Who is justinian

By the time the war was over, Italy, once one of the most prosperous lands in the ancient world, was wrecked. The city of Rome changed hands multiple times, and most of the cities of Italy were abandoned or fell into a long period of decline. The impoverishment of Italy and the weakened Byzantine military made it impossible for the empire to hold the peninsula. Soon a new Germanic tribe, the Lombards, came in and conquered most of Italy, though Rome, Naples, and Ravenna remained isolated pockets of Byzantine control.

At the same time, another new barbarian enemy, the Slavs, appeared from north of the Danube. They devastated Greece and the Balkans, and in the absence of strong Byzantine military might, they settled in small communities in these lands. Skip to main content. Search for:. Justinian was responsible for the construction of the Hagia Sophia, the center of Christianity in Constantinople. Even today, the Hagia Sophia is recognized as one of the greatest buildings in the world.

Justinian also systematized the Roman legal code that served as the basis for law in the Byzantine Empire. After a plague reduced the Byzantine population, they lost Rome and Italy to the Ostrogoths, and several important cities to the Persians. Terms Hagia Sophia A church built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian; the center of Christianity in Constantinople and one of the greatest buildings in the world to this day.

Nika riots When angry racing fans, already angry over rising taxes, became enraged at Emperor Justinian for arresting two popular charioteers, and tried to depose him in CE. Licenses and Attributions. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, See on MetPublications. Visiting The Met? Marble Portrait Bust of a Woman with a Scroll. Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis.

Jeweled Bracelet. Flask with the Adoration of the Magi. Panel of a Diptych Announcing the Consulship of Justinian. Gold Solidus of Justinian I — Pectoral with Coins and Pseudo-Medallion. The Antioch "Chalice". Citation Brooks, Sarah. Justinian and Theodora.

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Cite this Article Format. Snell, Melissa. Biography of Justinian I, Emperor of Byzantine. The Code of Justinian Codex Justinianus. Introduction to Byzantine Architecture. The Byzantine Roman Emperor Justinian. Biography of Empress Theodora, Byzantine Feminist. Constantinople: Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Timelines and Chronologies of Roman Emperors. Most Important Figures in Ancient History. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for ThoughtCo.

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Following thorough schooling, which left him with a particular taste for theology, Justinian was further aided by his uncle to rapid advancement in the army. When the childless Anastasius I died in , Justin was unexpectedly made emperor, at age 66, as Justin I.

Outmaneuvering rivals, Justinian rose to ever higher positions, becoming Caesar in and finally being made coemperor and successor in early It was also at this time that Justinian arranged to marry Theodora, thereby acquiring an important helpmate and also giving his age one of its most striking personalities.

When Justin I died on Aug. During the first 4 years the mounting burden of governmental expenses made the regime oppressive and unpopular, while Justinian's autocracy provoked the old senatorial aristocracy. The so-called Nika Riots of Jan.

The Emperor rallied his troops under some loyal generals, like Belisarius, and had them massacre the rioters. The mob broken, Justinian punished the conspirators, thus crushing both popular and aristocratic opposition for the time being. The bulk of Justinian's era was marked by war, partly sought, partly unsought. The unwanted war, which he had inherited, was with Sassanid Persia, the empire's one fully civilized neighbor.

The accession of a new Persian king, Chosroes Khosrow I, in made peace possible, and while the "Perpetual Peace" negotiated in cost Justinian a veiled obligation to pay tribute, it freed him for his projects of territorial reconquest in the West. Jealous of Justinian's subsequent successes, however, Chosroes broke the peace in by invading Syria-Palestine and devastating Antioch. Still committed in the West, Justinian was plunged into new war with Persia for almost all of his remaining reign.

Only in was the Fifty-year Peace agreed upon, requiring even heavier tribute payments to Persia. By contrast, Justinian's wars in the West were part of his grand design.

Justinian never considered himself merely an Eastern emperor, and his empire had never officially accepted the loss of its territory, which always remained legally Roman and subject to eventual recovery. Thus, the Germanic successor states in the West were regarded as temporary interlopers, and their rulers as Arian Christians, therefore heretics.

As Roman emperor, Justinian was obligated to liberate these lands and restore them to imperial rule. Because the Franks were so distant and were not Arian heretics, Justinian made no hostile plans against them.