TRIBONIAN, the famous jurist and minister of Justinian, was born in Pamphylia in the latter part of the 5th century. Adopting the profession of an advocate, he came to Constan tinople and practised in the prefectural courts there, reaching such eminence as to attract the notice of the emperor Justinian, who appointed him in 528 one of the ten commissioners directed to prepare the first Codex of imperial constitutions. When the commission of sixteen eminent lawyers was created in 53o to compile a collection of extracts from the writings of the great jurists of the earlier empire, Tribonian was made president. He had already been raised to the office of quaestor, which at that time was a sort of ministry of law and justice, something like that of the English lord chancellor of the later middle ages. During the progress of the work of the commission there broke out in Constantinople (532) the Nika insurrection. Tribonian was accused of having prostituted his office for the purposes of gain, and the mob searched for him to put him to death (Procop. Pers. i. 24-26). Justinian, yielding for the moment, removed him from office, and appointed a certain Basilides in his place. After the suppression of the insurrection the work of codification was resumed. A little earlier than the publication of the Digest, or Pandects, there had been published another but much smaller law-book, the Institutes, prepared under Justinian's orders by Tribonian, with Theophilus and Dorotheus, professors of law (see Preface to Institutes). About the same time the emperor
placed Tribonian at the head of a fourth commission, consisting of himself as chief and four others—Dorotheus, professor at Beyrut, and three practising advocates, who were directed to re vise and re-edit the first Codex of imperial constitutions. The new Codex was published in November 534. With it Tribonian's work of codification was completed. But he remained Justinian's chief legal minister. He was reinstated as quaestor some time after 534 (Procop. Pers. i. 25; Anecd. 2o) and seems to have held the office as long as he lived. He was evidently the prime mover in the various changes effected in the law by the novels of Justinian (Novellae constitutions). The date of his death has been variously assigned to 545, 546 and 547. See JUSTINIAN.