by Comrade Shoaib Nagi

Created on: December 20, 2009

Justinian I was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 until his death. He is renowned for the great codification of Roman law. He is revered by Eastern Orthodox Christians as a saint while Procopius, who was a Byzantine scholar of his time, views Justinian as a tyrant.

Justinian was born in 483 AD in Tauresium, which is in present-day Macedonia. He was the nephew of Justin I, who was a Thracian peasant who worked his way up in the army to become the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire. With the help of his uncle, Justinian received good education and was much loved by his uncle which became a cause for Justinian’s rapid advancement. Justin I, as he was childless, made Justinian as co-emperor with him in 527. Later that year, Justin died and Justinian I became the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire and remained as the ruler till his own death in 565.

Seven years before his birth, the Western Roman Empire fell into the hands of the barbaric German tribes and only the Eastern part with its center in Constantinople remained intact. When he became the emperor, he was quite determined to re-conquer these lost lands back into the mighty Roman Empire. He was partly successful as he recaptured most of Italy, North Africa and some parts of Spain.

But the main thing that signifies Justinian’s position in history was his brain-child of the codification of the Roman law. As soon as he took office in 528, he set up a commission to produce a code of imperial laws. The commission published their work first in 529. The set of laws were revised and enacted into a statute five years later. This set of laws or Codex became the first portion of Corpus Juris Civilis. The second portion was Pandects, which was the summary of the views of prominent Roman legal writers while the third portion was Institutes, which became the handbook for law students. Laws passed by Justinian after the adoption of Codex were joined together into the Novellae, which was published after his death. This ordered codification was carried out by a group of legal scholars headed by the great legal expert Tribonian.

He also devoted himself to other administrative reforms specially against corruption inside the government. He engaged in a massive building program and under his reign many different fortresses, monasteries and churches were erected, the most famous being the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. There was tremendous increase in taxation due to costly wars and building program and it resulted in public discontent.

This discontent came to limelight in 532, when there was a rebellion by partisans of the chariot racing factions. This rebellion nearly cost Justinian his throne. Initially, the rebels forced Justinian to make some administrative changes. While the rebellion was growing intense, Justinian thought of fleeing the city, but on the words of his wife Theodora he remained in the city and decided to crush the rebellion. He ordered the crushing of the rebellion under two of his generals. Thousands of civilians died in the suppression of the revolt. After this suppression, his throne became secure but he still remained unpopular among many people and the crowd showed the sign of relief at his death. Justinian I died in 565 after ruling the Roman Empire for around 38 years. His nephew, Justin II succeeded him as the emperor of the Roman Empire.

His influence is still much, mainly because of his codification of laws. The Codex influenced many modern European laws and became the principle basis of legal systems in Europe. His reign was a mixture of ups and downs, of defeats and victories and of course of popularity and unpopularity. 

Learn more about this author, Comrade Shoaib Nagi.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.