Justinian and Theodora -- The Price of an Empire Reborn

Justinian’s Time

Golden age for Byzantines

Justinian: Early Years

• Restless

• Imperial clique

• Anti-pagan laws and against Samaritans

• John — closest accomplice

• Codex Justinianus

Nika Revolt and Aftermath Building Program

• Circus/factions

• Due to emperor’s authoritarianism

• Had to rebuild structures after destruction

• “On Buildings”

• Hagia Sophia church, light, luxurious

• Anicia Juliana: aristocrat, used wealth to construct churches

Reconquest in the West

• Barbarians had control

• Justinian confidently tried to fight for it back

• Defeated vandals

• Then fighting Persians and in Italy

• Got control of a coastal strip in Spain

Theological Controversy

• Monothocytes still

• Theodora was in support of them

• Justinian tried to bridge the two sides but it was difficult

Later Years

• Plague

• Theodora died before Justinian

• Hagia Sophia fell

• Defeated Huns for the moment

Literature and Remembering

• John Lydos wrote about his time and PLANNING AND CALENDAR STUDIES

• Lots of poetry and etc

• Positive and negative

• People didn’t like his stubbornness and intolerance

• Secret History

Legal Reforms

• Most successful, still present now

• Ambitious, wanted clear laws for an orderly empire

  • Enforceable

  • Wants to be able to expand and needs domestic stability to do that

• Existing Latin law codes (legal language)

• New ideas in Greek

  • Increasing, spreading

• Tribonian: leader of creation

• Starting at Adrian (400 years before)

• Quickly created Codex Justinianus

  • Organized laws thematically

  • 12 volumes

  • 4,562 statues

  • OG done in 1 year

Orderly Emperor and More Laws

• Wanted consistency in streets

• Tribonian was very unpopular

• Digest/Pandects: How law has been interpreted over time

• Institutes: Handbook for law schools

• Novels: Laws from Justinian going forward, Greek

  • 4 items: Corpus Juris Civilis (broad impact)

• Solidifying his efforts, such as allowing actresses to marry

  • Theodora’s friend Antonina was able to marry

  • Next empress’ mother was an actress

Foreign Affairs and Money

• War with Persia draining treasury

  • $ were necessary for imperialism

• New Praetorian Prefect of East

  • Chief tax collector

  • John of Capedosia, effective, goes hard to get $ from everyone…dishonest

• Theodora was not happy with John

• John: most hated in the empire

Order?

• Blues and Greens — Stabilizing force

• Street brawl between them, got in trouble for innocent deaths

  • Execution failed…God? Taken to a monastery for refuge

• Blues and Greens came together for the two men

  • Riots when Justinian didn’t do anything

  • Rebelling against other things like imperial officials

• Chaos with mobs, attacking all

• Captain of imperial guard did not want to defend him against mobs

• Hardly anyone supported Justinian

Belasarius

• Supported Justinian with some loyal men

• 1,000 of his vs 100,000 against Justinian

• Didn’t work

Attempting to Put Down Rebellion

• All advisors at a council

• Including Theodora and her Eunic advisor Nareces

  • Eunics were super diverse, 3rd gender?

• Belasarius thought Justinian should leave

• Others wanted to leave with him

• Theodora wanted to stay and die as an empress

  • Against exile and ending “purple” experience

  • Based on upbringing/past

• Justinian allowed Nareces to come up with a plan to end riots

  • Give out tons of coins, tell each side who they’re backed by (emperor for greens and empress for blues)

  • Paying people off again…

  • Military surrounded rioters and massacred about 30,000

• Able to end rebellion, showing Justinian’s strength and vengenance

Population Reaction to End of Rebellion

• Justinian is not a monster

• Applauded

• Violence had to be stopped in their eyes

• Working classes especially grateful

Reconstructing: Aftermath

• Power structure around Justinian: Theodora, Nareces, Belasarius

• Theodora as co-leader

• Rebuilding ruined city

Reconstructing: Hagia Sophia

• Rebuilding bigger and better

• Isador and Athemius

• Gold, purple

• Only took 5 years to build largest church at the time

• Later mosaic of Mary and Jesus

• Intricate, by hand columns

• Spectacular to see sunlight during the day

• 100s of candles at night, like being between Earth and Heaven

  • People’s conversion

  • Lasting power

• Now a mosque — major Christian upset, showing memory in area

• Justinian’s greatest architectural achievement

  • Center of Constantinople

Reconstructing: Persian Negotiation

• Bribe to end fighting

• Little land exchange

• Treaty

• Supposed to be lasting peace, only 6-8 years as usual

Reconstructing: Money

• Efforts cost a lot

• Reinstalled John

• He travelled with bodyguard because of how much Theodora hated him

  • Didn’t trust him

• Theodora and Antonina decided to attack John through daughter Euphemia

  • Said they needed to have a meeting with John about “overthrowing Justinian”

