Aburanis is a historical figure mentioned in the canonical appendix of Isaac Asimov's Prelude to Foundation.
About Aburanis[]
Emperor Aburanis is the mythical emperor attributed with establishing the "Law Codes of Aburanis" many thousand years years before the time of Hari Seldon. The most famous and enduring of these codes was a statute that forbade the denigration of public officers of the Galactic Empire.
These laws provided the critical legal foundation for the authority of the Commission of Public Safety. The text itself notes that Emperor Aburanis "may have been purely mythical," suggesting that his historical existence is not certain within the universe's own historical record. Whether a real ruler or a legendary figure, his name became attached to a fundamental set of laws that shaped Imperial justice for millennia.
The Code's anti-denigration clause remained in effect for over two thousand years. It was infamously used as the legal pretext by Chief Commissioner Linge Chen to arrest Hari Seldon in 12,020 G.E., demonstrating how ancient laws could be resurrected and weaponized for political purposes.
Appearances[]
- Prelude to Foundation (1988)
Trivia[]
- The only appearance is in the novel's appendix, "A Guide to the Galaxy in the Early Galactic Era." This was in especial 1988's old editions. He is not mentioned in the novel's narrative itself.