Justinian I
Justinian I, considered one of the best late Roman/ Byzantine emperors. He was one of the few emperors to have had such success in his life highlighted in this article.
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Mosaic of Justinian, 546 A.D at San Vitale, Ravenna. "Unknown"
Early Life
Born in 482 C.E to the name Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus, also known as Justinian I, in the Byzantine empire in a village called Tauvesium, which is located in Illyria (modern day Greece). He was born to peasants in Illyria before he moved to Constantinople. Under the care of his mothers brother Justin, Justinian was able to receive superior education. At that his uncle, Justin, was a highly positioned military leader, and he liked Justinian the most out of all of his
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other nephews. The Road to Becoming Justinian The Great Since Justinian was his uncles favorite nephew, he was able to become a very well known man both socially and inside the government giving him the opportunity to show his strength and courage while in control of certain areas.
Justin had adopted Justinian officially, in the process Justin had changed his son in law's name from Petrus to "Justinianus" in his own honor. In 518 Justin had become the emperor, and three years later Justinian was given the position of consul by his uncle. Justinian had a lot to repay his uncle due to what he had done for him, but Justin was satisfied with what benefits Justinian had brought to his empire. Justin gained his position of emperor through his own work and effort and governed using his skills. At the same time Justin always liked having Justinian's advise and support on his side, especially as his rule was close to it's ending. April of 527 C.E was the date of which Justinian was crowned co-emperor. And Justinian's wife Theodora was crowned Augusta. Justin and his nephew would share this title for a time period of only four months before Justin passed away, in August of …show more content…
that same year. Military Success Conquering New Lands Justinian was very well known for his success in invading many lands and re-conquering west Rome. Justinian had went to war with the Vandals in Africa, the Goths, Persia and many more, making him a successful leader both in attacking other empires and defending his own. He had put in a huge amount of money into war, and to increases his efficiency he had to raise the taxes, making his people furious causing him to become less popular. After that the Nika Riots had rebelled and it was Justinian's turn to start protecting his throne from being taken away by the rebels. Nika Riots During the year of 532 C.E Justinian had encountered a big turning in his reign. In 6th century Constantinople the people of Justinian's empire were divided into different factions by color depending on what team they supported in chariot races at the Hippodrome. This separation had caused many issues far deeper than sport competition, making fighting against the different factions very common. In early 532, a huge amount of street violence had evolved which went over what was acceptable, forcing the government to take action to protect the people and empire. After that disaster had burst out and the riots became uncontrollable. Justinian attempted to keep the chariot races going but that would just create more riots. After this disaster had occurred Justinian had appeared in the Hippodrome on a Sunday morning and claimed that if the riots were to stop the rebellion then no actions will be taken against them, but instead they did not listened and the crowed turned hostile forcing Justinian to retreat. With the help of his military commander Belisarius and another military general, they conquered the Hippodrome showing no mercy and ending the rebellion with a bloodbath, it is told that over 30,000 were killed. After this rebellion the city of Constantinople was destroyed and Justinian's efforts to rebuild it had started. Aya Sophia Hagia-Sophia-2008.jpg Hagia/Aya Sophia, 2014. "Joseph Nicolas" Also known as Hagia Sophia, after the Nika Riots being completely massacred and the Hippodrome being destroyed, Justinian decided that he needed to show his people that he was in control of the empire, but at the same also to make it look beautiful. He had decided to build a cathedral in the Hippodrome's place. The church was to be designed by two math professors, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, Byzantine historians did not mention architects a lot in their books/encyclopedias but Anthemius and Isidorus were among the few architects that were mentioned in Byzantine history. Both of them had training in math, physics and engineering, these skills were vitally needed to complete this huge project. A giant dome resting on pendentives supported by piers combined with a rectangular basilica. These architectural features were close to impossible to create and implement on such a huge scale. The interior of the church was made up of marbles that were gathered from around the empire, and these marbles were used to panel both walls and floors, and also to create beautiful columns and monograms of Justinian and Theodora, his wife. Additionally Justinian had built a huge amount of churches all around his empire, reaching even all the way to Mount Sinai in Egypt. Death After 40 years of being emperor, Justinian died in 565 C.E. Justinian's empire had been declining for about 20 years and it was all falling apart, people did not like him as much as they did at the start of his rule. Justinian did not have any children so his nephew Justin II was the one to take the throne after his death. This was the opportunity for the lost empires that Justinian's army had conquered to revolt back against the Byzantine empire and take back there land, so basically all of Justinian's hard wok was gone. See Also Plague During his rule, the worst plague that humans have ever seen had evolved killing millions of people.
