The Empress Theodora and Justinian
The birth of an eastern circus woman attracted no attention at all in mid-millennium year 500. No one could ever imagine that this baby would grow up to be one of the most remarkable women in history of the World. She was the daughter of the bear keeper, a public performer,wife of Justinian, Empress of the Byzantine Empire and a natural beauty whose name became the one name in the voluminous annals of the Byzantine empire known to almost everyone; Theodora. Once the former show girl settled down to respectable married life, she touched every branch of life in the Empire. She had her finger on everything including military campaigns, architectural developments, and government policy and law reforms.
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The teams also had aspects of political parties and street gangs where they grouped people by religion and social class. These groups shouted their political beliefs and demands during the races and they began to put pressure on Justinian. By this time, The Blues were smarting from what they considered the Emperor's callous abandonment. They created violent disturbances in both the capital and the other cities.
In the early days of January 532, the Greens started to complain about the actions of authorities and they put a demonstration on the Hippodrome saying the Blues were murderers. "You are the only murderers here" replied the Blues and the demonstration turned into a fight ending with the departure of the Greens in high dudgeon. The fights continued in the next days and the City Prefect's police and many Blues and Greens were arrested several were condemned to death. The crowd that gathered to watch the executions was really nervous and hard to control. The hangman bungled the job and these two men, one a Green and the other a Blue had whisked away still alive to sanctuary in a church. The Prefect sent soldiers to the church and he didn't let anyone to enter or to leave the building. To prevent their further arrest, the factions appealed to Justinian to pardon the two men on January 13. Justinian ignored them and the crowd started to hurl curses at him. Unexpectedly, the two opposite factions had agreed to cooperate in pressing their demands.
The City-state of Rome became a republic in 509 BC. Rome fought numerous battles to become what it was at its height. It all started with the Punic wars. After they won, there was no stopping them. By the first century BC, Rome controlled most of the known world. (Mahoney, 2001)
follow. That was the first goal of icons. The second goal was to form an
Justinian I Justinian had a very significant role in world history. There are many things that are overlooked when speaking of Justinian. For instance, Justinian was a great architect. Many times we overlook the little characteristics of Justinian and we focus on the code of Justinian.
The ancient Greek and Roman civilizations of Europe began to progress toward a more civilized order of society. As there were no previous establishment to base their ideals on, it was understandable that there were some difficulties in their progression as a society. Although the ancient Greek and Roman governments fell, both had similar paths of creation, conquest, and destruction.
In 395 A.D., the Roman Empire split into the Eastern and Western Empires. Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire and thrived under the leadership of Justinian, who was the emperor from 527 A.D. to 565 A.D. Although the empire has some Roman influence, it is remarkably different from ancient Rome, with there being markets and products from places unheard of. Justinian also enforced Christianity and built the Hagia Sophia and created a new legal system, the Justinian Code. He also rebuilt Constantinople and made it safe from invasions. Justinian created a new Byzantine Empire through enforcing Christianity, creating the Justinian Code, and the exterior and interior structures of Constantinople.
The theory of the weak Roman Emperors was one of the top three reasons for the fall of Rome because its vast empire fell due to the weak and unstable government that was established by the emperors who ruled during the fifty year period that lasted from 235 C.E. to 285 C.E. A powerful empire consisted of a long-lasting and strong government that was supported by a ruler who was present to rule over the people and had the will to carry out reforms to improve the lives of citizens. In Document A, the chart stated that twenty-two different emperors ruled Rome within the fifty year period. Based on this fact specified by the chart, there was an unstable government that ruled the Roman empire. Because of the weak government that was created, citizens
The expanse of time that the term “Ancient Greece” defines is all the way from around 7,250 BCE when the first evidence of burial sites were discovered in Argolid, Greece, during the Mesolithic Period, to around the year 30 BCE when Cleopatra died in Alexandra, Egypt (1). That is the better part of 7,200 years. Trying to fit all of that information into five to seven pages would be nearly impossible. That is why I will be focusing on the Classical Era of Greece which spans from about 500 BCE to around 320 BCE. During this time in Greece there were many conflicts and wars, but there was also much growth in the cultural aspects of their society.
