Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus (c.
170Year 170 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Clarus and Cornelius...
–
223Year 223 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximus and Aelianus...
), anglicized as
Ulpian, was a
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
juristA jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
of Tyrian ancestry.
Biography
The exact time and place of his birth are unknown, but the period of his literary activity was between AD 211 and 222. He made his first appearance in public life as assessor in the auditorium of Papinian and member of the council of
Septimius SeverusSeptimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...
; under
CaracallaCaracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
he was master of the requests (
magister libellorum).
ElagabalusElagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...
(also known as Heliogabalus) banished him from
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, but on the accession of
AlexanderSeverus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235. Alexander was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty...
(222) he was reinstated, and finally became the emperor's chief adviser and
praefectus praetorio. His curtailment of the privileges granted to the
Praetorian GuardThe Praetorian Guard was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. The title was already used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC...
by
ElagabalusElagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...
provoked their enmity, and he narrowly escaped their vengeance; ultimately he was murdered in the palace, in the course of a riot between the soldiers and the mob.
Work
His works include:
Ad Sabinum, a commentary on the
jus civile, in over 50 books;
Ad edictum, a commentary on the
Edict, in 83 books; collections of opinions, responses and disputations; books of rules and institutions; treatises on the functions of the different magistrates — one of them, the
De officio proconsulis libri x., being a comprehensive exposition of the criminal law; monographs on various statutes, on testamentary trusts, and a variety of other works. His writings altogether have supplied to
JustinianJustinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
's
Digest about a third of its contents, and his commentary on the
Edict alone about a fifth. As an author he is characterized by doctrinal exposition of a high order, judiciousness of criticism, and lucidity of arrangement, style and language. He is also credited with
the firstUlpian's life table is an ancient Roman annuities table. It is known through a passage, originating in the jurist Aemilius Macer, preserved in edited form in Justinian's Digest. It appears to provide a rough outline of life expectancy in the early third century CE, although it is not clear what...
life tableIn actuarial science, a life table is a table which shows, for each age, what the probability is that a person of that age will die before his or her next birthday...
ever.
Domitii Ulpiani fragmenta, consisting of 29 titles, were first edited by Tilius (Paris, 1549). Other editions are by Hugo (Berlin, 1834), Booking (Bonn, 1836), containing fragments of the first book of the
Institutiones discovered by Endlicher at Vienna in 1835, and in Girard's
Textes de droit romain (Paris, 1890).
Legacy
It had been assumed for a long time that Ulpian of Tyre was a model for
AthenaeusAthenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...
' Ulpian in
The DeipnosophistsThe Deipnosophistae may be translated as The Banquet of the Learned or Philosophers at Dinner or The Gastronomers...
— or
The Banquet of the Learned. Athenaeus makes 'Ulpian' out to be a grammarian and philologist, characterised by his customary interjections: "Where does this word occur in writing?". He is represented as a symposiarch and he occupies a couch alone; his death is passed over in silence in Book XV 686 c.
Scholars today agree that
AthenaeusAthenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...
's Ulpian is not the historical Ulpian, but possibly his father.
The date of the real Ulpian's death in 228 A.D. has been wrongly used to estimate the date of completion of
The Deipnosophists.
Quotes
See also
- Law of Citations
The Law of Citations was a Roman law created in AD 426 by the emperor Theodosius II. It was designed to help judges deal with vast amounts of jurist writings on a subject and thus to reach a decision...
- Pandects
The Digest, also known as the Pandects , 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 Digest was one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I...
- Aemilius Papinianus
Aemilius Papinianus , also known as Papinian, was a celebrated Roman jurist, magister libellorum and, after the death of Gaius Fulvius Plautianus in 205, praetorian prefect.-Life:...
- Julius Paulus Prudentissimus
External links