I. The Reign of Justinian
Justinian inherited the throne as a nephew. His goal was to take back all of the land that the empire had lost. He began this quest in 533. Belisarius was considered one of the best generals in his time, and he was a force to be reckoned with. The army went to North Africa and took hold of it from the Vandals. Then they moved to Italy once they had taken over Sicily. In 552, after much fighting, they defeated the Ostrogoths at last. This war ended up hurting Italy, however, instead of helping it. One reason that it was destructive was the fact that it took so much money. It ended up though, that most of the money was used in fighing a plague in 542. At the end of his life, he had control of North Africa, Italy, Spain, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Syria. Though he reconquered all of this land, the Lombards came through and essentially took much of it back.
II. The Codification of Roman Law
Justinian had a huge impact on Roman Law. He hired Trebonian, a jurist, to make a list of imperial edicts. He now had the Code of Law in 529, which was a small part of the Corpus Iuris Civilis. He then added more parts like the Digest, the Institutes, and the Novels, which were added about four years later. Until the Byzantine Empire collapsed in 1453, this was how law was classified. Not only was it used in the Byzantine Empire, but later on, many European countries also identified this codification.
III. Intellectual Life Under Justinian
Many classical studies were common in the empire under Justinian. Many Greek stories were preserved, but there was also much importance placed on Roman works. Most of these works were either historical or religious. One very famous historian was a man named Procopius, who lived from 500-562. He was a secretary of Belisarius, and often traveled with the military. He wrote a work called the Wars which talked mainly about battles around the Mediterranean. He also wrote a book that contains mostly gossip and is titled Secret History.
IV. The Empress Theodora
Theodora's father was a "keeper of the bears", but he died when she was still young. She became an actress just like her mother was. When she was about 25 years old, she met Justinian when he was 40. Just so that they could marry, Justinian's father changed the law. They had a very loving relationship, and she had an opinion in government as well as church matters. In 532, people were rioting in the streets and wanted to get rid of Justinian, but Theodora told him otherwise, and so he fought against them and ended the protest.
V. The Emperor's Building Program
Since the people rioting had demolished a lot of the city, Justinian decided to rebuild it, not knowing that it would be around for another 1000 years. There were already defensive walls around the city, so he did not need to replace them. He did however build roads, bridges, walls, pulic baths, hospitals, schools, monasteries, churches, law courts and many water reservoirs. He also built a palace that swallowed the city in terms of size. He built the Hippodrome, which was a very big arena. His favorite thing to build were churches and he built about 34 just in Constantinople. One of the most famous was Hagia Sophia which was finished in 537 and had a dome roof. The dome also looked magnificent and was an architectural feat in those days. There were many windows at the base of the dome and the light that shone through them was to remind people of God. The Hippodrome was built with tons of marble, and it was able to seat around 60,000 people. There were gladiator fights as well as chariot races there. Charioteers who won would even get their own statue in the city. Chariot racing was a big part of a Constantinople citizen's life.
VI. Life in Constantinople
Constantinople had the largest population in Europe in the Middle Ages with over 100,000 people. The city served as the place where eastern and western trade met in the middle. The demand for eastern goods was high. Things such as silk, ivory, spices, honey, furs, and jewelry were traded from east to west. Not only did Constantinople serve as the trading center, but they also export things. There were two monks that stole silk worms from the Chinese and started making their own silk, and the Europeans bought a lot of it. Some of the emperors and empresses also traded things that they produced.