Celtic Tribe Barbarous BYZANTINE Ancient Coin as JUSTINIAN I RARE 527AD i51599

Item: i51599

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Bronze Follis 29mm (12.67 grams) Barbarous type, as Constantinople mint, circa 527-565 A.D.
Reference: cf. Sear 160
D . N . IVSTINIANVS PP . AVG (blundered legend backwards) – Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Large M between two stars; above, cross; in exergue
CON.

* Numismatic Note: This coin was
struck by a barbarian tribe, possibly of Celtic origin. You can tell it is by
the change in style of portrait which was stylized, the blundered backwards
legend, and the upside-down CON on the reverse.

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The Celts  (pronounced

/ˈkɛlts/
or /ˈsɛlts/, see
Celticpronunciation of
)
were a diverse group of
tribal societies
in
Iron Age
and
Roman-era

Europe
who spoke
Celtic languages
.

Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples:
 

  core

Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC

  maximal Celtic expansion, by 275 BC

  Lusitanian
area of Iberia where Celtic presence is uncertain

  the “six

Celtic nations” which retained significant numbers of Celtic
speakers into the

Early Modern period

  areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today

The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather
Proto-Celtic
, was the
central European

Hallstatt culture
(c. 800-450 BC), named for
the rich grave finds in
Hallstatt
, Austria. By the later
La Tène
period (c. 450 BC up to the Roman
conquest), this Celtic culture had expanded over a wide range of regions,
whether by
diffusion
or
migration
: to the
British Isles
(Insular
Celts), the
Iberian Peninsula
(Celtiberians,
Celtici
and
Gallaeci
), much of
Central Europe
, (Gauls)
and following the
Gallic invasion of the Balkans
in 279 BC as far
east as central Anatolia
(Galatians).

The earliest directly attested examples of a Celtic language are the
Lepontic
inscriptions, beginning from the 6th
century BC.
Continental Celtic languages
are attested only
in inscriptions and place-names.
Insular Celtic
is attested from about the 4th
century AD in
ogham inscriptions
, although it is clearly much
earlier. Literary tradition begins with
Old Irish
from about the 8th century. Coherent
texts of
Early Irish literature
, such as the
Táin Bó Cúailnge
(The Cattle Raid of
Cooley), survive in 12th-century recensions. According to the theory of
John T. Koch
and others, the
Tartessian language
may have been the earliest
directly attested Celtic language with the Tartessian written script used in the
inscriptions based on a version of a Phoenician script in use around 825 BC.

By mid 1st millennium AD, following the expansion of the
Roman Empire
and the
Great Migrations
(Migration
Period) of
Germanic peoples
, Celtic culture and
Insular Celtic
had become restricted to
Ireland
and to the western and northern parts
of Great Britain
(Wales,
Scotland
,
Cornwall
and the
Isle of Man
) and northern
France
(Brittany).
The
Continental Celtic languages
ceased to be
widely used by the 6th century.

Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the
Gaels
(Irish,
Scottish
and

Manx), the
Brythonic
Celts (Welsh,
Cornish
, and
Bretons
) of the medieval and modern periods. A
modern “Celtic
identity” was constructed in the context of the Romanticist
Celtic Revival
in Great Britain (Wales,
Scotland, Cornwall and the Isle of Man) and Ireland. In France a similar revival
of
Breton
is taking place in
Brittany
.

Justinian I (Latin:
Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus Augustus,
Greek
: Φλάβιος
Πέτρος Σαββάτιος Ἰουστινιανός Flábios Pétros Sabbátios Ioustinianos)
(c. 482 – 14


November
565), traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint
Justinian in the
Orthodox Church
, was a
Byzantine (East Roman) emperor
from 527 to 565.
During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empire’s greatness and
reconquer the lost
western half
of the historical Roman Empire.

One of the most important figures of
late antiquity
and possibly the last Roman
emperor to speak Latin
as a first language, Justinian’s rule
constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of the
Later Roman empire
. The impact of his
administration extended far beyond the boundaries of his time and domain.
Justinian’s reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized
renovatio imperii, or “restoration of the Empire”.

Because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called
the “last
Roman” in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the
partial recovery of the territories of the defunct
western Roman empire
. His general,
Belisarius
, swiftly conquered the
Vandal kingdom
in North Africa, re-extending
Roman control to the
Atlantic Ocean
. Subsequently Belisarius,
Narses
, and other generals conquered the
Ostrogothic kingdom
, restoring
Dalmatia
,
Sicily
,
Italy
, and

Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the
Ostrogoths.

