Justinian I
This article is about the Roman emperor. For other uses, see Justinian (disambiguation).Justinian I (
Latin:
Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus,
Greek:
Μέγας Ιουστινιανός,
May 11,
483–
November 13/
14,
565) was
Eastern Roman Emperor from
August 1,
527 until his death. One of the most important rulers of
Late Antiquity, he is best remembered for his reform of the
legal code through the commission of
Tribonian, the military expansion of imperial territory that was achieved during his reign, primarily through the campaigns of
Belisarius, and his marriage and partnership with his wife
Empress Theodora. He is also known as "The last Roman Emperor" and was the emperor who reconquered the city of
Rome from the
Ostrogoths. He is considered a
saint in the Orthodox Church, commemorated on
November 14.
Justinian was born in a small village called
Tauresium in
Illyricum, near Scupi (present day
Skopje), probably on
May 11, 483 to Vigilantia, the sister of the highly esteemed General
Justin, who rose from the ranks of the
army to become emperor. His uncle adopted him and ensured the boy's education. Justinian was superbly well educated in
jurisprudence,
theology and Roman history. His military career featured rapid advancement, and a great future opened up for him when, in
518, Justin became emperor. Justinian was appointed
consul in
521, and later as commander of the army of the east. He was functioning as virtual regent long before Justin made him associate emperor on
April 1,
527.
Four months later, Justinian became the sole sovereign, upon
Justin I's death, at the mature age of 44. His administration had world-wide impact, constituting a distinct epoch in the history of the
Byzantine Empire and the
Orthodox Church. He was a man of unusual capacity for work (sometimes called the "Emperor Who Never Sleeps"), and possessed a temperate, affable, and lively character; but was also unscrupulous and crafty when it served him. He was the last emperor to attempt to restore the
Roman Empire to the territories it enjoyed under
Theodosius I.
Justinian viewed himself as the new
Constantine. He believed in a Mediterranean-wide Christian order politically, religiously and economically, united and ruled from Constantinople under a single Christian emperor. To this end he directed his great wars and his colossal activity in reconquering the western provinces from the Germanic tribes.
He surrounded himself with men and women of extraordinary talent, "new men" culled not from the aristocratic ranks, but those based on merit. In
523 he married
Theodora, who was by profession a
courtesan about 20 years his junior. He is said to have met her at a show where she and a trained goose performed
Leda and the Swan, a play that managed to mock
Greek mythology and Christian morality at the same time. Justinian would have, in earlier times, been unable to marry her because of 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 and marry outside of the
aristocratic class. The marriage was a source of scandal, but Theodora would prove to be very intelligent, "street smart", a good judge of character and Justinian's greatest supporter.
Other talented individuals included
Tribonian, his legal adviser; his finance ministers
John the Cappadocian and Peter Barsymes, who managed to collect taxes more efficiently than any before thus funding Justinian's wars; and finally, his talented generals
Belisarius and
Narses.
Procopius provides our primary source for the history of Justinian's reign, although the chronicle of
John of Ephesus (which survives as the basis for many later chronicles) contributes many valuable details. Both historians became very bitter towards Justinian and Theodora. Aside from his main history, Procopius also wrote the
Secret History, which reports on various scandals at Justinian's court.
Theodora died in
548; Justinian outlived her for almost twenty years, and died on
November 13 or
14, 565.
Justinian achieved lasting influence for his judicial reforms, notably the summation of all
Roman law, something that had never been done before in the mass of unorganized Roman laws with no coherence. Justinian commissioned
quaestor Tribonian to the task, and he issued the first draft of the
Corpus Juris Civilis on
April 7,
529 in three parts:
Digesta (or
Pandectae),
Institutiones, and the
Codex. The
Corpus was in
Latin, the traditional language of the
Roman Empire, but which most citizens of the Eastern Empire poorly understood. The
Authenticum or
Novellae Constitutiones, a collection of new laws issued during Justinian's reign, later supplemented the
Corpus. The
Novellae appeared in
Greek, the common language of the Empire.
The
Corpus forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including ecclesiastical
Canon Law:
ecclesia vivit lege romana) and, for historians, provides a valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the remains of the 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 law code ensured the survival of Roman Law, it would pass to the
West 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.
 |
Byzantine Empire in 550. The reconquests of Justinian are in green. |
Like his Roman predecessors and Byzantine successors, Justinian initially engaged in war against
Sassanid Persia in the
Roman-Persian Wars. However, his primary military ambitions focused on the western
Mediterranean, where his general
Belisarius spearheaded the reconquest of parts of the territory of the old Roman Empire. Belisarius gained this task as a reward after successfully putting down the
Nika riots in
Constantinople in January of
532, in which
chariot racing fanatics had forced Justinian to dismiss the unpopular
Tribonian, and had then attempted to overthrow Justinian himself. Justinian considered fleeing the capital, but remained in the city on the advice of Theodora, and Belisarius arrived to crush the rebellion a few days later.
