Imperial Image-Making

Justinian reigned from which dates?

527-65 AD

When did Justinian marry Theodora?

At some point in the 520s

From which dates was Justinian sole emperor?

536-565 AD

When did Theodora die?

548 AD

Which two places did Justinian ‘reconquer’?

North Africa and Italy

When did war with Persia end?

532 AD

In which year did reconquests begin?

533 AD

Where did reconquest begin? Against who?

Carthage, against the Vandals

When were the Justinianic Wars?

535-54 AD

By what date has Justinian conquered most of the Peninsula?

540

By which date has Justinian reconquered all of Italy? What has happened by this stage?

562 AD, by which stage the Italian countryside is decimated

What happens relating to the Lombards, and what date did this occur?

In 569 AD, the Lombards invade from Northern Italy, reclaiming Italy and depleting the Romans

Which frontiers did Justinian fortify?

The Eastern (Persian) and Northern (Balkan) frontiers

What legal change was inspired by Theodosius?

The Justinianic Codex

When was Justinian’s Code completed? When was the second edition?

Completed in April 529, second edition in 534

What was the aim of the Codex?

To harmonise 1,000 years of Roman law

What did the Digest aim to do? What did it echo?

To reduce 1,400 years of Roman law, existing alongside the Codex - it echoed the Perpetual Edict from under Hadrian in 135 CE

Who was the Digest intended for?

Law students

Compiling the Digest required how many books and lines of text?

1,500 books and 3 million lines of text

The Digest was declared a what? Who were all laws promulgated to?

Declared a Christian creation - all law promulgated under Jesus Christ

In 531, Justinian becomes the first emperor to do what?

Require court participants to swear Christian oaths upon the Gospels

When did Justinian publish his Institutes?

In 533

Who were the institutes for?

Legal schools and students, now called ‘New Justinians’

Give an external reason for this boost to Roman law

Early 6th century Burgundian and Visigothic kings had begun to create collections of Roman law

Patronage developed, but remained predominately …

Male

Female patronage often related to…

Piety and family, in the form of buildings

Imperial imagery ensured what…

Justinian was not a ‘New Constantine, and Theodora was not a ‘New Helena’

In the 540s, what broke out? How many did it kill?

Justinianic Plague, killing approximately 1/3 of Europe’s population

Who is the most prominent author of primary sources for this period?

Procopius of Caesarea

Why was Procopius important?

Was an eye-witness to many events he documented, and his writings left an ‘official’ version of events alongside personal works

Procopius’ job had been what?

Secretary to General Belisarius

Procopius wrote most of his works during which period?

The 550s

When did Procopius spend most of his time in Constantinople?

During the 540s

Which slanderous work did Procopius keep private? What did it talk about?

The Anecdota (Secret History), which insulted both Justinian as lovesick and foolish, and Theodora as a sex-addict and temptress

Regarding the Anecdota, Brubaker declares it a what? Hint: IotIP

an ‘inversion of the imperial panegyric’

Procopius’ work regarding Justinian’s military campaigns was called what?

The Wars

What does the Wars discuss? Give three things.

The Nikka revolt, and the burning of Constantinople (including the Hagia Sophia), and Theodora’s masculine traits

The Wars has 8 volumes - how many times is Theodora mentioned?

8 times, but 7 of these are merely in passing

The Wars covers campaigns against which three groups?

The Vandals, Goths, and Persians

What building has both Justinian and Theodora’s initials carved into it?

The Hagia Sophia

Procopius’ most positive and public work was called…

‘Buildings’

What did Buildings discuss?

The grand and notable works of Justinian, and Theodora’s and Justinian’s ‘common piety’

Regarding the Buildings, Brubaker states what? Hint: ‘PUtECPtEhPatLhFitTotIB-RotOTaoRIBsaA’

‘Procopius used the emperor’s construction program to establish his piety and to locate him firmly in the tradition of the idealized builder-rulers of the Old Testament and of Roman imperial builders such as Augustus’

Who rivalled Procopius lengthy account? What did he write?

John of Ephesus, who wrote an Ecclesiastical History

John of Ephesus was a what?

Monophysite

Why can’t we entirely believe John’s account?

He self-inserts himself within the narrative

What does Harvey say about John’s work? Hint ‘IoIA, bWaTotGHBI’

That it rivals Procopius’ due to ‘intimacy of imperial access, but without a trace of the Greek historians [Procopius] bitter incentive’