The
prefect Liberius
reclaimed most of southern
Iberia
, establishing the province of
Spania
. These campaigns re-established Roman
control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire’s annual revenue
by over a million
solidi
. During his reign Justinian also subdued
the Tzani
, a people on the east coast of the
Black Sea
that had never been under Roman rule
before.

A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman
law, the
Corpus Juris Civilis
, which is still the
basis of
civil law
in many modern states. This work was
carried out primarily by his
quaestor

Tribonian
. His reign also marked a blossoming
of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the
church of
Hagia Sophia
, which was to be the center of
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
for many
centuries.

A devastating outbreak of
bubonic plague
(see
Plague of Justinian
) in the early 540s marked
the end of an age of splendour. The Empire entered a period of territorial
decline not to be reversed until the 9th century.

Procopius
provides the primary source for the
history of Justinian’s reign. The
Syriac
chronicle of
John of Ephesus
, which does not survive, was
used as a source for later chronicles, contributing many additional details of
value. Both historians became very bitter towards Justinian and his empress,
Theodora
. Other sources include the histories
of Agathias
,
Menander Protector
,
John Malalas
, the
Paschal Chronicle
, the chronicles of
Marcellinus Comes
and
Victor of Tunnuna
.

Justinian is considered a
saint
among
Eastern Orthodox Christians
, and is also
remembered by some in the
Lutheran Church
on November 14.

Life

Summary

 

Justinian was born in
Tauresium
around 482. His
Latin
-speaking
peasant
family is believed to have been of
Thraco-Roman
or
Illyro-Roman
origins.

The cognomen
Iustinianus, which he took
later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle
Justin
. During his reign, he founded
Justiniana Prima
not far from his birthplace,
today in South East Serbia. His mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin.
Justin, who was in the imperial guard (the
Excubitors
) before he became emperor, adopted
Justinian, brought him to
Constantinople
, and ensured the boy’s
education. As a result, Justinian was well educated in
jurisprudence
,
theology
and Roman history. Justinian served
for some time with the
Excubitors
but the details of his early career
are unknown. Chronicler
John Malalas
, who lived during the reign of
Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly
haired, round faced and handsome. Another contemporary chronicler,
Procopius
, compares Justinian’s appearance to
that of tyrannical Emperor
Domitian
, although this is probably slander.

When Emperor
Anastasius
died in 518, Justin was proclaimed
the new emperor, with significant help from Justinian. During Justin’s reign
(518–527), Justinian was the emperor’s close confidant. Justinian showed much
ambition, and it has been thought that he was functioning as virtual regent long
before Justin made him associate Emperor on 1 April 527, although there is no
conclusive evidence for this. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign,
Justinian became the de facto ruler. Justinian was appointed
consul
in 521 and later commander of the army
of the east. Upon Justin’s death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole
sovereign.

As a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as “the emperor who
never sleeps” on account of his work habits. Nevertheless, he seems to have been
amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress,
Theodora
, in Constantinople. She was by
profession a courtesan
and some twenty years his junior. In
earlier times, Justinian could not have married her because of her class, but
his uncle, Emperor Justin I, had passed a law allowing intermarriage between
social classes. Theodora would become very influential in the politics of the
Empire, and later emperors would follow Justinian’s precedent in marrying
outside the
aristocratic
class. The marriage caused a
scandal, but Theodora would prove to be shrewd judge of character and
Justinian’s greatest supporter. Other talented individuals included
Tribonian
, his legal adviser;
Peter the Patrician
, the diplomat and longtime
head of the palace bureaucracy; Justinian’s finance ministers
John the Cappadocian
and
Peter Barsymes
, who managed to collect taxes
more efficiently than any before, thereby funding Justinian’s wars; and finally,
his prodigiously talented generals,
Belisarius
and
Narses
.

Justinian’s rule was not universally popular; early in his reign he nearly
lost his throne during the
Nika riots
, and a conspiracy against the
emperor’s life by dissatisfied businessmen was discovered as late as 562.
Justinian was struck by the
plague
in the early 540s but recovered.
Theodora died in 548 at a relatively young age, possibly of cancer; Justinian
outlived her by nearly twenty years. Justinian, who had always had a keen
interest in theological matters and actively participated in debates on
Christian doctrine, became even more devoted to religion during the later years
of his life. When he died on 14 November 565, he left no children, though his
wife Theodora had given birth to a stillborn son several years into his reign.
He was succeeded by
Justin II
, who was the son of his sister
Vigilantia and married to Sophia, the niece of Empress Theodora. Justinian’s
body was entombed in a specially built mausoleum in the
Church of the Holy Apostles
until it was
desecrated and robbed during the
pillage of the city in 1204
by the
Latin States
of the
Fourth Crusade
.

