Justinian I

Justinian I Latin: Flavius Petrus Sabbatius

Iustinianus Augustus  c. 482 – 14 November
565), traditionally known as Justinian the
Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in
the Eastern Orthodox Church, was the Eastern
Roman emperor from 527 to 565. During his
reign, Justinian sought to revive the empire's
greatness and reconquer the lost western-half of
the historical Roman Empire. Justinian's rule
constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of
the Later Roman empire, and his reign is marked
by the ambitious but only partly
realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the
Empire".
Because of his restoration activities, Justinian has
sometimes been known as the "last Roman" in
mid 20th century historiography. This ambition
was expressed by the partial recovery of the
territories of the defunct Western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered
the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Subsequently, Belisarius, Narses, and other generals
conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the empire
after more than half a century of rule by the Ostrogoths. The prefect Liberius reclaimed the south
of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established
Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire's annual revenue by over
a million solidi. During his reign, Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of
the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. He engaged the Sasanian Empire in
the east during Kavad I's reign, and later again during Khosrow I's; this second conflict was
partially initiated due to his ambitions in the west.
A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus
Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law in many modern states. His reign also marked a
blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the
church of Hagia Sophia.
Life
Justinian was born in Tauresium, Dardania, around 482.
A native speaker of Latin (possibly the last Roman
emperor to be one), he came from a peasant family
believed to have been of Illyro-Roman or Thraco-
Roman origins. The cognomen Iustinianus, which he
took later, is indicative of adoption by his
uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana
Prima not far from his birthplace, which today is in
South East Serbia. His mother was Vigilantia, the sister
of Justin. Justin, who was in the imperial guard (the Excubitors) before he became
emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople, and ensured the boy's education. As
a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology and Roman history. Justinian
served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are
unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his
appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced and handsome. Another
contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinian's appearance to that of tyrannical
Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander.

When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was

proclaimed the new emperor, with significant help from
Justinian. During Justin's reign (518–527), Justinian was
the emperor's close confidant. Justinian showed much
ambition, and it has been thought that he was functioning
as virtual regent long before Justin made him associate
emperor on 1 April 527, although there is no conclusive
evidence of this. As Justin became senile near the end of
his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler. Justinian
was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the
army of the east. Upon Justin's death on 1 August 527,
Justinian became the sole sovereign.

As a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as "the emperor who never sleeps" on
account of his work habits. Nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach.
Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople. She was by profession
a courtesan and some twenty years his junior. In earlier times, Justinian could not have married
her owing to her class, but his uncle, Emperor Justin I, had passed a law allowing intermarriage
between social classes. Theodora would become very influential in the politics of the Empire,
and later emperors would follow Justinian's precedent in marrying outside the aristocratic class.
The marriage caused a scandal, but Theodora would prove to be a shrewd judge of character and
Justinian's greatest supporter. Other talented individuals included Tribonian, his legal
adviser; Peter the Patrician, the diplomat and longtime head of the palace bureaucracy;
Justinian's finance ministers John the Cappadocian and Peter Barsymes, who managed to collect
taxes more efficiently than any before, thereby funding Justinian's wars; and finally, his
prodigiously talented generals, Belisarius and Narses.

Justinian's rule was not universally popular;

early in his reign he nearly lost his throne
during the Nika riots, and a conspiracy
against the emperor's life by dissatisfied
businessmen was discovered as late as 562.
Justinian was struck by the plague in the early
540s but recovered. Theodora died in 548 at a
relatively young age, possibly of cancer;
Justinian outlived her by nearly twenty years.
Justinian, who had always had a keen interest
in theological matters and actively participated in debates on Christian doctrine, became even
more devoted to religion during the later years of his life. When he died on 14 November 565, he
left no children, though his wife Theodora had given birth to a stillborn son several years into his
reign. He was succeeded by Justin II, who was the son of his sister Vigilantia and married to
Sophia, the niece of Empress Theodora. Justinian's body was entombed in a specially built
mausoleum in the Church of the Holy Apostles until it was desecrated and robbed during
the pillage of the city in 1204 by the Latin States of the Fourth Crusade.
Reign

Legislative activities
Justinian achieved lasting fame through his judicial
reforms, particularly through the complete revision
of all Roman law, something that had not previously
been attempted. The total of Justinian's legislation is
known today as the Corpus juris civilis. It consists of
the Codex Justinianeus, the Digesta or Pandectae,
the Institutiones, and the Novellae.
Early in his reign, Justinian appointed
the quaestor Tribonian to oversee this task. The first
draft of the Codex Justinianeus, a codification of
imperial constitutions from the 2nd century onward,
was issued on 7 April 529. (The final version
appeared in 534.) It was followed by
the Digesta (or Pandectae), a compilation of older
legal texts, in 533, and by the Institutiones, a textbook explaining the principles of law.
The Novellae, a collection of new laws issued during Justinian's reign, supplements the Corpus.
As opposed to the rest of the corpus, the Novellae appeared in Greek, the common language of
the Eastern Empire.
The Corpus forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including ecclesiastical Canon Law) and, for
historians, provides a valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire.
As a collection it gathers together the many sources in which the leges (laws) and the other rules
were expressed or published: proper laws, senatorial consults (senatusconsulta), imperial
decrees, case law, and jurists' opinions and interpretations (responsa prudentum). Tribonian's
code ensured the survival of Roman law. It formed the basis of later Byzantine law, as expressed
in the Basilika of Basil I and Leo VI the Wise. The only western province where the Justinian
code was introduced was Italy (after the conquest by the so-called Pragmatic Sanction of 554),
from where it was to pass to Western Europe in the 12th century and become the basis of much
European law code. It eventually passed to Eastern Europe where it appeared in Slavic editions,
and it also passed on to Russia. It remains influential to this day
He passed laws to protect prostitutes from exploitation and women from being forced into
prostitution. Rapists were treated severely. Further, by his policies: women charged with major
crimes should be guarded by other women to prevent sexual abuse; if a woman was widowed,
her dowry should be returned; and a husband could not take on a major debt without his wife
giving her consent twice.

