EMPEROR JUSTINIAN

Emperor Justinian

Emperor Justinian

Introduction

The reign of Justinian showed the last time the Roman Empire could ever go on the offensive and hoping to succeed. The birth name of emperor Justinian was Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus and he was born at the village of Tauresium in Illyria. He was adopted by his uncle named Justin. It is said that Justinian had a lot of influence on his uncle, who at the time was an emperor himself. His mother's name was Vigilantia who was the sister of Emperor Justin. Justin was an imperial guard in the Roman army and he bought Justinian to Constantinople to educate him. Because of this, Justinian was well known in jurisprudence, theology and Roman history.

Discussion

The reign of emperor Justinian is considered to be an extremely important period in the history. It marked the end of the Roman Empire and the formation of the new Byzantine Empire. He is also known to help in the spread of Islam as well as the rise of the Franks. During his rule, Justinian invaded Vandal, Visigothic and Ostrogothic kingdoms (540-554). He again conquered most of the west lands of the Mediterranean. During the time, the German kings were supposed to the viceroys of the emperors of the east. These kings were Arians who preached and practiced a form of Christianity which was considered as blasphemy by the then established Roman Church. Amongst the Arians, the Vandals were considered to be more obsessive and they started seizing orthodox churches and turned them in to a place of worship of the Arians. The Vandals were few in number and mostly used terror as a weapon to keep their subjects in line. In the Vandalic kingdom, the orthodox Christians were of their freedom, rights, property and even their lives.

This forced a few African Christians to appeal to Justinian and prove himself as the defender of faith. Thus, Justinian decided to bring the west back under the control of the Romans. However, most people of the west did not want Roman Justice and their taxation and so they joined the German armies to fight off the eastern attacks and wars started from here on. Even during all the wars and tributes sent by Justinian, he was left with enough money to start a building program. He is mostly remembered for building the church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople, now known as Istanbul. Justinian is also remembered for establishing and organizing the first code of Law known as The Corpus Iuris Civilis. During his rule, Justinian realized that the realms of his empire were actually Greek and if this fact would be recognized, the imperial administration would become much more effective than ever. This way, the eastern empire became more eastern in its customs as well as outlooks.

During the western wars, Justinian maintained peace with Persians. The method for peace he used is said to be a major mistake of his rule as he constantly paid tributes in gold and where his armies were ...