Tiberius, who served as emperor from 14 to 37 AD, began his rule after the death of his father-in-law, Augustus. Tiberius was a weak ruler, and he understood that ruling Rome was like “holding a wolf by the ears.” When conflict arose in Europe, Tiberius sent his nephew, Germanicus, to deal with it. Germanicus did his job, and this resulted in Tiberius fearing the newest war-hero. To avoid the issue, Germanicus was appointed governor of the remote eastern provinces by his uncle. After the sudden death of Germanicus, people believed that Tiberius had poisoned him. He denied this, but the accusations never died. When he was in need of advice, Tiberius sought the assistance of Sejanus, a cavalry officer and town cheat. Tiberius sought the
Liudprand of Cremona’s Embassy Book 6 is an important work when it comes to understanding the Byzantine empire and the ceremonial procedure that occurred under Constantine VII when foreign visitors came to Constantinople. Book 6, which will be referred to as the account from here on in this essay, was written about Liudprand of Cremona’s experience of visiting Constantinople while he was the secretary for Berengar, the chancellor of Italy.
Alexander the Great is remembered as a conquering man who built one of the largest empires. Some describe him as a man with a vision of world harmony. Others see him as a blood thirsty man with a mental illness. One thing that cannot be argued is that he and his empire are fascinating studies. From his rise to power to his mysterious death is interesting, but even after he died the story is fascinating. Due to his death, his empire was divided and a long power-struggle began starting with his generals. Each account has its own story of war and betrayal. These days must have been hard for those in power; they never knew who they could trust. Only the ones who were skilled in the strategy of war and ruthless enough to maintain their power
History has witnessed the rise and fall of many powerful cities, starting with Ur and Babylon and continuing into present day with cities such as New York City. Two of these cities, ancient Athens and ancient Rome, stand out from other cities of their time due to their culture, politics, and influence, both on the world around them and on future civilizations. These strengths qualify them as world cities, and despite their eventual losses of power, their legacies live on.
Augustus, during his reign as emperor proved effective in ruling through the ideas he implemented to solidify his country. Tacitus stated “nullo adversante” which translates into English “Wholly unopposed” (http://janusquirinus.org/Quotes/QuotesHome.html) this identifies the effectiveness of his reign and the strength he had politically over Rome. Important actions such as the creation of religious and moral reforms, the constitutional agreement and the implementation of the building programme all succeeded in creating stability within the Roman Empire.
The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC marks the beginning of the Hellenistic Period and covers 300 years to the invasion of Egypt by the Romans. The word Hellenic refers only to the Greeks, but the term Hellenistic refers to `the Greek-influenced societies that arose in the wake of Alexander's conquest' (Sacks, 105). The Hellenistic world extended from Greece all the way to Afghanistan and resulted in the beginning of the mass spreading of Greek culture. Its central characteristics were the mass empires created by Alexander and his successors, the mingling of Greek and other cultures and the diffusion of religions
On the 23rd of September 63BC a baby boy was born. Little did his family know that this amazing child was going to be one of the greatest politicians in Rome, he was also going to touch the lives of many Roman Citizens and to be remembered by thousands of people many years after his death. He was to rule an empire that stretched from Spain to Judea. Turn the Mediterranean Sea into a peaceful Roman Lake and was eventually to be worshipped as a god. The future Emperor of Rome was called Gaius Julius Octavious, whom we all know now as Augustus.
Julius Caesar, a man born in around 12 to 13, 100 BC, was considered the start of a new legacy in the history of Rome. Participating in several wars, becoming dictator after forming multiple military alliances, to being assassinated on the Ides of March, Julius Caesar was a politically-flexible, popular leader of the Roman Empire. (Julius Caesar Biography, April 23, 2014) Although Caesar’s birth was never confirmed on the exact date, he was born and raised by his mother, Aurelia, and by his father, Gaius Julius Caesar. (Julius Caesar: Historical Background, April 23, 2014)