• Theodora and Nareces gave evidence of John being disloyal to Justinian

• Exiled but didn’t kill him

• Theodora threatened to kill him if he came back

  • #nevercrosstheodora

  • Contrast to forgiving Justinian

  • Theodora didn’t even listen to people

Theodora’s Qualities

• Devoted monothocyte

• Devoted wife

• Build personal wealth

• Used for refuge for women trapped into being actresses like her

• Monastery of repentence, helped a ton of women find new hope

• Only Secret History disagreed that she was benefitting women

Reconquest

• Vandals in North Africa first

• “Pirates,” Ostrogoths and Visigoths didn’t like them

• Justinian as leader said he’d fight

Prokopius: Secret History

• It’s very gossipy sounding, “I heard”

• Saying that Justinian and Theodora were actually not good under the surface

• Borderline pornographic

• Pretty much opposite to how they were perceived by everyone else

• Seems like Prokopios had some other motives

Prokopius: Other Works

• Triumphant march (On the Wars)

• Wrote about how Justinian stopped the Nika Revolts, Theodora’s role

• Plague was a very dark experience, thought it was brought on by God

• Silk creation

• De Aedificis: beauty of Hagia Sophia (the Great Church)

Agapetus’ Points of Advice to Justinian

• Emperor and God: idea that God had given the empire power

• Giving the grace of God to the people

• Emperor’s responsibility to obey laws — injustice hurts whole empire

• Equal and leader

• Emperor is representing God on Earth, continuing to promote this concept

Justinian’s Obligation to Recover Territory

• Libya

• Wanting to end “barbarian” rule

The Magister Officiorum

• Master of offices

• Responsibility

Training a Bureaucrat

• Education in ancient classics necessary

• Senate/other bureaucrats have to approve

Plan of the Digest

• 4 law writings

• Looking at all the laws

Institutes

• Talking about how to divide and organize the books

• Importance of laws

Justinian Demotes the Senate

• Became less important

• “Imperial absolutism”

Novella VI: Imperial Authority over the Church

• Emperor as “vicar of God”

• Administering the church

5th Ecumenical Council

• Rejecting idea of one will inside two natures

• Jesus is holy

Byzantine Racing Factions

• Blues and Greens roles

• Not necessarily political

• At imperial hippodrome ceremonies

• At rivalries 

• Served as militia

Greens and Blues

• Justinian favoring a group?

• Problems with Calopodios

Constantinople’s Urban Problems

• Not enough living space for large population

• Poor struggled the most

The Nika Riot

• Procopios

• Explaining what happened

Byzantine trade with the Far East

• Indies area

• Diverse

Gregory of Tours on the “Syrian” Merchants

• Byzantines: “Syrians”

• Praising

Nomisma in the Far East

Merchants universally accepted the Byzantine gold coin. This showed the influence Byzantines had on trade, even all the way to China. Emperors and empresses also appeared on the coins.

Theodora’s Checkered Past

• Gambling

• Secret History was hostile to that

Fun and Games with Theodora

• Secret History

• Saying she had no shame

• Joking

• Very revealing

Reconquering: Western Plans

• Wanted to get it back → planned for years

• Nika Riots, Hagia Sophia, etc should have set back plan, but he was determined

• Would have tried for Gaul if everything worked out

1st Attack: Vandals

• Most vulnerable, in North Africa

• Visigoths against them

• Justinian wanted to protect all subjects from them

• Belasarius and his men crushed them

  • Group fully disappeared in the next years

Belasarius Post-Vandals

• Most-liked in empire

• Justinian thought he was loyal

• Theodora was concerned about him wanting to be emperor

  • Brought him back early to Constantinople

Indigenous People in North Africa

• Vandal control → Byzantine control

• Moors, etc

• War with Byzantines, long war

• Modest success for Belasarius eventually

Balkans

• Slavic migrations, masses

• Justinian had to protect territory there

Italian Attack

• Theodoric (leader) had died

• Had extended territory

• Athalaric (child grandson) was king

• Amalasantha (daughter) became regent, not preferable

  • Theodoric had been raised with a Byzantine view…more feminist ideas

  • She said she’d be loyal to Justinian, sent letters back and forth (cordial)

  • Good ruler and attractive

• Athalaric died in 534

  • Amalasanthra wanted to lead Ostrogoths on her own

  • Resisted, murdered by cousin Theodohad

• Justinian saw opportunity to hold murderers accountable

  • Was Theodora actually assisting though due to letters or politics?