The plague had reached Constantinople in 542 C.E after a year of it starting to spread in the small cities around Constantinople. This was one of the biggest effects on Justinian's empire, and the main reason for the decline of his empire. The plague had originated in China and Northeast India, and then it was spread to Africa through trade routes over sea. This plague had effected Justinian's empire the most in Egypt, and then from there it had spread north to Alexandria and also East to Palestine.
Economy
Justinian's economy was believed to be running really well, right up to the point were he had started raising taxes to help fund the war and also the money that was being used on building the Hippodrome. That is when the people had revolted and about 30,000 people were killed, lowering his population by a small amount. He then was on the quest to re-building his empire, and also improving the economy. But then the plague had started to spread, causing the empire to start to fall apart again and causing his economy to drop another time. The unusual bellow average temperature in one of the summers, was another reason why his economy had been dropping. These events caused a huge decrease in the crop production of the empire and also the all-time production of goods that the empire used to trade with other empires. All of this was leading to a huge decline in
the empires golden age and eventually leading to Justinian's death.
Did Justinian impact life as we know it because he is such a great ruler, or is he just a follower who keeps trying to hold on to the loose threads of a fallen empire? Some might say that without Justinian, humanity is a step further back. Others may argue evermore that Justinian is a two-faced liar who you cannot trust (Doc. 2). Contrary to many beliefs, Justinian creates a new Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome that is influential to many different cultures, more advanced and educated than Rome, and more economically thriving than the Roman Empire.
Sweeping through Western Europe during the fourteenth century, the Bubonic Plague wiped out nearly one third of the population and did not regard: status, age or even gender. All of this occurred as a result of a single fleabite. Bubonic Plague also known as Black Death started in Asia and traveled to Europe by ships. The Plague was thought to be spread by the dominating empire during this time, the Mongolian Empire, along the Silk Road. The Bubonic Plague was an infectious disease spread by fleas living on rats, which can be easily, be attached to traveler to be later spread to a city or region. Many factors like depopulation, decreasing trade, and huge shifts in migrations occurred during the Bubonic Plague. During Bubonic Plague there were also many different beliefs and concerns, which include fear, exploitation, religious and supernatural superstition, and a change of response from the fifteenth to eighteen century.
The Black Death originated in Asia and spread to Europe, possibly going through Persia to reach Asia Minor, and making its way across the Mediterranean. The Byzantine Empire, the Mongol Empire, and Turkestan were also infected. The Plague swept through parts of Arabia, Armenia, North Africa, Bavaria, England, France, Italy, and Poland. However, the Saharan Desert was spared (Document 1).
Emperor Justinian of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, was one of Rome’s greatest leaders. By building numerous churches, schools, and hospitals throughout the empire, Justinian not only managed to revive Roman society, but he also preserved Roman culture for over a thousand years. Justinian’s brilliant leadership led the Roman Empire to conquer lands in Europe and Africa and expand to its greatest size. Additionally, he unified and strengthened the empire by moving the capital to Constantinople and establishing a single faith. After his death, Justinian left a legacy that allowed Rome to continue thriving. Under Justinian’s rule, Rome flourished into a culturally rich civilization.
Because she was such an influential person in his life, people believed that she had caused his death by poisoning him when he had had second thoughts about naming Nero as his successor. Emperor Claudius was both a successful and significant ruler of the Roman Empire. His control of the Senate and new bureaucratic reforms led him to improve the efficiency of the government. His most dramatic reform was the expansion of the empire and the extension of who could be granted Roman citizenship. These new reforms gained him a lot of support.
"In less than four years the disease carved a path of death through Asia, Italy, France, North Africa, Spain and Normandy, made its way over the Alps into Switzerland, and continued eastward into Hungary" (Microsoft Bookshelf, page 1). After a brief respite, the plague resumed, crossing the channel into England, Scotland, and Ireland, and eventually made its way into the northern countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and even as far north as Greenland. In other words, the plague touched almost the entire known world.
(SIP-A) The plague had many ways in spreading its disease making more and more people get sick very rapidly (STEWE-1) .The plague killed roughly half of the population of Europe, In crowded areas people could receive the Plague from fleas that had bitten wild black rats. Once transferred from flea to human it became fatal in days. (S3 27). (STEWE-2) In 1347 many sailors that were dying from the plague were on Italian merchant ships from the Black Sea, which is on the trade route between Europe and China. Within days the sailors on the ship had spread the plague from the port cities to the surrounding countryside, within a year the disease spread as far as England. (S14). (SIP-B) Because of the rapidly spreading disease the mortality rate and decrease of population was very high and greatly affected those who survived. (STEWE-1) Over half of the population had died and extremely quickly, there were so many bodies that there was no more room to bury them, the brutal depopulation is almost unimaginable for those who lived through such a painful time. (S1
The Asian island Cyprus broke out in an Earthquake leaving it a desolate. The earthquake released a poisonous odor which over powered the people of Cyprus practically exterminating the population. This odor is believed to be the beginnings of the Black Plague (Hecker, pg 13). Due to the fact that China was one of the busiest trading centers in the world it was only a matter of time before the bacteria found its way to Europe. In October 1347, Italian sea merchants were traveling from Asia back to Italy. Arriving in Sicily the crew found itself suffering from an indescribable disease.
Did you know that Justinian(a Byzantine Emperor) published a code that was then used for modern law code and he published it 1500 years ago? Justinian’s Code was published in 529 C.E. Justinian published it because he wanted the Emperor to have more power and to have Christianity as the main religion. It was also based on the Twelve Tables but he modernized it and add in a few of his own laws.
Justinian was born on May 11, 483 AD in northern Illyricum (Hillard 1). His parents, who were farmers, gave him the name Flavius Peterus Sabbatus, but he changed his name when he was older to be more similar to his uncle, Justin, who adopted Justinian as his own son (Trafton 1). Justin took on the responsibility of Justinian’s education and took him to study in Constantinople as a teenager. Justinian began to work with his uncle, who was the Count of the Excubitors and a well-known man in politics (Treadgold 58). The Excubitors were the emperor’s guards and Justin’s job as the count included leading those soldiers. After Anastasius, the emperor at the time, died without announcing a successor, Justin was chosen by Anastasius’ courtiers to be the next ruler. Justin was close to 70 years old and uneducated, so he enlisted his nephew, who was then 36 years old, to assist him in his reign (Treadgold 58). When his uncle became emperor in 518 AD, Justinian became one of Justin’s advisors. As Justin grew older, he began to give Justinian’s opinions more weight in his own decisions.
Justinian was born a barbarian, probably born of Slavic parents in Illyia. We know nothing of his early years except that his uncle adopted him. His uncle was Justin I, the emperor of Constantinople. Then in 527 A.D., Justin made Justinian a co-ruler. Four months later, when Justin died, Justinian became the sole emperor.
The Antonine Plague has been around for centuries, though it is known by many different names around the world, like the Plague of Galen or Smallpox. The plague first started around 166 A.D. Roman soldiers coming back from (now in modern day Iraq) Seleucia, in the Middle East, contracted and carried this plague along the Mediterranean coastlines and back home to Rome. It killed about two-thousand people per day in the city of Rome.
Domitian inherited the empire when his brother suddenly died after ruling for only two years. He became Roman Emperor in 81AD which fulfilled his lifelong dream. He was now able to follow in his father and brother’s footsteps as emperor. When he was emperor he traveled outside of Rome many times. He was said to be a hostile ruler.
Caesar Augustus’ stepson Tiberius took over as emperor after his death, he was the second emperor and from then on many successful generals who used their armies to seize power became emperors. Many of these...
At fifteen he returned to his native city, and immediately joined the military. It seemed apparent that his love for hunting was so strong, that he was criticized for it even while in military service, and for this reason Trajan recalled him back to Italica. When he returned, he was treated as Trajan’s son, and was later appointed to be one of the ten judges of the inheritance court, and later, one of the tribune of the Second Legion, the Adjutrix. As young Hadrian grew, he became more and more of a favorite to his ‘father’, Trajan. This caused some friction between Hadrian and some of his family members, namely Servanius; although there was no actual confrontational effects of this struggle to become Trajan’s favorite. On the fifth day before the Ides of August, Hadrian learned that his adoption by Trajan had become official, and later celebrated this while governor of Syria. Later, on the third day before the Ides of August, Hadrian learned of Trajan’s death. Three days later, Hadrian ascended to the throne of the Roman Empire.