Legislative activities

 

Justinian achieved lasting fame through his judicial reforms, particularly
through the complete revision of all
Roman law
, something that had not previously
been attempted. The total of Justinian’s legislature is known today as the
Corpus juris civilis
. It consists of the
Codex Iustinianus
, the Digesta or
Pandectae
, the
Institutiones
, and the
Novellae
.

Early in his reign, Justinian appointed the
quaestor

Tribonian
to oversee this task. The first draft
of the
Codex Iustinianus
, a codification of
imperial constitutions from the 2nd century onward, was issued on 7 April 529.
(The final version appeared in 534.) It was followed by the Digesta (or

Pandectae
), a compilation of older legal
texts, in 533, and by the
Institutiones
, a textbook explaining the
principles of law. The
Novellae
, a collection of new laws issued
during Justinian’s reign, supplements the Corpus. As opposed to the rest
of the corpus, the Novellae appeared in
Greek
, the common language of the Eastern
Empire.

The Corpus forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including
ecclesiastical
Canon Law
) and, for historians, provides a
valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire. As
a collection it gathers together the many sources in which the leges
(laws) and the other rules were expressed or published: proper laws,
senatorial
consults (senatusconsulta),
imperial decrees,
case law
, and jurists’ opinions and
interpretations (responsa prudentum).

Tribonian’s code ensured the survival of Roman law. It formed the basis of
later Byzantine law, as expressed in the
Basilika
of
Basil I
and
Leo VI the Wise
. The only western province
where the Justinianic code was introduced was Italy (after the conquest, by the
so-called
Pragmatic Sanction
of 554), from where it was
to pass to
Western Europe
in the 12th century and become
the basis of much European law code. It eventually passed to
Eastern Europe
where it appeared in Slavic
editions, and it also passed on to
Russia
. It remains influential to this day.

He passed laws to protect prostitutes from exploitation and women from being
forced into prostitution. Rapists were treated severely. Further, by his
policies, women charged with major crimes should be guarded by other women to
prevent sexual abuse, and were a woman widowed, her dowry should be returned and
a husband could not take on a major debt without his wife giving her consent
twice.

Nika riots

Justinian’s habit of choosing efficient, but unpopular advisers nearly cost
him his throne early in his reign. In January 532, partisans of the
chariot racing
factions in Constantinople,
normally divided among themselves, united against Justinian in a revolt that has
become known as the
Nika riots
. They forced him to dismiss
Tribonian
and two of his other ministers, and
then attempted to overthrow Justinian himself and replace him with the senator
Hypatius
, who was a nephew of the late emperor
Anastasius
. While the crowd was rioting in the
streets, Justinian considered fleeing the capital, but eventually decided to
stay, apparently on the prompting of Theodora, who refused to leave. In the next
two days, he ordered the brutal suppression of the riots by his generals
Belisarius
and
Mundus
. Procopius relates that 30,000 unarmed
civilians were killed in the Hippodrome. On Theodora’s insistence, and
apparently against his own judgment, Justinian had Anastasius’ nephews executed.

The destruction that had taken place during the revolt provided Justinian
with an opportunity to tie his name to a series of splendid new buildings, most
notably the architectural innovation of the domed
Hagia Sophia
.

Military activities

One of the most spectacular features of Justinian’s reign was the recovery of
large stretches of land around the Western Mediterranean basin that had slipped
out of Imperial control in the 5th century. As a Christian Roman emperor,
Justinian considered it his divine duty to restore the
Roman Empire
to its ancient boundaries.
Although he never personally took part in military campaigns, he boasted of his
successes in the prefaces to his laws and had them commemorated in art. The
re-conquests were in large part carried out by his general
Belisarius
.

War with the Sassanid Empire, 527–532

From his uncle, Justinian inherited ongoing hostilities with the
Sassanid Empire
. In 530 a Persian army was
defeated at
Dara
, but the next year saw the defeat of Roman
forces under Belisarius near
Callinicum
. When king
Kavadh I of Persia
died (September 531),
Justinian concluded an “Eternal
Peace” (which cost him 11,000 pounds of gold) with his successor
Khosrau I
(532). Having thus secured his
eastern frontier, Justinian turned his attention to the West, where
Germanic
kingdoms had been established in the
territories of the former
Western Roman Empire
.