• Had Belasarius go to conquer

• Landed in Sicily, conquered

• Conquered Italy, greatest success

• Ostrogothic rule → Byzantine rule

Religion and Power in Ravenna

• Theodora and vigilus (Pope liason in Constantinople) decided Belasarius should make Vigilius Pope → Monothocytes

• San Vitale and mosaics (Imperial couple) in conquered Ravenna

  • Imperial couple had bread and wine

  • Standing with secular and religious officials

  • Direct powerful connections to Christ

  • Was Bishop more important?

Belasarius Post-Italy

• Ostrogoths wanted him as leader → said no

• Wife Antonina sent a letter to Theodora about this

• Theodora (with Justinian’s agreement) demanded him back

• Discredited

Ostrogoth Rebellion

• Present commanders weren’t as strong as Belasarius

• Ostrogoths got power back

Persians and War Results

• War again

• Byzantines were fighting everyone

• Seemed power in Italy wasn’t possible → Belasarius was unsuccessful

Italian Victory

• 550s: will Byzantines fail?

• Eunuc Narces took control of forces in Italy

  • Theodora trusted him

  • Allowed victory at Battle of Bustigilara

  • Italy was in ruin, making it vulnerable

Plague

• Large Eastern death toll

• Spread around whole area

• Justinian was very ill → full control for Theodora

During Plague: Theodora’s Leadership

• Anxiety for military leaders and anti-monothocytes

• Due to gender and background? 

  • No indication from primary sources

• People were anxious about her stubborness in government

  • Valued loyalty and competence, like Pulcheria

  • Couldn’t be crossed

Conquering Spain

• Invading Visigoths

• Moderate success

Conquering: Gains

• Pretty much what Justinian tried for

• Portions of the west back

• Justinian was micromanaging everything before his death

Conquering: Belasarius

• Success → suspicion

• Justinian became suspicious of him

• Still had to use him as general, cycle of recall

• Accused of using war for personal monetary gains

• Died in 565 before Justinian

• Problematic for him with Antonina and Theodora’s friendship

Persian Outcome

• Took advantage of weakness of being in lots of wars

• Conquered Antioch

• Agreed to 50-year peace treaty with Byzantine bribe

• Trade agreement, no one gets much

• “Cowards” for bribing (disagree)

Slavic Migration Outcome

• “Sclavine”

• Not exactly sure why they migrated

• Others followed in migration

  • Ex: Huns, Bulgars

Trade and Religion: East Africa

• Outside Egypt, Ethiopia

• Important trade partners

• Middlemen with connections

• Byzantines interfered politically in the area

• Monothocyte Christians

Trade and Religion: Monothocytes

• Theodora making Pope Vigilius

• Vigilius actually opposed monothocytes after → outmaneuvered her

• Theodora was able to convert an area to Monothocyte Christianity

  • Bishop of Edessa Baradie

  • Spread of monothocyte Christianity in Syria

  • His church went on to dominate

• Theodora was instrumental in giving monothocyte Christianity new life

• Did Justinian know/care? We don’t know

  • She hid a dethroned bishop for years in her palace area

• Justinian did remove Theodora’s favored bishop in Alexandria

Trade and Religion: 3 Chapters Controversy

• Overturning Chalcedon?

• Theodor, Theodoric, Ibbus were writers deemed as Orthodox

  • Actually Nestorian leanings?

• Heretics → way in for monothocytes

• Had council made mistakes?

• Edict of 3 Chapters: Justinian condemned writers as heretic

• Wanted all 5 bishops to accept

  • Constantinople did

  • Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem pulled Pope card (only this one time)

• Pope Vigilius did not agree

• Imperial couple brought him to the capital to convince him

  • Theodora convinced him right before she died

• Protest against this idea

• No new ideas from Justinian after Theodora’s death

• Vigilius wanted Justinian to call ecumenical council

Trade and Religion: 5th Ecumenical Council

• Justinian stacked (1st time)

• Vigilius threw a fit after being outmaneuvered

  • Justinian let him think about it on an island

• Voted to condemn 3 authors

• Pope would not give in

  • Only in 556, all 5 bishops accepted

  • Planned to renounce council later, but died

• Pilogius: new pope → Byzantine papacy where imperials must approve

• Legacy of Justinian and Theodora

Succession

• Justinian’s nephew Justin 2

• Theodora’s niece Sophia

• Theodora chose them

• Not inheriting as husband and wife, co-rulers instead

  • Justin as senior and Sophia as junior

• Left with large but expensive empire

  • Trade revenues were just enough

• Later leaders had to follow Justinian’s plan

• Justin wanted to be greater and opposite