Senatus consulta im Senat von Konstantinopel: Prätur und gleba senatus von Constantius II. bis Justinian

Abstract This article investigates the formal decisions ( senatus consulta ) of the Senate of Constantinople from the time of Constantius II to Justinian (fourth to sixth century AD). While Rome had once ruled its empire through such senatus consulta , they had become a legal formality under Rome’s emperors. But what about late antiquity? This study of late-antique imperial senatus consulta reveals that such formal decisions were taken by the senate in Constantinople, in two contexts: the praetorship in Constantinople and senatorial taxation. Both were financial burdens, and so it is not surprising to see emperors insisting that the task to elect praetors was the senate’s and not theirs. The detailed examination of these legal provisions on senatus consulta thus furnishes important insights into the internal workings of the Constantinopolitan senate as well as into its relationship with its emperors. The discussion falls into two parts. The first part examines the developments in the fourth century, under Constantius II, Valentinian I and Valens. The second part then moves to the developments in the fifth century from Marcian to Justinian.