Interestingly enough, the greatest Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine, was probably the son of some Slavonic barbarians. Born on May 11, 483, originally named Upraude he later changed it to a Roman name. In honor of his Uncle Justin I, who had adopted him and was responsible for most of his advancement in life, he changed it to Justinian. When his Uncle ascended to the throne in 518 he become a person of importance, and influence guiding especially in church matters. Since his Uncle was childless he was regarded as the destined heir. Justin I died in 527 leaving the throne to Justinian who married a few years later to Theodora who as Empress regent was always involved in his actions and heavily influenced him until her death in 547.

Justinian’s reign was a turning point, it was the last days of glory for the Roman survivors. During his reign Byzantine regained about half of the old Roman Empire. Paganism lost its will to survive and Christianity become a stronger force and was no longer a hunted or hated thing. At his time classical culture was still declining since the fall of Rome, luckily he managed to hold it up for a little bit longer. In that time the official language was changed from Latin to Greek, because many of the Byzantines considered Latin barbaric and uncivilized. Constantinople, which had been ravaged by mobs angry about heavy taxes was rebuilt and strengthened. On the down side, because of Justinian many plans and ambitions his people were heavily taxed. This caused a lot a peasant revolts.

Another major problem that Justinian fixed had to do with the laws. Byzantium law was in huge disarray, they were unorganized, scattered, some of them contradicted some of the others, and basically it was a mess. Justinian solved this by codifying the laws, organizing them and getting rid of any that contradicted. He also spilt the law into four parts. The first part were the institutes which served as a textbook for students and teachers of the law. Second the Digest was a casebook covering lots of trails and decisions. Thirdly the Codex was a collection of statues and principles. Lastly the Novels contained any new proposed law. This legal code was called The Justinian Code and become the foundation of law in most western European countries. Thus he achieved what many earlier Emperors had tried to accomplish unsuccessfully.

When he ascended onto the throne in 527 Rome was at less then half of its former strength. It consisted of Greece, Anatolia (present day turkey), the areas of present day Lebanon and Israel, the Sini desert, the east half of northern Africa including the Nile area. After Justinian had fixed up his internal troubles he moved to the external, with a brilliant General, Belisarius, he managed reunite a portion of the old empire. Belisarius first moved on the Vandal kingdoms of northern Africa with around 18,000 men and retook the northern coast including Carthage. They constricted about 2000 of the Vandals into the Imperial army and used them to fight the Berbers, also called Moors, who were causing trouble in the south. Around this time Belisarius was sent to Italy to start a campaign against the Ostrogoths and was replaced in Africa by a general named Solomon who was a eunuch due to an accident he once had. But in 545 Solomon’s army revolted and he had to flee to Sicily to get help from Belisarius, who made a quick trip back settled things there then rushed back to Sicily. Justinian sent Solomon back to Carthage with reinforcements two years later. Solomon then started another small war against the Berbers and was able to advance to the Aures mountain range. After another rebellion rise was stifled in 543, Justinian appointed a new commander who was an inefficient leader and was soon assassinated. The next year John Troglita was appointed and was able to win some big victories against the Berbers in 548. After that there was finally peace in Africa till the Arab conquests.

Meanwhile in the north the Ostrogoths Campaign was turning Italy into ruins. Belisarius was instructed by Justinian to take a force about half of what he had against the Vandals, because they figured the Goths were easy targets. Theodoric a great Gothic King had died before Justinian rose to the throne, and the successors were not highly respected by their people. The Romans finally attacked in 535 one force attacked Dalmatia, and the other, commanded by Belisarius landed in Sicily.

Belisarius didn’t come across any real resistance until Palermo, but they were swept aside and he marched onto Syracuse and took command of the city. Justinian had also bought off some of the barbarian tribes north of Italy and they helped the Romans in the assault. In 540 the Persians started making trouble so Justinian had to withdraw Belisarius. The Romans were never able to regain any more of their old empire after that.

Unfortunately the expansion made holding his original empire in the east harder because the Persians and Slavic raiders started making trouble on the border. Trying to maintain his hold on both sides of his empire called for heavy taxes, for paying the troops, building defenses, and paying barbarians to help fight. Finally the stress of ruining the empire was too much for him and ended in his death at 565 A.D.

Now that I’ve talked about Justinian actions and influences, I’ll tell you a bit about his character. For one he was ambitious, he wanted reunite and rule the Old Empire. A somber, autocratic, and greedy man he cared more about a powerful empire then his people and taxed them hard to get his goals. He wasn’t a horrible person through he may or may not have been Christian but either way he allowed Christianity to flourish, which may be why God allowed him some success in his empire building. He ordered the construction of the Hagia Sophia, a huge new church and a wonder of the Christian world. Therefore I say he was definitely a great man, not perfect, but strong willed and determined. His efforts preserved lots of classical arts and ideas, and influenced many of the neighboring barbarian tribes into more civilized natures.

Sources:
World Civilizations, Peter N. Stearns, Michael Adas, Stuart B. Schwartz, Marc Jason, Gilbert, Copyright 2001 by Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.

http://www.roman-emperors.org/justinia.htm, James Allan Evans, University of British Columbia, last Updated: 25 July 1998.
Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 13 Pg. 209-213, William Benton Publisher 1963.