Ecclesiastical Policy

In the Byzantine Empire, church and state were indissolubly linked as essential aspects of a

single Christian empire that was thought of as the terrestrial counterpart of the heavenly polity. It
was therefore the duty of Justinian, as it was for later Byzantine emperors, to promote the good
government of the church and to uphold orthodox teaching. This explains why so many of his
laws deal in detail with religious problems. Pagans, heretics, and Samaritans, for instance, were
forbidden to teach any subject whatsoever, and, though fully appreciative of the classical
heritage, Justinian expelled pagan teachers from the once-famous Academy at Athens, an action
directed against paganism rather than Greek philosophy.

Justinian I flanked by military and clergy, mosaic in the Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.©
Mountainpix/Shutterstock.com
Justinian’s main doctrinal problem was the conflict between the orthodox view accepted at
the Council of Chalcedon (451), that the divine and human natures coexist in Christ, and
the Monophysite teaching that emphasized his divine nature. Monophysitism was strongly held
in Syria and Egypt and was closely allied to growing national feelings and resentment of
Byzantine rule. Justinian, whose wife, Theodora, was a strong champion of the Monophysites,
did not wish to lose the eastern provinces, but he knew, on the other hand, that
any concessions to them would almost certainly alienate Rome and the West. Justinian tried to
compel the orthodox Western bishops to arrive at a compromise with the Monophysites, and he
even went so far as to hold Pope Vigilius against his will in Constantinople and to condemn
some writings by important church figures in Antioch in an effort to achieve his aim. The
second Council of Constantinople (553) finally reaffirmed the Chalcedonian position and
condemned the Antioch suspect writings. Justinian achieved nothing by the episode, however; he
did not conciliate the Monophysites, he enraged Antioch by the attack on its teachers, and he
aroused Rome particularly by his handling of Pope Vigilius and his attempt to determine
doctrinal matters. The decrees of the council were not accepted by Vigilius’ successors, and a
schism thus occurred between Rome and Constantinople that lasted until 610.
Toward the end of his reign, Justinian to some extent withdrew from public affairs and was
occupied with theological problems. He even lapsed into heresy when, at the end of 564, he
issued an edict stating that the human body of Christ was incorruptible and only seemed to suffer
(the doctrine called Aphthartodocetism). This roused immediate protest, and many ecclesiastics
refused to subscribe to it, but the matter was dropped with the emperor’s death, at which time the
throne passed to his nephew Justin II in 565. To describe Justinian’s interest and activity in
church affairs as caesaropapism (state in control of the church) is misleading. Justinian, like
succeeding Byzantine emperors, regarded himself as the viceregent of Christ, and the Eastern
Roman Empire knew no such clear-cut distinction between church and state as developed in
Latin Christendom.

Justinian & the Vandals

The Vandals had been in control of Africa's capital Carthage since 439 CE and thereafter spread
their influence over Africa, Tripolitania, Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearic islands. In 533 CE
Justinian launched a reconquest effort aimed at claiming these areas for the Byzantine Empire.
This began in the spring of 533 CE with an anti-Vandal revolt in Tripolitania (today's western
Libya), which was consolidated by Roman soldiers from the empire's province of Cyrenaica.
Soon after, General Belisarius (Justinian's most successful military leader) led a force of soldiers
in ships from the Aegean, stopping off at Sicily and landing in Africa. A series of battles
followed, and in the winter of 534 CE, the Vandal king Gelimer surrendered, leaving Africa in
Roman hands after almost a century of Vandal rule.

The Gothic War & Totila

The Goths had been in control of Italy and Sicily since 476 CE, when the last Roman
Emperor in the West, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed. Though the Gothic Rex Italiae (King
of Italy) Odoacer recognised the authority of the emperor in Constantinople, the Gothic regime
began to initiate policies independent of the Roman sphere. The Roman aristocracy of Italy
remained in a position of privilege even after the Gothic conquest, but conflict and disagreement
emerged in 524 CE with the execution of the leading Roman Italian politician Boethius. In this
context of discontent in the Gothic regime, Justinian sought to retake Italy and Sicily. The rapid
conquest of Africa had encouraged the emperor, and he sent Belisarius with a small force to
attack Sicily, which fell quickly to the Romans in 535 CE. By 540 CE, after a series of victories
and defeats against the Goths and their allies in Italy as well as in Dalmatia (modern Croatia),
Italy was secured for the Romans.

