Emperor Justinian: Architect of the Byzantine Legacy

Justinian restored the Roman Empire when he recovered land for the Roman Empire. This is a case of sparing the Roman Empire, since he was making the land greater, keeping in mind the end

Emperor Justinian is sometimes referred to as the last of the Roman Emperors and he desired to return Rome to all of her former glory. He studied and learned from the mistakes of the former Roman Emperors, he developed a large cavalry of horses and an extensively large Navy. He wanted to take back the Western Roman Empire from the Germanic people and succeeded in his conquests as he retook much of the Mediterranean basin. Emperor Justinian’s developed a well-oiled machine and he believed that the Germans practiced a mutated form of Christianity that the Roman Church considered sacrilegious. He did not waste any time and sent his military to reclaim much to the western empire that had been lost after the battle of Adrianople and the fall of Rome, this even included the beloved city of Rome. Since Justinian was loyal to Rome he felt that hit was his duty to reduce this threat and return Rome to the Roman rule.

Eventually Rome’s policy of coming to the aid of those who asked, led them into battle with King Pyrrhus of Epirus when Thurii asked for Roman aid from Tarentun, which was, in turn, assisted by Pyrrhus. The Romans lost two battles to Pyrrhus in 282 B.C. and 280 B.C., leaving King Pyrrhus of Epirus with, what has become known as Pyrrhic victories. Both sides sustained substantial losses, making the victories as good as losses. Eventually, in 275 B.C. Pyrrhus left battle to save what was left of Greece, providing the Romans with a default victory. King Pyrrhus would later be killed, by a loosened roofing tile pushed over by an old woman, when he had taken a break from the war in Argos, which he believed he had won.

During this time of war Justinian had to raise the taxes in order to pay for the war, and rebuild the burnt city as fire was set to the city in the Nika Revolt. There were great losses due to the wars. Italy laid in ruins and residents lived in poverty for centuries after this tragedy. Along with this, much of Rome’s great buildings could have survived if Justinian had left the Ostrogoths in Italy. Even though Justinian’s reconquests in the west were not permanent, his destruction or weakening of civilized Germanic tribes was.

People say that the Byzantine Empire is compared to an accordion. Well, it is. Comparing all of the civilizations and empires we learned about, I find that the Byzantine has a history, where people living in that empire rise at on time and fall inconsiderably during another time. The Byzantine Empire is an empire ruled by Emperor Justantine, and Constantinople was the imperial capital of the Byzantine world until it was invaded by the Turks in 1453. Now, how does the imperial capital, Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, Justinian, and the Crusaders involve in the Byzantine Empire? I find that geography and the achievements of the Empire can be two strong reasoning’s on how and why we should study the Byzantine Empire.

Justinian was born around, 482, He was the Byzantine emperor, after his uncle. He ruled from 527 to 565, making a great impact on the Eastern Roman Empire. His first priority was to strengthen the empire, and return it to its prior ancient glory. Outstandingly, he was able to restore the city, Constantinople, after multiple important religious buildings, were burned down, and destroyed, during approximately January, 11 – 19, 532.

The fall of the Roman Empire in 476 C.E resulted in many tragedies, as history “replays” itself, this fall led to starts, the land that was once known as Rome split into two pieces, the eastern part known as the Byzantine Empire and the western part known as medieval Western Europe. However, the empires wasn’t one that overtook Rome, the Byzantine Empire was rather known as a continuation of the Roman Empire, which was known to be more politically centralized than Western Europe, and the two empires were known to have different religious aspects as well, though there are differences in these empires, being both emerged from Rome led them to having similar aspects in many ways as well.

Ancient Rome grew from a small town that was on central Italy's Tiber River into an empire that took up most of Europe, Britain, western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands (History, n.d.). Legend said that Rome was found by twin sons of Mars, Romulus and Remus were god of war. After 450 years as a republic," Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar's rise and fall in the first century B.C." (History, n.d.).   What led to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire?