Conquest of North Africa, 533–534

 

The first of the western kingdoms Justinian attacked was that of the
Vandals
in
North Africa
. King
Hilderic
, who had maintained good relations
with Justinian and the North African
Catholic
clergy, had been overthrown by his
cousin Gelimer
in 530. Imprisoned, the deposed king
appealed to Justinian.

In 533, Belisarius
with a fleet of 92
dromons
escorting 500 transports, landed at
Caput Vada (modern Ras Kaboudia)
in modern
Tunisia
with an army of about 15,000 men, as
well as a number of barbarian troops. They defeated the Vandals, who were caught
completely off guard, at
Ad Decimum
on 14 September 533 and
Tricamarum
in December; Belisarius took
Carthage
. King
Gelimer
fled to Mount Pappua in
Numidia
, but surrendered the next spring. He
was taken to Constantinople, where he was paraded in a
triumph
.
Sardinia
and
Corsica
, the
Balearic Islands
, and the stronghold
Septem
near
Gibraltar
were recovered in the same campaign.

An
African prefecture
, centered in Carthage, was
established in April 534, but it would teeter on the brink of collapse during
the next 15 years, amidst warfare with the
Moors
and military mutinies. The area was not
completely pacified until 548, but remained peaceful thereafter and enjoyed a
measure of prosperity. The recovery of Africa cost the empire about 100,000
pounds of gold.

War in Italy, first phase, 535–540

As in Africa, dynastic struggles in
Ostrogothic Italy
provided an opportunity for
intervention. The young king
Athalaric
had died on 2 October 534, and an
usurper, Theodahad
, had imprisoned queen
Amalasuntha
,
Theodoric
‘s daughter and mother of Athalaric,
on the island of Martana in
Lake Bolsena
, where he had her assassinated in
535. Thereupon
Belisarius
with 7,500 men invaded
Sicily
(535) and advanced into Italy, sacking
Naples
and capturing

Rome on 9 December 536. By that time
Theodahad
had been deposed by the
Ostrogothic
army, who had elected
Vitigis
as their new king. He gathered a large
army and besieged Rome
from February 537 to March 538 without
being able to retake the city.

Justinian sent another general,
Narses
, to Italy, but tensions between Narses
and Belisarius hampered the progress of the campaign.
Milan
was taken, but was soon recaptured and
razed by the Ostrogoths. Justinian recalled
Narses
in 539. By then the military situation
had turned in favour of the Romans, and in 540 Belisarius reached the
Ostrogothic capital
Ravenna
. There he was offered the title of
Western Roman Emperor
by the Ostrogoths at the
same time that envoys of Justinian were arriving to negotiate a peace that would
leave the region north of the
Po River
in Gothic hands. Belisarius feigned to
accept the offer, entered the city in May 540, and reclaimed it for the Empire.
Then, having been recalled by Justinian, Belisarius returned to Constantinople,
taking the captured
Vitigis
and his wife
Matasuntha
with him.

War with the Sassanid Empire, 540–562

 

Belisarius had been recalled in the face of renewed hostilities by the
Persians
. Following a revolt against the Empire
in
Armenia
in the late 530s and possibly motivated
by the pleas of
Ostrogothic
ambassadors, King
Khosrau I
broke the “Eternal Peace” and invaded
Roman territory in the spring of 540. He first sacked
Beroea
and then
Antioch
(allowing the garrison of 6,000 men to
leave the city), besieged
Daras
, and then went on to attack the small but
strategically significant satellite kingdom of
Lazica
near the
Black Sea
, exacting tribute from the towns he
passed along his way. He forced Justinian I to pay him 5,000 pounds of gold,
plus 500 pounds of gold more each year.

Belisarius arrived in the East in 541, but, after some success, was again
recalled to Constantinople in 542. The reasons for his withdrawal are not known,
but it may have been instigated by rumours of disloyalty on behalf of the
general reaching the court. The outbreak of the
plague
caused a lull in the fighting during the
year 543. The following year Khosrau defeated a Byzantine army of 30,000 men,
but unsuccessfully besieged the major city of
Edessa
. Both parties made little headway, and
in 545 a truce was agreed upon for the southern part of the Roman-Persian
frontier. After that the
Lazic War
in the North continued for several
years, until a second truce in 557, followed by a
Fifty Years’ Peace
in 562. Under its terms, the
Persians agreed to abandon Lazica in exchange for an annual tribute of 400 or
500 pounds of gold (30,000 solidi) to be paid by the Romans.