However, this was not the end of the Gothic War. Though much of Italy was under Roman
control, some towns and cities (such as Verona) remained under Gothic influence. Though
soundly defeated, the remainder of the Gothic regime found a new leader in Totila. In the autumn
of 541 CE, he was proclaimed king, soon after leading a reconquest of Italy. Though at the head
of a relatively small force, Totila was helped in his goals by several problems in the Roman
Empire. Around the same time, new hostilities opened between Justinian and the Sassanian
Empire, which meant that resources had to be split between East and West. An outbreak of
plague in 542 CE (later called the Justinianic Plague) crippled the empire's ability to respond.
Totila thus managed to defeat the first Roman counter-attacks and captured Naples by siege in
543 CE. Rome itself changed hands three times in quick succession, ending up in 549 CE in the
hands of Totila. Belisarius had attempted to defeat Totila on several occasions prior to this but
was hampered by lack of supplies and support from Justinian. A new campaign was undertaken
by Justinian's nephew Germanus Justinus, but he died in 551 CE, succeeded by the general
Narses. In 553 CE, Narses defeated Totila and Italy was once again Roman.

Justinian's reign lasted almost 40 years, but it was not always popular. In 529 CE Julianus ben
Sabar, a messianic figure in Palestine, led a revolt of the Samaritan people against the empire. In
532 CE Constantinople was gripped by civil discontent; the Nika riots lasted a week, resulted in
the deaths of thousands of citizens, and left much of the monumental centre of the city in ruins.
A second Samaritan revolt in 559 CE, more significant and possibly involving elements of the
Jewish population of Palestine, was not quelled until after the death of Justinian.

The Codex Justinianus

Early on in his reign, Justinian commissioned a legal expert in his court, Tribonian, to gather
together numerous legal notes, commentaries, and laws of the Roman legal system into a single
text which would hold the force of law: this was the Codex Iustinianus. In 529 CE the first
edition was published, followed in 534 CE by a revised second edition (which unlike the first,
survives today). The text is divided into titles relating to specific aspects of the law, and was
composed in Latin. It contained laws on heresy, orthodoxy and paganism as well.

Nika riots

Justinian's habit of choosing efficient, but unpopular advisers nearly cost him his throne early in
his reign. In January 532, partisans of the chariot racing factions in Constantinople, normally
rivals, united against Justinian in a revolt that has become known as the Nika riots. They forced
him to dismiss Tribonian and two of his other ministers, and then attempted to overthrow
Justinian himself and replace him with the senator Hypatius, who was a nephew of the late
emperor Anastasius. While the crowd was rioting in the streets, Justinian considered fleeing the
capital by sea, but eventually decided to stay, apparently on the prompting of Theodora, who
refused to leave. In the next two days, he ordered the brutal suppression of the riots by his
generals Belisarius and Mundus. Procopius relates that 30,000 unarmed civilians were killed in
the Hippodrome. On Theodora's insistence, and apparently against his own judgment, Justinian
had Anastasius' nephews executed.
The destruction that took place during the revolt provided Justinian with an opportunity to tie his
name to a series of splendid new buildings, most notably the architectural innovation of the
domed Hagia Sophia.

Military activities

One of the most spectacular features of Justinian's

reign was the recovery of large stretches of land
around the Western Mediterranean basin that had
slipped out of Imperial control in the 5th century. As
a Christian Roman emperor, Justinian considered it
his divine duty to restore the Roman Empire to its
ancient boundaries. Although he never personally
took part in military campaigns, he boasted of his
successes in the prefaces to his laws and had them
commemorated in art.[42] The re-conquests were in
large part carried out by his general Belisarius.

War with the Sassanid Empire, 527–532

From his uncle, Justinian inherited ongoing hostilities
with the Sassanid Empire. In 530 the Persian forces
suffered a double defeat at Dara and Satala, but the
next year saw the defeat of Roman forces under
Belisarius near Callinicum. Justinian then tried to
make alliance with the Axumites of Ethiopia and the Himyarites of Yemen against the Persians,
but this failed. When king Kavadh I of Persia died (September 531), Justinian concluded an
"Eternal Peace" (which cost him 11,000 pounds of gold) with his successor Khosrau I (532).
Having thus secured his eastern frontier, Justinian turned his attention to the West,
where Germanic kingdoms had been established in the territories of the former Western Roman
Empire.

Conquest of North Africa, 533–534

The first of the western kingdoms Justinian attacked was that of the Vandals in North Africa.
King Hilderic, who had maintained good relations with Justinian and the North
African Catholic clergy, had been overthrown by his cousin Gelimer in 530 A.D. Imprisoned, the
deposed king appealed to Justinian.
In 533, Belisarius sailed to Africa with a fleet of 92 dromons, escorting 500 transports carrying
an army of about 15,000 men, as well as a number of barbarian troops. They landed at Caput
Vada (modern Ras Kaboudia) in modern Tunisia. They defeated the Vandals, who were caught
completely off guard, at Ad Decimum on 14 September 533 and Tricamarum in December;
Belisarius took Carthage. King Gelimer fled to Mount Pappua in Numidia, but surrendered the
next spring. He was taken to Constantinople, where he was paraded in
a triumph. Sardinia and Corsica, the Balearic Islands, and the stronghold Septem
Fratres near Gibraltar were recovered in the same campaign.
In this war, the contemporary Procopius remarks that Africa was so entirely dispeopled, that a
person might travel several days without meeting a human being, and he adds, "it is no
exaggeration to say, that in the course of the war 5,000,000 perished by the sword, and famine,
and pestilence.”
An African prefecture, centered in Carthage, was established in April 534, but it would teeter on
the brink of collapse during the next 15 years, amidst warfare with the Moors and military
mutinies. The area was not completely pacified until 548, but remained peaceful thereafter and
enjoyed a measure of prosperity. The recovery of Africa cost the empire about 100,000 pounds
of gold.