The major cultural achievements was the preservation of the Greek language and culture. Greek ethics and science became the foundation of the Western Civilization. In the Byzantine Empire they preserved the Ancient Greek literature scribes. Homer ~ The iliad and the Odyssey are among most widely read poems in American and European schools and colleges today. Sophocles ~ Theatrical plays, including Oedipus Rex, helped to define a form of literature called tragedy. Socrates ~ Known to us through the writings of Plato and others, Socrates crafted a form of inquiry and debate, called the Socratic Method, that is used in classrooms today. It features questions rather than answers. Plato ~ One of Plato’s works, The Republic, describes an ideal society and explores the importance of justice in that society. Aristotle ~ His many scientific and philosophical writings advanced the use of logic and scientific thought. Euclid ~ He made inquires into astronomy, music, and mathematics. Regarded as the father of geometry. Hippocrates ~ His medical works and his ethical standards led to the still- used Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors. Originally the language of the Byzantine Empire was Latin until 700 CE when it was changed to Greek by Emperor Heraclius. The culture of Constantinople was diverse. The Byzantine Empire had an important cultural legacy, both on the Orthodox Church and on the revival of Greek and Roman

Constantine made many contributions as a leader. One contribution that he made as a leader was after his father died. Western Rome was experiencing many civil wars at the time. Maximian’s son, Maxentius, felt entitled to the land because it had once belonged to his father. Constantine felt authorized to take the land because it had also once belonged to his father. Constantine was successful at

The Byzantine Empire was originally known as the Eastern Roman Empire, after surviving the barbaric attacks on its land. Emperor Justinian protected this empire and was well known for conquering many places. In the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor is the supreme ruler, looked at as a god. He was the head of the army, the highest political authority and the supreme legislator and judge. However, according to Procipius in, The Secret History, Justinian destroyed the greatness and history of Rome. Justinian was described as being “crafty, hypocritical, secretive by temperament, two-faced, and purely evil”.

Byzantine culture developed from Christianity and Roman characteristics in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, Constantinople founded by Constantine in 324 was the center of the Byzantine Empire where the merge of Christianity and Roman characteristics flourished. Emperor Justinian was one of the greatest influences in combining Christianity and Roman traditions during his reign. Justinian had an unwavering Christian faith and a desire to reform the empire he also felt it was his duty as emperor to enforce uniform religious belief throughout the entire empire. Justinian goal was to create a Christian society he did this by combining Roman laws with military force. Justinian revamped the roman laws into Justinian’s codification of law’s that

Justinian led the Byzantine empire into the Byzantines golden age by conquering western sections of the western roman empire with his one greatest general Belisarius, collected taxes better and more efficiently than ever before and rebuilding Byzantium better than it was before after the Nika riots. (Expand) The Eastern Byzantine empire was created when Diocletian split the empire into two halves, giving rule to his good drinking buddy, Maximian. He created a government system to prolong the inevitable fall of Rome.

The Golden Age of the Byzantine Empire started in the 6th century C.E during the reign of Justinian. Justinian accomplished many things, but the main achievements are that he systematized the law code and conquered huge swaths of land throughout Europe. His goal was to retake the lands that belonged to the Classical Roman Empire. He built the city of Ravenna to be the temporary capital of Italy and filled it with artistic wonders. Many Byzantine mosaics still adorn the city today.

Justinian was a Latin-speaking Illyrian and was born of peasant stock in May 11, AD 483, in a small village called Tauresium, Macedonia. Justinianus was a Roman name that he took from his uncle, the emperor Justin I, to whom he owed his advancement. He also owed his uncle a great thank you because, his uncle legally adopted him and put him into important offices.In 525 he earned the title of caesar and, on April 4, 527, was made coemperor with the rank of augustus. While he was growing up with his successful uncle, his actual family was struggling to get on track. His father Sabbatius of Solovki was one of the founders of the Solovetsky Monastery. Savvaty was a monk at Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. He heard of Valaam Monastery on the Lake