Dorotheus was a professor of
jurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal philosophers, hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions. Modern jurisprudence began in the 18th century and was focused on the first...
in the
law schoolA law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- United States:...
of
BerytusBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which...
in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, and one of the three commissioners appointed by the
Eastern Roman emperor Justinian IFlavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus ; AD 483 – 13 or 14 November 565, known in English as Justinian I or Justinian the Great, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 until his death...
to draw up a book of Institutes, after the model of the Institutes of Gaius, which should serve as an introduction to the Digest (or
PandectsPandects , also known as the Digest, is a name given to a compendium or digest of Roman law compiled by order of the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century .The pandects were one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I...
) already completed. His colleagues were
TribonianTribonian was a jurist during the reign of the Emperor Justinian I, who revised the legal code of the Roman Empire.Tribonian was born in Pamphylia around the year 500. He became a successful lawyer in Constantinople, and was appointed by Justinian in 528 as one of the commissioners to prepare the...
and
TheophilusTheophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος which means "Friend of God", so is synonymous with the name Amadeus which originates from Latin...
; and their work was accomplished in 533.
Dorotheus was a professor of
jurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal philosophers, hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions. Modern jurisprudence began in the 18th century and was focused on the first...
in the
law schoolA law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- United States:...
of
BerytusBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which...
in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, and one of the three commissioners appointed by the
Eastern Roman emperor Justinian IFlavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus ; AD 483 – 13 or 14 November 565, known in English as Justinian I or Justinian the Great, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 until his death...
to draw up a book of Institutes, after the model of the Institutes of Gaius, which should serve as an introduction to the Digest (or
PandectsPandects , also known as the Digest, is a name given to a compendium or digest of Roman law compiled by order of the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century .The pandects were one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I...
) already completed. His colleagues were
TribonianTribonian was a jurist during the reign of the Emperor Justinian I, who revised the legal code of the Roman Empire.Tribonian was born in Pamphylia around the year 500. He became a successful lawyer in Constantinople, and was appointed by Justinian in 528 as one of the commissioners to prepare the...
and
TheophilusTheophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος which means "Friend of God", so is synonymous with the name Amadeus which originates from Latin...
; and their work was accomplished in 533. He also helped compile the second edition of the
Codex ConstitutionumThe Corpus Juris Civilis is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Eastern Roman Emperor....
(published in 534). In 542, as a commentary on the Digest, he published what is called the Index. Fragments of this commentary, which was in the
Greek languageGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
, have been preserved in the Scholia appended to the body of law compiled by order of the emperor
Basilius the MacedonianBasil I, called the Macedonian was Byzantine emperor of Armenian origin from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in Thrace, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Michael III...
and his son
Leo the WiseLeo VI, surnamed the Wise or the Philosopher , was Byzantine emperor with Armenian descent from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty , he was very well-read, leading to his surname...
, in the 9th century, known as the
BasilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building , usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC.Basilicas were also used for religious purposes...
. 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, although it is not cast in a form so precisely didactic as the Index of Theophilus.