War in Italy, second phase, 541–554

While military efforts were directed to the East, the situation in Italy took
a turn for the worse. Under their respective kings
Ildibad
and
Eraric
(both murdered in 541) and especially
Totila
, the Ostrogoths made quick gains. After
a
victory
at
Faenza
in 542, they reconquered the major
cities of Southern Italy and soon held almost the entire peninsula. Belisarius
was sent back to Italy late in 544, but lacked sufficient troops. Making no
headway, he was relieved of his command in 548. Belisarius succeeded in
defeating a Gothic
fleet with 200 ships. During this period
the city of Rome
changed hands three more times, first
taken and depopulated by the Ostrogoths in December 546, then reconquered by the
Byzantines in 547, and then again by the Goths in January 550. Totila also
plundered Sicily
and attacked the Greek coastlines.

Finally, Justinian dispatched a force of approximately 35,000 men (2,000 men
were detached and sent to invade southern
Visigothic

Hispania
) under the command of
Narses
. The army reached Ravenna in June 552,
and defeated the Ostrogoths decisively within a month at the
battle of Busta Gallorum
in the
Apennines
, where Totila was slain. After a
second battle at
Mons Lactarius
in October that year, the
resistance of the Ostrogoths was finally broken. In 554, a large-scale
Frankish
invasion was defeated at
Casilinum
, and Italy was secured for the
Empire, though it would take Narses several years to reduce the remaining Gothic
strongholds. At the end of the war, Italy was garrisoned with an army of 16,000
men. The recovery of Italy cost the empire about 300,000 pounds of gold.

Other campaigns

 

In addition to the other conquests, the Empire established a presence in
Visigothic

Hispania
, when the usurper
Athanagild
requested assistance in his
rebellion against King
Agila I
. In 552, Justinian dispatched a force
of 2,000 men; according to the historian
Jordanes
, this army was led by the octogenarian
Liberius
. The Byzantines took
Cartagena
and other cities on the southeastern
coast and founded the new province of
Spania
before being checked by their former
ally Athanagild, who had by now become king. This campaign marked the apogee of
Byzantine expansion.

During Justinian’s reign, the
Balkans
suffered from several incursions by the
Turkic
and
Slavic peoples
who lived north of the
Danube
. Here, Justinian resorted mainly to a
combination of diplomacy and a system of defensive works. In 559 a particularly
dangerous invasion of
Sklavinoi
and
Kutrigurs
under their
khan

Zabergan
threatened Constantinople, but they
were repulsed by the aged general Belisarius.

Results

 

Justinian’s ambition to restore the Roman Empire to its former glory was only
partly realized. In the West, the brilliant early military successes of the 530s
were followed by years of stagnation. The dragging war with the Goths was a
disaster for Italy, even though its long-lasting effects may have been less
severe than is sometimes thought. The heavy taxes that the administration
imposed upon its population were deeply resented. While the final victory in
Italy and the conquest of the coast of southern
Hispania
significantly enlarged the area over
which the Empire could project its power and influence, and while they must have
contributed to the Empire’s prestige, most of the conquests proved ephemeral.
The greater part of Italy would be lost to the invading
Lombards
three years after Justinian’s death
(568), the newly founded province of Spania was completely recovered by the
Hispanian Visigoths in 624 under the leadership of
Suintila
, and within a century and a half
Africa would be forever lost for the empire to the
Rashidun
and
Umayyad Caliphates
during the
Muslim conquests
.

Events of the later years of the reign showed that Constantinople itself was
not safe from barbarian incursions from the north, and even the relatively
benevolent historian
Menander Protector
felt the need to attribute
the Emperor’s failure to protect the capital to the weakness of his body in his
old age. In his efforts to renew the Roman Empire, Justinian dangerously
stretched its resources while failing to take into account the changed realities
of 6th-century Europe. Paradoxically, the grand scale of Justinian’s military
successes probably contributed in part to the Empire’s subsequent decline.

Natural disasters

During the decade of the 530s, it seemed to many that God had abandoned the
Christian Roman Empire. There was noxious fumes in the air, the Sun, while still
providing day, refused to give much heat. This caused famine unlike anything
those of the time had seen before, weakening the people of Europe and the Middle
East.

The cause of these disasters aren’t precisely known, but the
Rabaul caldera
,
Lake Ilopango
and
Krakatoa
volcanoes or a collision with a swarm
of meteors are suspected. Scientists have spent decades on the mystery.

Five years earlier a devastating outbreak of
Bubonic Plague
, second only to that of the 14th
century, laid siege to the world, killing tens of millions. As an Emperor,
Justinian got through the famine just fine, but he did contract the plague and
survived.

In 551, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean was devastated by a massive
earthquake and tsunami. Thousands died.