War in Italy, first phase, 535–540

As in Africa, dynastic struggles in Ostrogothic
Italy provided an opportunity for intervention. The
young king Athalaric had died on 2 October 534, and
a usurper, Theodahad, had imprisoned
queen Amalasuntha, Theodoric's daughter and mother
of Athalaric, on the island of Martana in Lake
Bolsena, where he had her assassinated in 535.
Thereupon Belisarius, with 7,500
men, invaded Sicily (535) and advanced into Italy,
sacking Naples and capturing Rome on 9 December
536. By that time Theodahad had been deposed by the Ostrogothic army, who had
elected Vitigis as their new king. He gathered a large army and besieged Rome from February
537 to March 538 without being able to retake the city.
Justinian sent another general, Narses, to Italy, but tensions between Narses and Belisarius
hampered the progress of the campaign. Milan was taken, but was soon recaptured and razed by
the Ostrogoths. Justinian recalled Narses in 539. By then the military situation had turned in
favour of the Romans, and in 540 Belisarius reached the Ostrogothic capital Ravenna. There he
was offered the title of Western Roman Emperor by the Ostrogoths at the same time that envoys
of Justinian were arriving to negotiate a peace that would leave the region north of the Po
River in Gothic hands. Belisarius feigned acceptance of the offer, entered the city in May 540,
and reclaimed it for the Empire. Then, having been recalled by Justinian, Belisarius returned to
Constantinople, taking the captured Vitigis and his wife Matasuntha with him.

War with the Sassanid Empire, 540–562

Belisarius had been recalled in the face of
renewed hostilities by the Persians. Following
a revolt against the Empire in Armenia in the
late 530s and possibly motivated by the pleas
of Ostrogothic ambassadors, King Khosrau
I broke the "Eternal Peace" and invaded
Roman territory in the spring of 540. He first
sacked Beroea and then Antioch (allowing the
garrison of 6,000 men to leave the city),
besieged Daras, and then went on to attack the
small but strategically significant satellite
kingdom of Lazica near the Black Sea, exacting tribute from the towns he passed along his way.
He forced Justinian I to pay him 5,000 pounds of gold, plus 500 pounds of gold more each year.
Belisarius arrived in the East in 541, but after some success, was again recalled to
Constantinople in 542. The reasons for his withdrawal are not known, but it may have been
instigated by rumours of his disloyalty reaching the court. The outbreak of the plague caused a
lull in the fighting during the year 543. The following year Khosrau defeated a Byzantine army
of 30,000 men, but unsuccessfully besieged the major city of Edessa. Both parties made little
headway, and in 545 a truce was agreed upon for the southern part of the Roman-Persian
frontier. After that the Lazic War in the North continued for several years, until a second truce in
557, followed by a Fifty Years' Peace in 562. Under its terms, the Persians agreed to abandon
Lazica in exchange for an annual tribute of 400 or 500 pounds of gold (30,000 solidi) to be paid
by the Romans.

War in Italy, second phase, 541–554

While military efforts were directed to the East, the situation in Italy took a turn for the worse.
Under their respective kings Ildibad and Eraric (both murdered in 541) and especially Totila, the
Ostrogoths made quick gains. After a victory at Faenza in 542, they reconquered the major cities
of Southern Italy and soon held almost the entire Italian peninsula. Belisarius was sent back to
Italy late in 544 but lacked sufficient troops and supplies. Making no headway, he was relieved
of his command in 548. Belisarius succeeded in defeating a Gothic fleet of 200 ships. During this
period the city of Rome changed hands three more times, first taken and depopulated by the
Ostrogoths in December 546, then reconquered by the Byzantines in 547, and then again by the
Goths in January 550. Totila also plundered Sicily and attacked Greek coastlines.
Finally, Justinian dispatched a force of approximately 35,000 men (2,000 men were detached and
sent to invade southern Visigothic Hispania) under the command of Narses. The army reached
Ravenna in June 552 and defeated the Ostrogoths decisively within a month at the battle of Busta
Gallorum in the Apennines, where Totila was slain. After a second battle at Mons Lactarius in
October that year, the resistance of the Ostrogoths was finally broken. In 554, a large-
scale Frankish invasion was defeated at Casilinum, and Italy was secured for the Empire, though
it would take Narses several years to reduce the remaining Gothic strongholds. At the end of the
war, Italy was garrisoned with an army of 16,000 men. The recovery of Italy cost the empire
about 300,000 pounds of gold. Procopius estimated "the loss of the Goths at 15,000,000."

