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+--- Thread: Date of justinianus I s birth (/showthread.php?tid=15831)
Date of justinianus I s birth - eugene - 09-30-2009
Some encyclopedia articles write that Justinianus I was born on 11.5. 483 AD. What are the sources of this information? Sources which I know do not say anything about the exact day of his birth.
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Robert Vermaat - 10-19-2009
Hi Eugene,
That date is almost certainly wrong. We know that Justinian, or Petrus Sabbatius as he was called before he became anyone, was born c. 482, and that's all wee know. The sole source for his full name, "Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus," is the consular diptychs made for his consulship in 521. Justinian was a relative of Justin, who was born i Bedariana near Naissus, and his sister's son, Justinian, was born at the village of Tauresium, near Scupi. Our sole source is Procopius, De aedificiis, 4.15-28.
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Arminius Primus - 10-20-2009
Ave Fratres,
Yes,...... we claim Justinian as a local boy that did well 8) . The local legend is that he was not born in Scupi proper but in the villages lying just below what is now known as the Kale. Couldn't find anyone that knew anything about a date.
Regards from a cold and foggy Scupi
Arminius Primus aka Al
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Rumo - 10-22-2009
I wonder if this information comes from some later, apocryphal texts. I know there's one dubious Justiniani Vita, perhaps there are some others.
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Robert Vermaat - 10-23-2009
Quote:I wonder if this information comes from some later, apocryphal texts.Did you not read my post? It's from Procopius and a consular dyptych, both contemporary sources.
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Rumo - 10-23-2009
Oh, I guess my post was confusing. I wondered about the "11 May" information.
Meanwhile I traced it to Edward Gibbon: http://books.google.com/books?id=mwwMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA41
then to Johann Peter von Ludewig (see footnote 2): http://books.google.com/books?id=80kUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA117
It took me a while to figure that Fresneus is Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange. I'll see what I'll find next :wink:
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Robert Vermaat - 10-23-2009
Ah, I see.
Excellent research, btw. I love that note about the 'Dardanian peasants' bearing Gothic or even 'almost English' names.
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Rumo - 10-26-2009
Checking Du Cange's Historia Byzantina, volume I, page 96, I found this: "FLAVIUS ANICIUS JUSTINIANUS nascitur V Maii (incertum quo anno)"
There's also a side note for this line, mentioning Theophan. (Theophanes Confessor?) and Baron. (probably Cesare Baronio, an Italian ecclesiastical historian from 16th century)
As for Gibbon's note, that comes from the aforementioned Justiniani Vita, unfortunately a later and unreliable text.
Re: Date of justinianus I s birth - Robert Vermaat - 10-28-2009
Yes, I know where the note came from. I just liked the wording of the sentence very much. :wink: