Download Justinian I

Emperor
Justinian I
[Image source:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLATE9AX.HTML]
At its height, the Byzantine Empire
was ruled by Justinian I (r. 527-565).
[Image source: http://www.bartleby.com/67/images/byzant01.gif]
Justinian was the son of prosperous
peasants from Macedonia.
[Image source: http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/bruegel/BRP010_L.jpg]
As a young
man in the
court of his
uncle,
Emperor
Justin I,
Justinian
was a very
conscientious
student.
[Image source:
http://www.hyperbooks.com/images/scribe.jpg]
Justinian’s
enthusiasm for
knowledge and
hard work
continued
throughout his
entire life.
[Image source:
http://www.softassteel.com/eileenwilks/images/scribe.jpg]
Justinian was
44 years-old
when he was
crowned
emperor of
the Byzantine
Empire in A.D.
527.
[Image source: http://www.bethlehemcity.org/images/city/history/justinian.jpg]
[Image source: http://courses.washington.edu/drama416/images/byzantine/byzantine2.jpg]
Over the
objections of
his court,
Justinian
married an
ambitious
circus
prostitute by
the name of
Theodora.
[Image source:
http://www.callisto.si.usherb.ca/~croisade/IM
AGES/Theodora.jpg]
[Image source:
http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/europe/Theodora.jpg]
Theodora
proved to be
a capable
empress,
actively
assisting
Justinian in
running the
government.
Concerned with
improving the
social standing of
women, Theodora
persuaded her
husband to issue a
decree giving a wife
the right to own
land equal in value
to the wealth she
brought to the
[Image source:
marriage.
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/images/PLATE9BX.JPG]
Empress Theodora also managed
to promote other social changes:
• women gained the right to sue
for divorce
• prohibition against forced
prostitution
• death penalty in cases of rape
Theodora’s determination inspired
Justinian to be a more resolute ruler.
[Image source: http://courses.washington.edu/drama416/images/byzantine/byzantine1.jpg]
Political factions derived their names
from the colours worn by charioteers.
The Greens
represented
Monophysitism
and the lower
class.
[Image source:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLATE8AX.HTML]
Monophysitism
is the belief
that Jesus
Christ was
divine.
[Image source:
http://www.lapraik.com/cordeaux/images/icon.Jesus.excellent.jpg]
The Blues
represented
orthodoxy
and the
upper class.
[Image source:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLATE10AX.HTML]
In A.D. 532 a revolt erupted among
the spectators at a chariot race.
[Image source: http://www.info-antike.de/unterhaltung/Circus_Maximus/Circus-1.jpg]
[Image source:
http://www.ulpiacoins.com/others/medieval_small.jpg]
The Nika
Revolt
resulted
from
anger
over
excessive
taxation.
[Image source:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLATE10CX.HTM
When Empress
Theodora
refused to
evacuate the
capital, Emperor
Justinian I
decided to
remain and fight
the rebels.
The Byzantine
generals Narses
and Belisarius
ultimately led
the Imperial
Guard in
fighting the
rebels.
[Image source:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLATE9CX.HTML]
Eventually 30,000 subjects would perish
during the suppression of the rebellion.
The Sassanian Empire of Persia
threatened to conquer the eastern
provinces of the Byzantine Empire .
Although the Byzantines managed to
rally their forces and repel the
invaders, Justinian had to agree to
pay tribute in exchange for peace.
[Image source: http://mexplaza.udg.mx/wm/paint/auth/piero/san-francesco/battle.jpg]
With his eastern flank temporarily
secure, Justinian turned his attention
to restoring the Roman empire.
[Image source:
http://fstav.freeservers.com/byzant867.j
[Image source:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/images/PLATE11AX.JPG]
Under the
leadership of
the General
Belisarius, the
Byzantine
armies were
strengthened
and
reorganized.
Belisarius then sailed to North Africa
with a fleet of 500 ships. Feigning an
attack near Egypt, he sailed on to
land farther west along the coast.
Between A.D. 533 and A.D. 555, the
Byzantines fought a series of wars against the
Vandals of North Africa, the Ostrogoths in
Italy, and Visigoths in southern Spain.
[Image source: http://www.teachinghearts.org/dr0imaprome10.gif]
A Visigoth Christ
[Image source: http://www.passionist.org/prc/gallery/wing-A/gallery3/g-10.htm]
The Byzantines succeeded in
conquering these Germanic groups
and extended their rule in the west.
[Image source: http://www.bartleby.com/67/images/byzant01.gif]
The wars of re-conquest exhausted
Byzantium’s resources, leaving it
vulnerable to attacks in the East by
an expanding Persian Empire.
[Image source: http://www.anastos.nd.edu/images/byz9a.jpg]
The success of the Roman campaign
allowed Justinian to send Belisarius
to the East in order to suppress
several eastern barbarian uprisings.
Remember:
loot, pillage,
THEN burn!
Within a generation of Justinian’s
death, the empire lost many of its
outlying territories.
[Image source:
http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/worldhis/map17.gif]
Emperor
Justinian I
appointed a
commission of
ten scholars to
codify the
empire’s
Roman laws.
[Image source:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLATE9AX.HTML]
Under the
distinguished
jurist
Tribonian, the
commission
took six years
to collect and
organize the
Byzantine
legal code.
[Image source:
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/lawgivers/images/tribonian.jpg]
Justinian’s legal
reforms
• reduced the bulky old codes into
one easy to read codex
• created a book of legal precedents
• standardized legal training in the
empire
[Image source:
http://qsilver.queensu.ca/law/legalaid/tscales.gif]
This work
preserved
Rome’s legal
heritage and
became the
basis for most
European
legal systems.
[Image source: http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/books/mcdonnell/images/barrister.jpg]
Justinian was very aggressive in
the construction of roads, . . .
[Image source: http://www.hdg.de/eurovisionen/images/technik/ostia.jpg]
fortresses, . . .
[Image source: http://www.louvre.fr/img/photos/audito/constant.jpg]
aqueducts, . . .
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. . . and monasteries.
[Image source: http://www.diavlos.gr/samos/samonastiri1.jpg]
Justinian’s most famous project was the
church of Hagia Sophia in Constantiople.
[Image source: http://wiem.onet.pl/wiem/006e2f.html]
Hagia Sophia
means “Holy
Wisdom”.
[Image source:
http://www.byzantina.com/images/6_4d_hagia_sophia.jpg]