Other campaigns
In addition to the other conquests, the Empire established a presence in Visigothic Hispania,
when the usurper Athanagild requested assistance in his rebellion against King Agila I. In 552,
Justinian dispatched a force of 2,000 men; according to the historian Jordanes, this army was led
by the octogenarian Liberius. The Byzantines took Cartagena and other cities on the southeastern
coast and founded the new province of Spania before being checked by their former ally
Athanagild, who had by now become king. This campaign marked the apogee of Byzantine
expansion.
During Justinian's reign, the Balkans suffered from several incursions by the Turkic and Slavic
peoples who lived north of the Danube. Here, Justinian resorted mainly to a combination of
diplomacy and a system of defensive works. In 559 a particularly dangerous invasion
of Sklavinoi and Kutrigurs under their khan Zabergan threatened Constantinople, but they were
repulsed by the aged general Belisarius.

Results
Justinian's ambition to restore the Roman Empire
to its former glory was only partly realized. In the
West, the brilliant early military successes of the
530s were followed by years of stagnation. The
dragging war with the Goths was a disaster for
Italy, even though its long-lasting effects may
have been less severe than is sometimes thought.
The heavy taxes that the administration imposed
upon its population were deeply resented. The
final victory in Italy and the conquest of Africa
and the coast of southern Hispania significantly enlarged the area over which the Empire could
project its power and eliminated all naval threats to the empire. Despite losing much of Italy
soon after Justinian's death, the empire retained several important cities, including Rome, Naples,
and Ravenna, leaving the Lombards as a regional threat. The newly founded province of Spania
kept the Visigoths as a threat to Hispania alone and not to the western Mediterranean and Africa.
Events of the later years of the reign showed that Constantinople itself was not safe from
barbarian incursions from the north, and even the relatively benevolent historian Menander
Protector felt the need to attribute the Emperor's failure to protect the capital to the weakness of
his body in his old age. In his efforts to renew the Roman Empire, Justinian dangerously
stretched its resources while failing to take into account the changed realities of 6th-century
Europe.

Religious activities
Justinian saw the orthodoxy of his empire threatened
by diverging religious currents,
especially Monophysitism, which had many adherents
in the eastern provinces of Syria and Egypt.
Monophysite doctrine, which maintains that Jesus
Christ had one divine nature or a synthesis of a divine
and human nature, had been condemned as
a heresy by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and the
tolerant policies towards Monophysitism
of Zeno and Anastasius I had been a source of tension
in the relationship with the bishops of Rome. Justin
reversed this trend and confirmed the Chalcedonian
doctrine, openly condemning the Monophysites.
Justinian, who continued this policy, tried to impose
religious unity on his subjects by forcing them to
accept doctrinal compromises that might appeal to all
parties, a policy that proved unsuccessful as he satisfied none of them.
Near the end of his life, Justinian became ever more inclined towards the Monophysite doctrine,
especially in the form of Aphthartodocetism, but he died before being able to issue any
legislation. The empress Theodora sympathized with the Monophysites and is said to have been
a constant source of pro-Monophysite intrigues at the court in Constantinople in the earlier years.
In the course of his reign, Justinian, who had a genuine interest in matters of theology, authored a
small number of theological treatises.
Religious policy
As in his secular administration, despotism appeared also in the Emperor's ecclesiastical policy.
He regulated everything, both in religion and in law.
At the very beginning of his reign, he deemed it proper to promulgate by law the Church's belief
in the Trinity and the Incarnation, and to threaten all heretics with the appropriate
penalties, whereas he subsequently declared that he intended to deprive all disturbers of
orthodoxy of the opportunity for such offense by due process of law. He made the Nicaeno-
Constantinopolitan creed the sole symbol of the Church and accorded legal force to the canons of
the four ecumenical councils.  The bishops in attendance at the Second Council of
Constantinople in 553 recognized that nothing could be done in the Church contrary to the
emperor's will and command, while, on his side, the emperor, in the case of the Patriarch
Anthimus, reinforced the ban of the Church with temporal proscription. Justinian protected the
purity of the church by suppressing heretics. He neglected no opportunity to secure the rights of
the Church and clergy, and to protect and extend monasticism. He granted the monks the right to
inherit property from private citizens and the right to receive solemnia, or annual gifts, from the
Imperial treasury or from the taxes of certain provinces and he prohibited lay confiscation of
monastic estates.
Although the despotic character of his measures is contrary to modern sensibilities, he was
indeed a "nursing father" of the Church. Both the Codex and the Novellae contain many
enactments regarding donations, foundations, and the administration of ecclesiastical property;
election and rights of bishops, priests and abbots; monastic life, residential obligations of the
clergy, conduct of divine service, episcopal jurisdiction, etc. Justinian also rebuilt the Church
of Hagia Sophia (which cost 20,000 pounds of gold), the original site having been destroyed
during the Nika riots. The new Hagia Sophia, with its numerous chapels and shrines, gilded
octagonal dome, and mosaics, became the centre and most visible monument of Eastern
Orthodoxy in Constantinople

