Abstract
P.Berol. inv. 14081, which we have recently identified and edited, is a fragment of a papyrus codex from Justinian's Digest, produced shortly after the work's publication date (533 AD). The script corresponds to a particular type of uncial known as " BR ", the most famous example of which is the large codex of the Digest preserved in Florence. The reconstruction of the format and layout of the P.Berol. shows that the complete edition of the text must have been divided into a series of at least ten separate tomes, similar to the three other papyri of the Digest in BR uncial already known : P.Heid. L 4, P.Ryl. III 479 and P.Pommersf. L 1-6, the latter from Italy, while the others, including the P.Berol., were found in Egypt. The four manuscripts, from different parts of the Roman world, testify to the widespread, Empire-wide distribution of complete, standardized editions of the Digest in several papyrus volumes in the 6th century. Moreover, it cannot be ruled out that the preservation, albeit fortuitous and partial, of some of these tomes contributed to the formation process of the medieval text of the Digest, which was established and standardized by Bolognese jurists in the 11th century. The widespread distribution of the Digest, as attested by papyri from the Justinian period, should come as no surprise at the end of these seminars, which have shown that the works of classical jurists continued to be copied and circulated between Diocletian and Justinian . The Digest thus continued this tradition.
