Reference edition:

Geographi latini minores, collegit, recensuit, prolegomenis instruxit A. Riese, Heilbronne 1878, 133-139.

The Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae is a regionary dedicated to the eastern emperor Theodosius II (408-450), which scholarship unanimously dates, in its surviving form, between 423 and 427 (Speck, Havaux). It is generally thought that regionaries were administrative documents, connected to the office of the urban prefect, but other ideas concerning the nature of this document have been brought forth. Someone conceived it a touristic guide or a panegyric of the city (the debate is summarised by Havaux, pp. 9-10, who suggests two city topographies of Rome as the precedents and possible models for the Notitia). According to Matthews, p. 83, the writer must have been a retired member of the administration of the urban prefect of Constantinople.

            The text is divided into three parts: a Praefatio (on which, Corsini), 14 paragraphs dedicated to individual regiones, and one Collectio civitatis. For each region, there is a brief introduction, followed by two distinct lists: one list of buildings, beginning with the most important monuments (the terminology, which is occasionally problematic, is discussed by Drakoulis, pp. 165-180); another list includes the principal roles in the region’s administration and protection, whose specific tasks are briefly described in the paragraph on the Regio prima.

            There are several discrepancies between the central part of the Notitia and the Collectio, which gives a general summary of the partially analysed data for the individual regiones. These could arise from later alterations of the text (Havaux, pp. 8-9). According to Matthews, p. 85, it is typical of documentary lists not to be consistently updated, with the result that an earlier version of a document can leave traces that no longer reflect contemporary realities.

            One peculiarity worth underlining is that, while Rome had already been divided into 14 regiones by Augustus, it is not clear whether it was Constantine himself or a successor, like Theodosius I, who similarly divided the new capital into 14 regions (Mango).

            According to Havaux, the document acted as proof that Constantinople had superseded Rome in importance, as well as being a means for the eastern court to celebrate the Theodosian dynasty and propagandistically promote its own conception of the empire and of Constantinople as the centre of power.

            Apart from these contradictory details and the possible politico-ideological readings, the Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae remains “the single most important source for the early history of the city of Constantine” (Matthews, pp. 82-83). [F. Giannotti; trad. C. Belanger]