Imperial school in the Capitol of Constantinople
A law of Theodosius II set up a public school of higher learning in the Capitol of Constantinople, with thirty-one teachers of Latin and Greek grammar and rhetoric, philosophy and law. Meant to train officials for the state, it is often called the University of Constantinople.
- Date
- 27 February 425exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Theodosius II, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- University of Constantinople; Pandidakterion; Pandidacterium; Capitol school; Константинопольский университет; Пандидактерион
The law of 27 February 425, preserved in the Theodosian Code, set aside the halls of the Capitol — a building of Constantine’s new capital on the route of the Mese, the main street — as the emperor’s “own” auditorium. It was to have three orators and ten grammarians teaching in Latin, five sophists and ten grammarians teaching in Greek, one philosopher and two teachers of law: 15 Latin and 16 Greek chairs in all, each with rooms of its own so that teachers and pupils would not disturb one another. The teachers of the Capitol were forbidden to give private lessons in houses, while self-styled masters who gathered pupils in public halls had to stop, on pain of infamy and expulsion from the city if they persisted; private tutors could go on teaching at home. On 15 March 425 six of the professors — the grammarians Helladius, Syrianus and Theophilus, the sophists Martinus and Maximus and the jurist Leontius — received the rank of count of the first order.
The school was intended above all to train educated officials for the administration; it has been suggested that the empress Eudocia, an Athenian by birth, encouraged its foundation. Whether it deserves the name of a university is debated, since it lacked the corporate organisation of the medieval universities of the West. There is no evidence that it still worked after the reign of Heraclius (610–641); the school at the Magnaura palace in the 9th century and the schools of law and philosophy refounded by Constantine IX in 1045/1046 are often regarded as its successors.
Connections
Part of
- Reign of Theodosius II1 May 408 – 28 July 450 · Balkans and Anatolia
Related events
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatoliathe school occupied the Capitol, built for Constantine’s new capital
- Theodosian Code15 February 438 · Balkans and Anatoliathe founding law is preserved in the Code (XIV.9.3)
Same participants
- Theodosian Walls of Constantinoplebetween 404 and 408 – 413 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon410 · Middle East and Egyptvia Theodosius II
Same place
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Sack of Rome by the Visigoths24–27 August 410 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625
Eastern Europe
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
Middle East and Egypt
- Reign of Bahram V Gurbetween 420 and 421 – 438
- Simeon Stylites on his pillarc. 423 – 2 September 459
- Jerusalem Talmudbetween 360 and 450
Africa
- Augustine writes The City of Godbetween 412 and 413 – between 426 and 427
- Martianus Capella’s Marriage of Philology and Mercurybetween 410 and 490
Central and Northern Asia
- Hunnic kings of Bactria: the Kidaritesbetween 360 and 370 – 467
- The Rouran Khaganate dominates the steppe402–552
South Asia
- Kumaragupta I and the founding of the Nalanda monasterybetween 415 and 455
East Asia
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- The yupa inscriptions of King Mulavarman at Kutaibetween 350 and 450
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- The inscriptions of Purnavarman, king of Taruma in western Javabetween 400 and 600
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- Burial of the Lady of Cao at El Brujobetween 400 and 500
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): University of Constantinople
- Wikipedia (English): Capitolium of Constantinople
- Wikipedia (Russian): Константинопольский университет
- Wikipedia (Russian): Феодосий II
- Codex Theodosianus, XIV.9.3 (27 February 425)
- Codex Theodosianus, VI.21.1 (15 March 425)
- Lemerle P. Byzantine Humanism: The First Phase / Transl. H. Lindsay, A. Moffatt. — Canberra: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1986.
- O’Brien P. Eudocia (c. 400–460) // Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia — the foundation of the University of Constantinople (425) is “often associated with the influence of Eudocia”