Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

September 4

September 4 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by one verified record dated AD 410. The entry below connects this calendar date with its surviving historical evidence and context.

Across the centuries

On This Day

  1. AD 410

    Event That Shaped History

    Constantinople Law & Civic Life High

    Constantinople Rules on Imperial Petitions Presented by Slaves

    On September 4, AD 410, a constitution issued at Constantinople by Honorius and Theodosius II to Isidorus, the city’s prefect, addressed a narrow but revealing legal question. Once an imperial rescript had been granted, officials were not to challenge its validity simply because the original petition had been presented by a slave rather than a free person. The ruling did not create a general right for enslaved people to petition the emperor. Instead it protected an imperial decision once that decision had already been issued.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Codex Justinianus 1.19.6, Emperors Honorius and Theodosius to Isidorus, City Prefect

    Modern scholarship

    • Fred H. Blume, Annotated Justinian Code, University of Wyoming edition

    Public links