Religious relations with Rome

From the middle of the 5th century onward, increasingly arduous tasks confronted the emperors
of the East in ecclesiastical matters. Justinian entered the arena of ecclesiastical statecraft shortly
after his uncle's accession in 518, and put an end to the Acacian schism. Previous Emperors had
tried to alleviate theological conflicts by declarations that deemphasized the Council of
Chalcedon, which had condemned Monophysitism, which had strongholds in Egypt and Syria,
and by tolerating the appointment of Monophysites to church offices. The Popes reacted by
severing ties with the Patriarch of Constantinople who supported these policies. Emperors Justin
I (and later Justinian himself) rescinded these policies and reestablished the union between
Constantinople and Rome. After this, Justinian also felt entitled to settle disputes in papal
elections, as he did when he favoured Vigilius and had his rival Silverius deported.
This new-found unity between East and West did not, however, solve the ongoing disputes in the
east. Justinian's policies switched between attempts to force Monophysites to accept the
Chalcedonian creed by persecuting their bishops and monks – thereby embittering their
sympathizers in Egypt and other provinces – and attempts at a compromise that would win over
the Monophysites without surrendering the Chalcedonian faith. Such an approach was supported
by the Empress Theodora, who favoured the Monophysites unreservedly. In the condemnation of
the Three Chapters, three theologians that had opposed Monophysitism before and after the
Council of Chalcedon, Justinian tried to win over the opposition. At the Fifth Ecumenical
Council, most of the Eastern church yielded to the Emperor's demands, and Pope Vigilius, who
was forcibly brought to Constantinople and besieged at a chapel, finally also gave his assent.
However, the condemnation was received unfavourably in the west, where it led to new (albeit
temporal) schism, and failed to reach its goal in the east, as the Monophysites remained
unsatisfied – all the more bitter for him because during his last years he took an even greater
interest in theological matters

Authoritarian rule
Justinian's religious policy reflected the Imperial conviction that the unity of the Empire
presupposed unity of faith, and it appeared to him obvious that this faith could only be
the orthodox (Nicaean). Those of a different belief were subjected to persecution, which imperial
legislation had effected from the time of Constantius II and which would now vigorously
continue. The Codex contained two statutes that decreed the total destruction of paganism, even
in private life; these provisions were zealously enforced. Contemporary sources (John
Malalas, Theophanes, and John of Ephesus) tell of severe persecutions, even of men in high
position.
The original Academy of Plato had been destroyed by the Roman dictator Sulla in 86 BC.
Several centuries later, in 410 AD, a Neoplatonic Academy was established that had no
institutional continuity with Plato's Academy, and which served as a center
for Neoplatonism and mysticism. It persisted until 529 AD when it was finally closed by
Justinian I. Other schools in Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, which were the centers of
Justinian's empire, continued.
In Asia Minor alone, John of Ephesus was reported to have converted 70,000 pagans. Other
peoples also accepted Christianity: the Heruli, the Huns dwelling near the Don, the Abasgi, and
the Tzanni in Caucasia.
The worship of Amun at the oasis of Awjila in the Libyan desert was abolished, and so were the
remnants of the worship of Isis on the island of Philae, at the first cataract of the Nile.
The Presbyter Julian and the Bishop Longinus conducted a mission among the Nabataeans, and
Justinian attempted to strengthen Christianity in Yemen by dispatching a bishop from Egypt.
The civil rights of Jews were restricted and their religious privileges threatened. Justinian also
interfered in the internal affairs of the synagogue and encouraged the Jews to use the
Greek Septuagint in their synagogues in Constantinople.
The Emperor faced significant opposition from the Samaritans, who resisted conversion to
Christianity and were repeatedly in insurrection. He persecuted them with rigorous edicts, but
could not prevent reprisals towards Christians from taking place in Samaria toward the close of
his reign. The consistency of Justinian's policy meant that the Manicheans too suffered
persecution, experiencing both exile and threat of capital punishment. At Constantinople, on one
occasion, not a few Manicheans, after strict inquisition, were executed in the emperor's very
presence: some by burning, others by drowning.

Architecture, learning, art and literature

Justinian was a prolific builder; the historian Procopius bears witness to his activities in this area.
Under Justinian's patronage the San Vitale in Ravenna, which features two famous mosaics
representing Justinian and Theodora, was completed. Most notably, he had the Hagia Sophia,
originally a basilica-style church that had been burnt down during the Nika riots, splendidly
rebuilt according to a completely different ground plan, under the architectural supervision
of Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. According to Pseudo-Codinus, Justinian stated at
the completion of this edifice, "Solomon, I have outdone thee" (in reference to the first Jewish
temple). This new cathedral, with its magnificent dome filled with mosaics, remained the centre
of eastern Christianity for centuries.
Another prominent church in the capital, the Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been in a
very poor state near the end of the 5th century, was likewise rebuilt. Works of embellishment
were not confined to churches alone: excavations at the site of the Great Palace of
Constantinople have yielded several high-quality mosaics dating from Justinian's reign, and
a column topped by a bronze statue of Justinian on horseback and dressed in a military costume
was erected in the Augustaeum in Constantinople in 543. Rivalry with other, more established
patrons from the Constantinopolitan and exiled Roman aristocracy (like Anicia Juliana) might
have enforced Justinian's building activities in the capital as a means of strengthening his
dynasty's prestige.
Justinian also strengthened the borders of the Empire from Africa to the East through the
construction of fortifications and ensured Constantinople of its water supply through
construction of underground cisterns (see Basilica Cistern). To prevent floods from damaging the
strategically important border town Dara, an advanced arch dam was built. During his reign the
large Sangarius Bridge was built in Bithynia, securing a major military supply route to the east.
Furthermore, Justinian restored cities damaged by earthquake or war and built a new city near his
place of birth called Justiniana Prima, which was intended to replace Thessalonica as the
political and religious centre of Illyricum.
In Justinian's reign, and partly under his patronage, Byzantine culture produced noteworthy
historians, including Procopius and Agathias, and poets such as Paul the Silentiary and Romanus
the Melodist flourished. On the other hand, centres of learning such as the Neoplatonic Academy
in Athens and the famous Law School of Beirut lost their importance during his reign. Despite
Justinian's passion for the glorious Roman past, the practice of choosing consuls was allowed to
lapse after 541.

