Justinian's Code: The Rise And Fall Of The Byzantine Empire

The Roman Empire influenced the Byzantine Empire’s culture, mainly through the religion of Christianity. Christianity first appeared in the Roman Empire, with the birth, teachings, and supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the beginning years of it’s arrival, Christianity was not tolerated and Christians were mainly, and most often brutally prosecuted. However, with Constantine’s Edict of Milan, Christianity was officially tolerated, and under Theodosius, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire inherited this relatively new religion, continuing to follow the beliefs and traditions of the church, as well as spreading the word of Jesus Christ and the message of god. Churches sprung up in the empire, such as the mighty Hagia Sophia. Located in Constantinople and built by Justinian, this church especially exemplified

follow. That was the first goal of icons. The second goal was to form an

The Byzantine Empire and Western Europe originally were part of the Roman Empire, but by the middle Ages(medieval times), they were very different, even though they did share some common traits, but by the 300's, the Byzantine Empire had far surpassed Western Europe in trade and economics and political unity, while both empires were having arguments over religion.

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.

Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, a new empire rose up in the ashes. This new empire, the Byzantine Empire, was a culmination of Western Roman cultures and tradition, yet, it also contains many distinctive features. Originating from the same empire, the two empires display similar cultural roots.

Because Justinian has a different mindset on how to protect and construct cities, Justinian made a new Byzantine

Justinian repaired the legal system and called it Justinian code. Like old Roman Empire women, slaves, and lower class-men had now say with the legal system. Only upper class males could assist in reviving the law's. Justinian and ten men set laws for their people to live honesty and not harm others (Document 7 and 9). This helped unify the Eastern and Western. territories (Document 1).

The source of this law Code was the Twelve Tables. The basis of Justinian's Code was to created a more organized set of laws. Also to make laws more effective in the Byzantine Empire. Since it was more effective less crimes were committed. After Justinian's rule many empowers used this law Code.

At its simplest, the purpose Justinian had in mind was to put together the laws in the Byzantine Empire. It was a mammoth task, as you might well dream. In doing this, the laws were accoutred in writing, putting out ancient laws that had been out of date their works that were kept hidden all these years, and laws were interacted that dealt with situations that were good at the time or could be told in the future as needed for future people. The Justinian Code was important as it made easier and broken down a lot of years of living Roman laws and Justinian's own laws and into one system.In four parts, made up the code, and these were the Codex Constitution, Digest, institutions and the novella constitutions Post

“Beginning with the reign of Constantine I and the establishment of the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern Christian church became a tool of the Emperors. Byzantine Emperors and Empresses played a dominant role in the Eastern church and used the Christian religion to strengthen the Empire internally, to spread Byzantine cultural and political influence, and at times, to fortify their own power”

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”.

Emperor Alexius I Comnenus asked Pope Urban II to help defend the Byzantine Empire in 1095 CE. The Pope agreed because he wanted to secure his own power over the church and called a military expedition to conquer the Holy Land.

The Byzantine Empire, seen as a direct continuation of the Roman Empire, lasted approximately from 500-1450 CE. This empire proved to be a valuable city for both the Greeks as well as the Romans. Throughout history, the Aegean Sea, the Bosphorus Strait, and Constantinople all impacted Roman history through constant trade and achievements. Other than trade, perfecting the oil industry, and the construction of aqueducts, conduits, and tunnels was other main achievements.

The first reason why Justinian caused the Byzantine empire to succeed during his reign was because of his new coded system of laws. Justinian inherited a vast amount of Roman laws, called the twelve tables. (Allen Evans 24, Commire). In 528, Justinian set up a commission to codify the Roman law (Ostrogorski 74). 1528 books of Roman law were scanned and combined into fifty books divided into 432 chapters (Allen Evans 24). The work was called the Digest, and had immediate impacts on the Byzantine Empire and then it’s long-success (Allen Evans 24, Commire). Lawyers were able reference the laws in court, allowing fairer decisions to be made. The government, now was not only supported by its army, was also supported by the law (Allen Evans 24, Commire). Both of these things were very important to the success of the empire. Civilians had the ability to go to court and make sure that decisions were based on hundreds of years of law written out in one place, and not an impulsive decision of a judge. The government also had an extreme benefit in terms of having written out code of law, so there could be no arguments in terms of taxation or punishments. This attributed to the success of the empire because this helped stabilize the empire because important decisions could have been made based on hundreds of years of law and farer decisions prevented revolts. Coded laws also

The Byzantine Empire, though often forgotten among better-known empires, such as the Roman Empire, ran for nearly one thousand years, occupying the eastern half of what once was the Roman Empire. It engaged in trade, expansion, and decades of warfare. It also gave women a better status then men, valued and preserved Greek history, and eventually fell to the Ottomans.