Religious activities

Justinian saw the orthodoxy of his empire threatened by diverging religious
currents, especially
Monophysitism
, which had many adherents in the
eastern provinces of Syria and Egypt. Monophysite doctrine, which maintains that
Jesus Christ had one divine nature or a synthesis of a divine and human nature,
had been condemned as a
heresy
by the
Council of Chalcedon
in 451, and the tolerant
policies towards Monophysitism of
Zeno
and
Anastasius I
had been a source of tension in
the relationship with the bishops of Rome. Justin reversed this trend and
confirmed the Chalcedonian doctrine, openly condemning the Monophysites.
Justinian, who continued this policy, tried to impose religious unity on his
subjects by forcing them to accept doctrinal compromises that might appeal to
all parties, a policy that proved unsuccessful as he satisfied none of them.

Near the end of his life, Justinian became ever more inclined towards the
Monophysite doctrine, especially in the form of
Aphthartodocetism
, but he died before being
able to issue any legislation that would have elevated its teachings to the
status of dogma. The empress Theodora sympathized with the Monophysites and is
said to have been a constant source of pro-Monophysite intrigues at the court in
Constantinople in the earlier years. In the course of his reign, Justinian, who
had a genuine interest in matters of theology, authored a small number of
theological treatises.

Religious policy

 

As in his secular administration,
despotism
appeared also in the Emperor’s
ecclesiastical policy. He regulated everything, both in religion and in law.

At the very beginning of his reign, he deemed it proper to promulgate by law
the Church’s belief in the
Trinity
and the
Incarnation
; and to threaten all
heretics
with the appropriate penalties;
whereas he subsequently declared that he intended to deprive all disturbers of
orthodoxy of the opportunity for such offense by
due process
of law. He made the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan
creed the sole symbol of the Church, and accorded legal force to the
canons
of the four
ecumenical
councils. The bishops in attendance
at the
Second Council of Constantinople
in 553
recognized that nothing could be done in the Church contrary to the emperor’s
will and command; while, on his side, the emperor, in the case of the
Patriarch Anthimus
, reinforced the ban of the
Church with temporal proscription. Justinian protected the purity of the church
by suppressing heretics. He neglected no opportunity for securing the rights of
the Church and clergy
, for protecting and extending
monasticism
. He granted the monks the right to
inherit property from private citizens and the right to receive solemnia or
annual gifts from the Imperial treasury or from the taxes of certain provinces
and he prohibited lay confiscation of monastic estates.

Although the despotic character of his measures is contrary to modern
sensibilities, he was indeed a “nursing father” of the Church. Both the Codex
and the Novellae contain many enactments regarding donations,
foundations, and the administration of ecclesiastical property; election and
rights of bishops, priests and abbots; monastic life, residential obligations of
the clergy, conduct of divine service, episcopal jurisdiction, et cetera.
Justinian also rebuilt the Church of
Hagia Sophia
(which cost 20,000 pounds of
gold), the original site having been destroyed during the Nika riots. The new
Hagia Sophia, with its numerous chapels and shrines, gilded octagonal dome, and
mosaics
, became the centre and most visible
monument of
Eastern Orthodoxy
in Constantinople.

Religious
relations with Rome

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From the middle of the 5th century onward, increasingly arduous tasks
confronted the emperors of the East in ecclesiastical matters. For one thing,
the radicals on all sides felt themselves constantly repelled by the creed
adopted by the
Council of Chalcedon
to defend the biblical
doctrine of the nature of Christ and bridge the gap between the
dogmatic
parties. The letter of
Pope Leo I
to
Flavian of Constantinople
was widely considered
in the East as the work of
Satan
; so that nobody cared to hear of the
Church of Rome. The Emperors, however, had a policy of preserving the unity
between Constantinople and

Rome; and this remained possible only if they did not swerve from the
line defined at
Chalcedon
. In addition, the factions in the
East that had become stirred up and disaffected because of Chalcedon needed
restraining and pacifying. This problem proved the more difficult because, in
the East, the dissenting groups exceeded supporters of Chalcedon both in
numerical strength and in intellectual ability. Tension from the incompatibility
of the two aims grew: whoever chose Rome and the West must renounce the East,
and vice versa.

