Justinian I (Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinius ) May 11 483- November 14 565

1. Marc Kitteringham Justinian I (Flavius PetrusSabbatiusIustinius)May 11 483- November 14 565

2. Justinian’s Empire swords=battles suns=religious landmarks

3. Timeline 541 bypass persian land route 559 Constantinople threatened 483 birth 533 conquest of north africa 552 apogee of persian expansion 565 death

4. Historical content During the time of Justinian's life, many things happened that shaped his and the world’s future. Rome was sacked in 410 C.E., thus bringing the end of the western roman empire. The Huns were in china and moving towards the west. The fall of Rome left a power vacuum soon taken up by the byzantine empire. Frankish king Clovis started the first parts of feudalism in Europe and, elsewhere, the Mayan city of Chichen Itza was founded.

5. biography Justinian was born in 483 in the city of Tauresium, Dardania. When he inherited the byzantine empire, he was determined to regain former roman provinces. He conquered the vandals in north africa in 534 and had a victory over the ostrogoths in 540. even with the victories at the beginning of the campaign against the goths, the war continued for twenty years until the byzantines finally won in 562. this victory gained them control of italy. Slavs, bulgars, huns and avars were always trying to invade to the north of italy and persia was an imminent threat until 561. he changed the roman law from the days of the roman empire. These changes inspired a revolt in the capital. The nearly succesful revolution was in 532. justinian’s wife, theodora helped crush the revolt. Building monuments was a large part of justinian’s rule. The hagia sophia was one of his larger monuments.

6. Justinian’s law code Corpus Iurius Civilis (body of civil law), was created in 529. its purpose was to simplify and codify the complicated and sometimes unjust laws of the roman empire. Since it was the last roman document to be written in Latin, it was later used in all continental Europe.

7. Religion • Justinian saw the orthodoxy of his empire being corrupted by religions diverging. The main divergent was a form of Christianity called monophysitism which believed that Christ was completely divine and not human. Near the end of his life, however, Justinian began to follow monophysitism. He died before he could make any ruling doctrines to change the religion of his empire.

8. Rise to the throne • After emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justinian's uncle Justin became emperor. Justinian served as counsel and eventually assistant emperor until his uncle died in 527. Justinian was left as the sole ruler of the roman empire.

9. “The Emperor Who Never Sleeps” • Justinian was an emperor with an incredible work ethic. He worked long hours into the night earning him the nickname “the emperor who never sleeps” he had no noble background and married a courtesan. This inter-class marriage would’ve been impossible if his uncle Justin hadn’t passed a law permitting intermarriage between classes. His reign was not universally accepted. The Nika riots and a plan for a coup were factors that almost took the throne from him. Political unrest wasn’t the only turmoil in his life. He suffered from a plague, but recovered and lost his wife Theodora to what was suspected to be cancer

10. bibliography • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I