because of their contradiction with Christian faith. Only two schools, Beirut and Constantinople, remained open and were allowed to continue teaching jurisprudence. Teachings at Beirut and Constantinople were supplanted from Latin by Greek toward the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century.
Between 400 and 500, the most brilliant era of “Ecumenical Masters” started in Beirut’s law school, where the seven highly esteemed law masters – Cyrillus, Patricius, Domninus, Demosthenes, Eudoxius, Leontius and Amblichus – were largely responsible for the revival of legal education in the Byzantine Empire. The Christian faith was consolidated as an integral element of the juristic training under Cyrillus, the first of the Ecumenical Masters. Many influential church leaders and bishops, like Pamphilus of Caesarea, Severus of Antioch and Aphian, graduated from Beirut’s school in the 3rd century. In the opening of the Tanta Constitution, Justinian especially praised the two Beirut professors, Dorotheus and Anatolius, who had such a great reputation for their wisdom and knowledge.
In the year 551, external misfortune, and not internal decay, destroyed the school of Beirut being demolished by a heavy earthquake. The capital of Lebanon retained its intellectual prestige until the 6th century, before being supplanted by Constantinople.
Figure 3 St. George's Cathedral sits on the axis of Beirut's ancient Cardo Maximus. The law school used to be located next to the Byzantine Anastasis church, a precursor of the cathedral.
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