 

Justinian entered the arena of ecclesiastical statecraft shortly after his
uncle’s accession in 518, and put an end to the
Monophysite

schism
that had prevailed between Rome and
Constantinople since 483. The recognition of the
Roman see
as the highest ecclesiastical
authority remained the cornerstone of his Western policy. Offensive as it was to
many in the East, nonetheless Justinian felt himself entirely free to take a
Despotic stance toward the

popes such as
Silverius
and
Vigilius
. While no compromise could ever be
accepted by the dogmatic wing of the church, his sincere efforts at
reconciliation gained him the approval of the major body of the church. A signal
proof was his attitude in the
Theopaschite controversy
. At the outset he was
of the opinion that the question turned on a quibble of words. By degrees,
however, Justinian came to understand that the formula at issue not only
appeared orthodox, but might also serve as a conciliatory measure toward the
Monophysites, and he made a vain attempt to do this in the religious conference
with the followers of
Severus of Antioch
in 533.

Again, Justinian moved toward compromise in the religious edict of 15 March
533, and congratulated himself that
Pope John II
admitted the orthodoxy of the
imperial confession. The serious blunder that he had made at the beginning by
abetting a severe persecution of the Monophysite bishops and monks and thereby
embittering the population of vast regions and provinces, he remedied
eventually. His constant aim now remained to win over the Monophysites, yet not
to surrender the Chalcedonian faith. For many at court, he did not go far
enough: Theodora especially would have rejoiced to see the Monophysites favoured
unreservedly. Justinian, however, felt restrained by the complications that
would have ensued with the West. But in the condemnation of the
Three Chapters
Justinian tried to
satisfy both the East and the West, but succeeded in satisfying neither.
Although the pope assented to the condemnation, the West believed that the
Emperor had acted contrary to the decrees of Chalcedon. Though many delegates
emerged in the East subservient to Justinian, many, especially the Monophysites,
remained unsatisfied; all the more bitter for him because during his last years
he took an even greater interest in theological matters.

Suppression of
religions

 

Justinian’s religious policy reflected the Imperial conviction that the unity
of the Empire unconditionally presupposed unity of faith; and it appeared to him
obvious that this faith could only be the
Orthodox
(Nicaean). Those of a different belief
had to recognize that the process of consolidation, which imperial legislation
had effected from the time of
Constantius II
, would now vigorously continue.
The Codex contained two
statutes
that decreed the total destruction of
paganism
, even in private life; these
provisions were zealously enforced. Contemporary sources (John
Malalas,
Theophanes
,
John of Ephesus
) tell of severe persecutions,
even of men in high position.

Perhaps the most noteworthy event occurred in 529 when the
Neoplatonic Academy
of
Athens
was placed under state control as
paganism by order of Justinian, effectively strangling this training school for
Hellenistic philosophy
and science.
Paganism
was actively suppressed. In
Asia Minor
alone, John of Ephesus claimed to
have
converted
70,000 pagans. Other peoples also
accepted Christianity: the
Heruli
, the

Huns dwelling near the
Don
, the
Abasgi
, and the
Tzanni
in
Caucasia
.

The worship of Amun
at
Augila
in the
Libyan
desert was abolished; and so were the
remnants of the worship of

Isis on the island of
Philae
, at the first
cataract
of the

Nile. The
Presbyter Julian
and the
Bishop Longinus
conducted a mission among the
Nabataeans
, and Justinian attempted to
strengthen
Christianity
in
Yemen
by despatching a bishop from
Egypt
.

The civil rights of
Jews
were restricted and their religious
privileges threatened. Justinian also interfered in the internal affairs of the
synagogue
, and he encouraged the Jews to use
the Greek Septuagint
in their synagogues in
Constantinople.

The Emperor had much trouble with the
Samaritans
, who resisted conversion to
Christianity and were repeatedly in insurrection. He opposed them with rigorous
edicts, but yet could not prevent hostilities towards Christians from taking
place in Samaria
toward the close of his reign. The
consistency of Justinian’s policy meant that the
Manicheans
too suffered severe persecution,
experiencing both exile and threat of capital punishment. At
Constantinople
, on one occasion, not a few
Manicheans, after strict inquisition, were executed in the emperor’s very
presence: some by burning, others by
drowning
.

Architecture, learning, art and literature

Justinian was a prolific builder; the historian Procopius bears witness to
his activities in this area. Under Justinian’s patronage the
San Vitale
in Ravenna, which features two
famous mosaics representing Justinian and Theodora, was completed. Most notably,
he had the
Hagia Sophia
, originally a
basilica
-style church that had been burnt down
during the Nika riots
, splendidly rebuilt according to a
completely different ground plan, under the architectural supervision of
Isidore of Miletus
and
Anthemius of Tralles
. According to Procopius,
Justinian stated at the completion of this edifice, “Solomon I have outdone
thee” (in reference to the 1st Jewish temple). This new cathedral, with its
magnificent dome filled with mosaics, remained the centre of eastern
Christianity for centuries.

