ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a few observations on the emperor and the law in Byzantium, in the hope that they may contribute to the genesis of The Emperor in the Byzantine World. Greek passages in the Latin Digest did not need to be translated, and it seems safe to assume that Pindar’s words as transmitted through Chrysippus and Marcianus to the Digest were read by aspiring law students. The prooimion of the Eisagoge, dating to the end of the ninth century, contains a passage about the relation between nomos and basileus which breathes new life into the combination. The relation between the emperor and the law, the emperor is supposed to be in control of the law and to be the only source of the law, indeed, to be the law. Fergus Millar, and several others, has paid attention in particular to the practice of petitions to the emperor and the answers in the form of rescripts.