Economy and administration

As was the case under Justinian's predecessors, the Empire's
economic health rested primarily on agriculture. In addition,
long-distance trade flourished, reaching as far north
as Cornwall where tin was exchanged for Roman wheat.
Within the Empire, convoys sailing from Alexandria provided
Constantinople with wheat and grains. Justinian made the
traffic more efficient by building a large granary on the island
of Tenedos for storage and further transport to Constantinople.
Justinian also tried to find new routes for the eastern trade,
which was suffering badly from the wars with the Persians.
One important luxury product was silk, which was imported and then processed in the Empire. In
order to protect the manufacture of silk products, Justinian granted a monopoly to the imperial
factories in 541. In order to bypass the Persian landroute, Justinian established friendly relations
with the Abyssinians, whom he wanted to act as trade mediators by transporting Indian silk to
the Empire; the Abyssinians, however, were unable to compete with the Persian merchants in
India. Then, in the early 550s, two monks succeeded in smuggling eggs of silk
worms from Central Asia back to Constantinople, and silk became an indigenous product.
Gold and silver were mined in the Balkans, Anatolia, Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt and Nubia. At the
start of Justinian I's reign he had inherited a surplus 28,800,000 solidi (400,000 pounds of gold)
in the imperial treasury from Anastasius I and Justin I. Under Justinian's rule, measures were
taken to counter corruption in the provinces and to make tax collection more efficient. Greater
administrative power was given to both the leaders of the prefectures and of the provinces, while
power was taken away from the vicariates of the dioceses, of which a number were abolished.
The overall trend was towards a simplification of administrative infrastructure. According
to Brown (1971), the increased professionalization of tax collection did much to destroy the
traditional structures of provincial life, as it weakened the autonomy of the town councils in the
Greek towns. It has been estimated that before Justinian I's reconquests the state had an annual
revenue of 5,000,000 solidi in AD 530, but after his reconquests, the annual revenue was
increased to 6,000,000 solidi in AD 550.
Throughout Justinian's reign, the cities and villages of the East prospered, although Antioch was
struck by two earthquakes (526, 528) and sacked and evacuated by the Persians (540). Justinian
had the city rebuilt, but on a slightly smaller scale.
Despite all these measures, the Empire suffered
several major setbacks in the course of the 6th
century. The first one was the plague, which lasted
from 541 to 543 and, by decimating the Empire's
population, probably created a scarcity of labor and a
rising of wages. The lack of manpower also led to a
significant increase in the number of "barbarians" in
the Byzantine armies after the early 540s. The
protracted war in Italy and the wars with the Persians
themselves laid a heavy burden on the Empire's
resources, and Justinian was criticized for curtailing
the government-run post service, which he limited to
only one eastern route of military importance.
Natural disasters
During the 530s, it seemed to many that God had abandoned the Christian Roman Empire. There
were noxious fumes in the air and the Sun, while still providing daylight, refused to give much
heat. This caused famine unlike anything those of the time had seen before, affecting both
Europe and the Middle East.
The causes of these disasters aren't precisely known, but volcanoes at the Rabaul caldera, Lake
Ilopango, Krakatoa, or, according to a recent finding, in Iceland are suspected, as is an air burst
event from a comet fragment.
Seven years later in 542, a devastating outbreak of Bubonic Plague, known as the Plague of
Justinian and second only to Black Death of the 14th century, killed tens of millions. Justinian
and members of his court, physically unaffected by the previous 535–536 famine, were afflicted,
with Justinian himself contracting and surviving the pestilence.
In July 551, the eastern Mediterranean was rocked by the 551 Beirut earthquake, which triggered
a tsunami. The combined fatalities of both events likely exceeded 30,000, with tremors felt from
Antioch to Alexandria.