In
533 Belisarius reconquered
North Africa from the
Vandals after the
Battle of Ad Decimum, near
Carthage. Belisarius then advanced into
Sicily and
Italy, recapturing
Rome (
536) and the
Ostrogoth capital at
Ravenna (
540) in what has become known as the
Gothic War.
Belisarius disagreed with Justinian over what to do with the reconquered land; Justinian wanted to let the Ostrogoths rule a tributary state, but Belisarius preferred to make Italy an imperial Roman territory. Unhappy with Belisarius, Justinian dispatched him to the East to defend against renewed attacks by the Persians. After establishing a new peace in the East in
545, Belisarius returned to Italy, where the Ostrogoths had since recaptured Rome. The
eunuch general
Narses took over Belisarius' command, and the historian Procopius, a former officer in Belisarius' army, accused Narses of treason. Belisarius briefly suffered imprisonment, but Justinian later pardoned him and he defeated the
Bulgars when they appeared on the
Danube for the first time in
559. In
551, Byzantine forces conquered part of southern
Spain from the
Visigoths. Narses failed to defend Italy against either the Ostrogoths or the
Lombards. Nevertheless, under Justinian, the empire's territory expanded greatly, if only for a short time.
Justinian's religious policy reflected the imperial conviction that the unity of the Empire unconditionally presupposed unity of faith; and with him it seemed a matter of course that this faith could be only the
Orthodox. Those of a different belief had to recognize that the process which imperial legislation had begun from
Constantius II down would now vigorously continue. The
Codex contained two
statutes (
Cod., I., xi. 9 and 10) which decreed the total destruction of
Hellenism, even in the civil life; these provisions were zealously enforced. Contemporary sources (
John Malalas,
Theophanes,
John of Ephesus) tell of severe persecutions, even of men in high position.
Perhaps the most noteworthy event occurred in
529 when the teaching
Academy of
Plato of
Athens was placed under state control by order of Justinian, effectively strangling this training-school for Hellenism.
Paganism was actively suppressed. In
Asia Minor alone, John of Ephesus claimed to have
converted 70,000 pagans (cf.
F. Nau, in
Revue de l'orient chretien, ii., 1897, 482). Other peoples also accepted Christianity: the
Heruli (
Procopius,
Bellum Gothicum, ii. 14;
Evagrius,
Hist. eccl., iv. 20), the
Huns dwelling near the
Don (Procopius, iv. 4; Evagrius, iv. 23), the
Abasgi (Procopius, iv. 3; Evagrius, iv. 22) and the
Tzani (Procopius,
Bellum Persicum, i. 15) in
Caucasia.
 |
Justinian was one of the first emperors to be depicted wielding the cross on the obverse of a coin. |
The worship of
Amun at
Augila in the
Libyan desert (Procopius,
De Aedificiis, vi. 2) was abolished; and so were the remnants of the worship of
Isis on the island of
Philae, at the first
cataract of the
Nile (Procopius,
Bellum Persicum, i. 19). The
Presbyter Julian (
DCB, iii. 482) and the Bishop
Longinus (John of Ephesus,
Hist. eccl., iv. 5 sqq.) conducted a mission among the
Nabataeans, and Justinian attempted to strengthen
Christianity in
Yemen by despatching an ecclesiastic of
Egypt (Procopius,
Bellum Persicum, i. 20; Malalas, ed.
Niebuhr,
Bonn, 1831, pp. 433 sqq.).
The
Jews, too, had to suffer; for not only did the authorities restrict their civil rights (
Cod., I., v. 12), and threaten their religious privileges (Procopius,
Historia Arcana, 28); but the emperor interfered in the internal affairs of the
synagogue (
Nov., cxlvi., Feb. 8, 553), and forbade, for instance, the use of the
Hebrew language in divine worship. The recalcitrant were menaced with corporal penalties, exile, and loss of property. The Jews at
Borium, not far from
Syrtis Major, who resisted Belisarius in his
Vandal campaign, had to embrace Christianity; their synagogue became a church. (Procopius,
De Aedificiis, vi. 2).
