Who was Justinian in the Roman Empire and what was his major goal?

Answer 1

Justinian I 483–565, Byzantine emperor (527–65), nephew and successor of Justin I Justin I, c.450–527, Byzantine emperor (518–27); successor of Anastasius I. He was chief of the imperial guard and became emperor when Anastasius died. He was responsible for much imperial policy during his uncle's reign. Soon after becoming emperor, Justinian instituted major administrative changes and tried to increase state revenues at the expense of his subjects. Justinian's fiscal policies, the discontent of the Monophysites at his orthodoxy, and the loyalty of the populace to the family of Anastasius I produced the Nika riot (532), which would have cost Justinian his throne but for the firmness of his wife, Empress Theodora Theodora and the aid of his great generals, Belisarius Belisarius and Narses Narses c.478–c. Justinian, through Belisarius and Narses, recovered Africa from the Vandals (533–48) and Italy from the Ostrogoths (535–54). He was less successful in fighting the Persians and was unable to prevent the raids of the Slavs and the Bulgars. Justinian's policy of caesaropapism (i.e., the supremacy of the emperor over the church) included not only matters of organization, but also matters of dogma. In 553, seeking to reconcile the Monophysites to the church, he called a council but accomplished nothing and finally tended to drift into heresy himself. Justinian's greatest accomplishment was the codification of Roman law, commonly called the Corpus Juris Civilis Corpus Juris Civilis executed under his direction by Tribonian Tribonian (Tribonianus) It gave unity to the centralized state and greatly influenced all subsequent legal history. Justinian erected many public works, of which the church of Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia is the most notable. He was succeeded by his nephew, Justin II. The writings of Procopius Procopius are the main source of information on Justinian's reign.

Answer 2

Justinian is one of the Great Emperor's name, and he reconquered much of the land of the old Roman Empire. He also issued a new law code known as the Justinian Code.

ps. Dude, just look at the book summary, stupid. :(

Answer 3

Justinian was Roman Emperor from 527-565: he ruled from Constantinople, and is generally known as a Byzantine Emperor (since Constantinople was built on the foundations of the city called Byzantium).

Justinian set about to restore the Roman Empire, beginning with the reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals. His generals went on to defeat the Ostrogoths, who had ruled for many years in the former western European territories, taking possession of Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy and Rome, but with a terrible loss of life and property. Most of southern Spain was recovered.

As part of his restoration efforts he ordering a systematic rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of much civil law. He organized a massive building programme, and was responsible for many glorious churches being built, including the famous Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

Answer 4

The reign of Justinian I (or the Great) is seen by historians as a distinct period of Byzantine history. It was a period of conquest, great prosperity, important public works, administrative and religious reforms and imperial unity. Byzantine Empire is a term which has been coined by historians to indicate the eastern part of the Roman Empire after the fall of the western part. The western part fell under the weight of the invasions by the Germanic peoples who took over all of its lands except for Italy. The eastern part was not affected by these invasions and continued to exist for another 1,000 years.

Justinian's major achievements were: 1) the reconquest of territories lost by the western part of the Roman Empire when it fell; 2) laws which redefined, protected and strengthened the Orthodox Church; 3) important public works; 4) the commissioning of the Corpus Juris Civilis (also dubbed Justinian Code).

Justinian I wanted to 'restore' the Roman Empire by reconquering the lands lost by the western part of the Roman Empire as a result of the Germanic invasions. He succeeded in defeating the Vandals in north-western Africa, retaking this area, the Ostrogoths, retaking Italy, Sicily and Dalmatia (on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea) and the Visigoths, retaking southern Spain. This was a major achievement and gave him control of the western Mediterranean. The large state revenues the conquests generated (they increased by 20%) helped him with an ambitious programme of church building and public works.

Justinian I was one of the most important emperors in the history the Orthodox Church, the official church of the empire. He was described as a nursing father of the church. He put the church on a more solid footing and redefined its structure. He wanted to protect its purity and persecuted dissident Christian sects. He secured the rights of the church and the clergy and protected and expanded the monastic orders. He granted the monks the right to inherit property from private individuals and to receive annual gifts for the state and banned the confiscation of monastic property. He gave the canons of the church legal force and issued laws regarding the administration of church property, the elections, rights and obligations of the clergy, the conduct of service and episcopal jurisdiction.

Justinian rebuilt the badly damaged Church of the Holy Apostles and Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople, and built the church of San Vitale in Ravenna (the centre of Byzantine rule in Italy). He built underground cisterns to secure the water supply for Constantinople, including the massive Basilica Cistern (453x 212 feet and 30 ft. high). He built a dam is south-western Turkey to prevent floods and the Sangiarius bridge in north-western Turkey to secure a supply route to the east for the army. He built border fortifications from Africa to the East. Justinian restored towns damaged by an earthquake and built a new city, Justiniana Prima, as the new capital of the province of Illyria. He built a massive granary on an island near Constantinople to make the grain traffic form Egypt more efficient. He also established diplomatic relations with Ethiopia to bypass the land Silk Road through Persia because there were wars with Persia and managed to establish a local production of silk.

Justinian I also undertook measures to tackle corruption in the provinces and made tax collection more efficient by increasing its professionalization. Justinian's rule was quite despotic. He regulated everything in administration, law and religion tightly. It was said that the church could do nothing contrary to his will. He started the byzantine tradition of the emperor being in charge of the church.

Justinian I commissioned the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) which was dubbed Justinian code in the 16th century. It was a review of imperial laws going back 400 years (to the time of Hadrian). It scrapped obsolete or unnecessary laws, made changes when necessary and clarified obscure passages. Its aim was to put the laws into books (previously they were written on many different scrolls), harmonise conflicting views among jurists which arose from centuries of poorly organised development of Roman law and have a uniform and coherent body of law. It also included the Institutiones (a textbook for first year law students), the Digesta (a collection of fragments taken from essays on laws written by jurists, which was used as an advanced law student textbook) and the Novellae Constitutiones (a collection of the laws issued by Justinian).

Answer 5

Justinian was the emperor of Byzantium and tried to rebuild the fallen Roman Empire.