Another prominent church in the capital, the
Church of the Holy Apostles
, which had been in
a very poor state near the end of the 5th century, was likewise rebuilt. Works
of embellishment were not confined to churches alone: excavations at the site of
the
Great Palace of Constantinople
have yielded
several high-quality mosaics dating from Justinian’s reign, and a
column topped by a bronze statue
of Justinian
on horseback and dressed in a military costume was erected in the
Augustaeum
in Constantinople in 543. Rivalry
with other, more established patrons from the Constantinopolitan and exiled
Roman aristocracy (like
Anicia Juliana
) may have enforced Justinian’s
building activities in the capital as a means of strengthening his dynasty’s
prestige.

Justinian also strengthened the borders of the Empire from Africa to the East
through the construction of fortifications, and ensured Constantinople of its
water supply through construction of underground
cisterns
(see
Basilica Cistern
). To prevent floods from
damaging the strategically important border town
Dara
,
an advanced arch dam
was built. During his
reign the large
Sangarius Bridge
was built in
Bithynia
, securing a major military supply
route to the east. Furthermore, Justinian restored cities damaged by earthquake
or war and built a new city near his place of birth called
Justiniana Prima
, which was intended to replace
Thessalonica
as the political and religious
centre of
Illyricum
.

In Justinian’s era, and partly under his patronage, Byzantine culture
produced noteworthy historians, including
Procopius
and
Agathias
, and poets such as
Paul the Silentiary
and
Romanus the Melodist
flourished during his
reign. On the other hand, centres of learning as the Platonic Academy in Athens
and the famous
Law School of Beirut
lost their importance
during his reign. Despite Justinian’s passion for the glorious Roman past, the
practice of choosing
Roman consul
was allowed to lapse after 541.

Economy and
administration

 

As was the case under Justinian’s predecessors, the Empire’s economic health
rested primarily on agriculture. In addition, long-distance trade flourished,
reaching as far north as
Cornwall
where
tin
was exchanged for Roman wheat. Within the Empire, convoys sailing from
Alexandria
provided Constantinople with wheat
and grains. Justinian made the traffic more efficient by building a large
granary on the island of
Tenedos
for storage and further transport to
Constantinople. Justinian also tried to find new routes for the eastern trade,
which was suffering badly from the wars with the Persians.

One important luxury product was

silk, which was imported and then processed in the Empire. In order
to protect the manufacture of silk products, Justinian granted a monopoly to the
imperial factories in 541. In order to bypass the Persian landroute, Justinian
established friendly relations with the
Abyssinians
, whom he wanted to act as trade
mediators by transporting Indian silk to the Empire; the Abyssinians, however,
were unable to compete with the Persian merchants in India. Then, in the early
550s, two monks succeeded in
smuggling eggs of silk worms
from
Central Asia
back to Constantinople, and silk
became an indigenous product.

Gold and silver were mined in the Balkans, Anatolia, Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt
and Nubia.

 

At the start of Justinian I’s reign he had inherited a surplus 28,800,000
solidi (400,000 pounds of gold) in the imperial treasury from Anastasius I
and Justin I
. Under Justinian’s rule, measures were
taken to counter corruption in the provinces and to make tax collection more
efficient. Greater administrative power was given to both the leaders of the
prefectures
and of the provinces, while power
was taken away from the
vicariates
of the
dioceses
, of which a number were abolished. The
overall trend was towards a simplification of administrative infrastructure.
According to
Brown
(1971), the increased professionalization
of tax collection did much to destroy the traditional structures of provincial
life, as it weakened the autonomy of the town councils in the Greek towns. It
has been estimated that before Justinian I’s reconquests the state had an annual
revenue of 5,000,000 solidi in AD 530, but after his reconquests, the
annual revenue was increased to 6,000,000 solidi in AD 550.

Throughout Justinian’s reign, the cities and villages of the East prospered,
although Antioch
was struck by two earthquakes (526,
528) and sacked and evacuated by the Persians (540). Justinian had the city
rebuilt, but on a slightly smaller scale.

Despite all these measures, the Empire suffered several major setbacks in the
course of the 6th century. The first one was the
plague
, which lasted from 541 to 543 and, by
decimating the Empire’s population, probably created a scarcity of labor and a
rising of wages. The lack of manpower also led to a significant increase in the
number of “barbarians” in the Byzantine armies after the early 540s. The
protracted war in Italy and the wars with the Persians themselves laid a heavy
burden on the Empire’s resources, and Justinian was criticized for curtailing
the government-run post service, which he limited to only one eastern route of
military importance.