The emperor had much trouble with the
Samaritans, finding them refractory to Christianity and repeatedly in insurrection. He opposed them with rigorous edicts, but yet could not prevent hostilities 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 severe persecution, experiencing both exile and threat of capital punishment (
Cod., I., v. 12). 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 (F. Nau, in
Revue de l'orient, ii., 1897, p. 481).
 |
Justinian I, depicted on a contemporary coin |
As with 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 (
Cod., I., i. 5); whereas he subsequently declared that he designed to deprive all disturbers of orthodoxy of the opportunity for such offense by
due process of law (
MPG, lxxxvi. 1, p. 993). He made the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed the sole symbol of the Church (
Cod., I., i. 7), and accorded legal force to the
canons of the four
ecumenical councils (
Novellae, cxxxi.). 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 (Mansi,
Concilia, viii. 970B); while, on his side, the emperor, in the case of the
Patriarch Anthimus, reinforced the ban of the Church with temporal proscription (
Novellae, xlii). Bishops without number had to feel the tyrant's wrath. On the other hand, it is true, he neglected no opportunity for securing the rights of the Church and
clergy, for protecting and extending
monasticism.
Indeed, were not the despotic character of his measures so glaring, one might be tempted to call him a 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, 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.
From the middle of the
fifth century onward increasingly arduous tasks confronted the emperors of the East in ecclesiastical matters. For one thing, the radicals on all sides felt themselves constantly repelled by the creed adopted by the
Council of Chalcedon to bridge the gap between the
dogmatic parties. The letter of
Pope Leo I to
Flavian of Constantinople was widely considered in the East as the work of
Satan(according to Christian beliefs); so that nobody cared to hear of the Church of Rome. The emperors, however, had a policy of preserving the unity between Constantinople and
Rome; and this remained possible only if they did not swerve from the line defined at
Chalcedon. In addition, the factions in the East which had become stirred up and disaffected because of Chalcedon needed restraining and pacifying. This problem proved the more difficult because, in the East, the dissenting groups exceeded supporters of Chalcedon both in numerical strength and in intellectual ability. Tension from the incompatibility of the two aims grew: whoever chose Rome and the West must renounce the East, and vice versa.
Justinian entered the arena of ecclesiastical statecraft shortly after his uncle's accession in
518, and put an end to the
Monophysite schism that had prevailed between Rome and Byzantium since
483. The recognition of the
Roman see as the highest ecclesiastical authority (cf.
Novellae, cxxxi.) remained the cornerstone of his Western policy. Offensive as it was to many in the East, nonetheless Justinian felt himself entirely free to take a Despotic stance toward the
popes such as
Silverius and
Vigilius. While no compromise could ever be accepted by the dogmatic wing of the church, his sincere efforts at reconciliation gained him the approval of the major body of the church. A signal proof was his attitude in the
Theopaschite controversy. At the outset he was of the opinion that the question turned on a quibble of words. By degrees, however, Justinian came to understand that the formula at issue not only appeared orthodox, but might also serve as a conciliatory measure toward the Monophysites, and he made a vain attempt to do this in the religious conference with the followers of
Severus of Antioch, in
533.
Again, Justinian moved toward compromise in the religious edict of
March 15,
533 (
Cod., L, i. 6), and congratulated himself that
Pope John II admitted the orthodoxy of the imperial confession (
Cod., I., i. 8). The serious blunder that he had made at the beginning by abetting a severe persecution of the Monophysite bishops and monks and thereby embittering the population of vast regions and provinces, he remedied eventually. His constant aim now remained to win over the Monophysites, yet not to surrender the Chalcedonian faith. For many at court, he did not go far enough: Theodora especially would have rejoiced to see the Monophysites favored unreservedly. Justinian, however, felt restrained by the complications that would have ensued with the West. But in the condemnation of the
Three Chapters Justinian tried to satisfy both the East and the West, but succeeded in satisfying neither. Although the pope assented to the condemnation, the West believed that the emperor had acted contrary to the decrees of Chalcedon. Though many delegates emerged in the East subservient to Justinian, many, especially the Monophysites, remained unsatisfied; all the more bitter for him because during his last years he took an even greater interest in theological matters.
*
Plague of Justinian*
Cleon II, a science-fiction version of Justinian from
Isaac Asimov's
Foundation series* History of the
Roman Empire*
The Sarantine Mosaic, a
historical high fantasy version of Justinian's reign by
Guy Gavriel Kay*
Bury, J. B. (1958).
History of the later Roman Empire, Vol. 2. New York (reprint).
* Cameron, Averil et al.(eds.).
The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 14, Second Edition, Cambridge 2000.
* Maas, Michael (ed.).
The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, Cambridge 2005.
* Rubin, Berthold (1960).
Das Zeitalter Iustinians. Berlin. — German standard work; partially obsolescent, but still useful.
This article incorporates text from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion.