Cultural depictions
In the Paradiso section of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Justinian I is prominently
featured as a spirit residing on the sphere of Mercury, which holds the ambitious souls
of Heaven. His legacy is elaborated on, and he is portrayed as a defender of the Christian faith
and the restorer of Rome to the Empire. However, Justinian confesses that he was partially
motivated by fame rather than duty to God, which tainted the justice of his rule in spite of his
proud accomplishments. In his introduction, "Cesare fui e son Iustinïano" ("Caesar I was, and am
Justinian"), his mortal title is contrasted with his immortal soul, to emphasize that glory in life is
ephemeral, while contributing to God's glory is eternal, according to Dorothy L. Sayers. Dante
also uses Justinian to criticize the factious politics of his 14th Century Italy, in contrast to the
unified Italy of the Roman Empire.
Justinian is a major character in the 1938 novel Count Belisarius, by Robert Graves. He is
depicted as a jealous and conniving Emperor obsessed with creating and maintaining his own
historical legacy.
Justinian appears as a character in the 1939 time travel novel Lest Darkness Fall, by L. Sprague
de Camp. The Glittering Horn: Secret Memoirs of the Court of Justinian was a novel written
by Pierson Dixon in 1958 about the court of Justinian.
Justinian occasionally appears in the comic strip Prince Valiant, usually as a nemesis of the title
character.
Historical sources
Procopius provides the primary source for the history of Justinian's reign. The Syriac chronicle
of John of Ephesus, which survives partially, was used as a source for later chronicles,
contributing many additional details of value. Both historians became very bitter towards
Justinian and his empress, Theodora.  Other sources include the histories of Agathias, Menander
Protector, John Malalas, the Paschal Chronicle, the chronicles of Marcellinus Comes and Victor
of Tunnuna. Justinian is widely regarded as a saint by Orthodox Christians, and is also
commemorated by some Lutheran churches on 14 November.

Death of Justinian I
Long before Justinian’s time barbarian invasions had effectively destroyed the Roman
Empire in the West, but he tried his best to restore it. He was born in about 482 in the
Balkans, to a peasant family in what centuries later would be Serbia. He may have been the
last Roman emperor whose native language was Latin, though it was of a rustic, uncouth
sort. Highly intelligent, determined and strong-minded, he was hugely ambitious and,
fortunately for him, his mother was the younger sister of a leading military figure in
Constantinople called Justin, who became commander of the imperial guard. Even more
fortunately, Justin had no children.

Justinian went to Constantinople to join his uncle and was given an excellent education. It
did not improve his Latin and he always spoke Greek with the wrong kind of accent, but
Justin quickly came to value his nephew’s intelligence, efficiency and loyalty. In 518 Justin
used his position along with plenty of money to become emperor. Justinian was now his
ageing uncle’s most trusted aide. According to some writers he was the power behind the
throne. In 527, at any rate, Justin made him co-emperor with the title of Augustus and when
Justin died that year Justinian, now aged about 45, became sole emperor. By that time he
had married the love of his life, an alluring stage entertainer and courtesan who now became
the Empress Theodora and would be a major influence on him until she died, riddled with
disease, in 548. She and Justinian had no children and he did not marry again.

In Justinian’s early years as emperor the Byzantine army was busy fighting the Persians, but
by giving the Persian ruler a substantial bribe in gold Justinian was able to conclude a
‘treaty of eternal peace’ with him in 532. It did not last long, but it allowed him to turn his
attention and that of his most formidable general, Belisarius, to the West. They started with
the Vandal kingdom in North Africa. A fleet of warships and vessels carrying troops left
Constantinople in 533 and in a little under a year northern Africa was restored to the
Byzantine empire, along with Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands.
Italy had been long dominated by the Ostrogoths. Theodoric the Great, who had died
childless in 526, had been theoretically a Byzantine functionary, but in reality he was an
independent ruler. His death had set off fierce quarrels among the Ostrogoths and in 535
Justinian sent Belisarius to invade Sicily. He went on to take Naples and Rome and in 540
he entered Ravenna, the Ostrogoths’ capital. They were far from subdued, however, and it
was not until the 550s, after years of fighting, that the Byzantines achieved a degree of
control that would last until after Justinian’s death. Meanwhile there had been constant
fighting between the Byzantines and barbarian invaders in the Balkans.

Justinian did no fighting himself. From Constantinople he instituted a reform of the legal
system and presided over a highly influential codification of Roman law. Besides promoting
trade and industry, he carried out a massive building programme in the empire, extending to
churches and monasteries, orphanages, fortifications, bridges and aqueducts. He also
encouraged literature and the arts and did his best to stamp out paganism and steer
Christianity through a chaotic profusion of heresies.

The fact that Justinian was childless and self-protectively took care not to name a successor
became important in his last years, when his nephew Justin came to the fore as an adviser.
Justin was married to Theodora’s niece Sophia and he was on close terms with Tiberius, the
commander of the imperial guard, which he would use to his advantage.

Justinian was about 83 when he died at night in the imperial palace. The only other person
in the room was an elderly aristocrat called Callinichus, who went to tell Justin and Sophia.
There were several senators with them. Callinichus told them, truthfully or maybe not, that
before Justinian expired he had named Justin as his successor. Justin and Sophia now led a
party to the imperial palace, where they were greeted in friendly fashion by Tiberius and the
imperial guard as the birds were singing in the dawn and Justin was crowned by the
patriarch of Constantinople, another of his close contacts, to the acclamations of all present.
The succession of events has a distinctly pre-arranged air about it.

Justinian’s body was carried in procession in his sarcophagus past watching crowds to be
buried in his mausoleum in the church of the Holy Apostles. It was discovered there, when
the fourth crusade entered Constantinople in 1204, and the crusaders looted it
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