Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

December 27

December 27 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning AD 486 to AD 537. Together, the entries below connect this calendar date with different moments in the ancient Greek world through historical and documentary evidence.

Across the centuries

On This Day

  1. AD 486

    Life on This Day

    Constantinople Law & Civic Life High

    Two Advocates Cannot Delay a Case Because a Third Is Absent

    On December 27, AD 486, a Greek-text imperial law ordered that two advocates already present in a case could not delay judgment by claiming that a third advocate was absent.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Codex Justinianus 2.7.19, Greek text

    Modern scholarship

    • University of Wyoming Annotated Justinian Code

    Public links

  2. AD 537

    Event That Shaped History

    Constantinople Religion & Ideas High

    Justinian’s Hagia Sophia Is Inaugurated

    On December 27, AD 537, Justinian’s new Hagia Sophia was inaugurated in Constantinople after less than six years of construction following the Nika revolt.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Procopius, Buildings, and the Hagia Sophia inauguration tradition

    Modern scholarship

    • Metropolitan Museum of Art
    • American Society of Civil Engineers

    Public links