Abstract
This article discusses the content, context and publication of two collections of imperial judgments compiled by the Roman jurist Paul, the Decretorum libri tres and the Imperialium sententiarum in cognitionibus prolatarum libri sex. Based on a legal and contextual analysis of the 37 cases surviving in Justinian’s Digest, it is argued that these works served a political purpose and should mainly be regarded as a contribution to the imperial rhetoric and propaganda of its protagonist, the emperor Septimius Severus (193–211 CE). At the same time, the texts from these works also reveal Paul’s own desire to present himself as a skilled, knowledgeable and influential jurist.
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