IN THE CONSULATE OF VALENTINIAN AUGUSTUS AND OF NEOTEORIOS.

NOTES

1.        lang=EN-US style='font-size: 8.5pt;font-style:normal'>See PG, LXVI, Cols. 1329-1333.

2.        A. Tcherikover, The Jews in Egypt in the Hellenistic-Roman Age in the Light of the Papyri, Jerusalem 1963, pp. 64-65 (in Hebrew).

3.        See Tosephta, Baba Mesia, 11:26, Zuckermandel edition, Jerusalem 1966, p.

4.        See P. Arsac, “La dignité senatoriale au Bas-Empire,” RHDFE, Series 4, XLVII (1969), pp. 198-243; A. Chastagnol, “L’évolution de 1’ordre senatorial aux Hie et IVe siècles de notre ère,” Revue historique, CCXLIV (1970), pp. 305­314.

5.        Alexander: H. Hübner, Der Praefectus Aegypti von Diokletian bis zum Ende der römischen Herrschaft, Munich 1952, p. 112; Haehling, p. 207; PLRE, I, s.v.

6.        Praefectus Augustalis was the title given to the Governor of Egypt after its separation from the diocese of the East and reorganization as a diocese. Jones dates this change to 369/370, while Stein dates it to 381. See A. H. Μ. Jones, “The Date of the Apologia Contra Arianos of Athanasius,” JThS, V (1954), pp. 224­227; Stein, I, p. 96.

7.        Maritime transport to the two capitals, mainly of corn, was organized by the Imperial authorities in the framework of their overall policy of securing public services of various kinds. Like other services it was assured by semi-private organ­izations of professionals controlled by the State, in this case by a collegium of shipowners. Membership in this corporation was obligatory, and the shipowners were held responsible with their property for the performance of the transport duties allotted them. The term ‘functio’ has in various sources the meaning of “duty,” “task”; see, for example, a text from 437 on magistrates elevated to the senatorial order: ‘honore curiae sine aliqua functione laetentur’.

8.        Given... Neoterios: 18 February 390. Theodosius could not have issued this law in Constantinople, for he remained the whole year in Italy, mainly in Milan. See Lippold, PW, Suppl. XIII, 1973, s.v. Theodosius I, Col. 886. If we accept, however, that this law was given in Constantinople, we shall have to attri­bute it to Arcadius, who was by then 13 years old. See Noethlichs, n. 1025.

9.         “The most sacred city” was Constantinople.

size=1 color=black face="Times New Roman">10.      Dignity: the awkward term ‘domicilium dignitatis’ derives, possibly, from a mistaken reading of a passage in Paul’s commentary to the Edictum Perpetuum, preserved in the Digest (Dig. 1:9:11). That passage determined that senators should be considered citizens of their places of origin in addition to their status as citizens of Rome, ‘quia dignitas domicilii adiectionem potius dedisse quam permutasse videtur’, “since their dignity appears to have given them an added domicile rather than changed their domicile.” The proximity of the words ‘domicilium’ and ‘dignitas’ resulted in the creation of the new term ‘domicilium dignitatis’, although the word ‘domicilium’ in the Digest text complements the word ‘adiectio’ and not ‘dignitas’.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Godefroy, V, pp. 84-85; Juster, II, pp. 264-265; Seeck, Regesten, pp. Ill, 277; A. von Premerstein, “Die fünf neugefundenen Edikte des Augustus aus Ky- rene,” ZSSRG, RA, XLVIII (1928), p. 469; Seaver, p. 49; Noethlichs, p. 185; Reichardt, p. 33.