Exegesis and Empire in the Early Byzantine Mediterranean: Junillus Africanus and the Instituta Regularia Divinae Legis

Product Description

The emperor Justinian desired doctrinal unity across the empire and, in doing so, entrusted people like Junillus Africanus to help him formulate and carry out various policies. Junillus Africanus' treatise Handbook of the Basic Principles of Divine Law , composed in Constantinople in the 6th century, was a guide to interpreting God's law as found in the Bible. This influential text advocated a new approach to power, faith and society, and to the relationship between the emperor, the Church and the people. This study presents the Latin text with facing-page English translation along with a long introductory section that outlines Junillus' life and career, how he served the emperor, and the historical and religious background to the period in which the treatise was composed.

About the Author

Michael Maas, Born 1951; 1973 BA in Classics and Anthropology at Cornell University; 1982 Ph.D. in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology at Berkeley; Professor of History and Director of the Program in Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations at Rice University, Houston.