The Emperor Justinian
D.M. Nicol assesses Justinian's valiant attempt to restore the splendours of Imperial Rome, by turning back the clock to the days of Augustus, and making the Mediterranean once again a Roman lake, concluding it “was impractical and largely a failure. But it was a glorious failure."
Every ordinary-looking man, of medium height, neither fat nor thin, with curly hair and a round, smooth, genial face lit by a ruddy complexion and the hint of a smile: so Procopius describes the Emperor, and so the surviving portraits show him to have been. Although his parents were simple Macedonian peasants, and although his uncle and predecessor the Emperor Justin I was totally illiterate, Justinian had imbibed the education and the civilizing influences of the city of Constantinople.
He had, in fact, directed imperial policy for most of his uncle’s nine-year reign; and when he succeeded him in 527 at the age of forty-five, his ideal of the Roman Empire was already fully formulated. Added to his remarkable intellectual attainments he had, a quick native wit, a boundless energy of mind and body and an astonishing range of interests. There was no department of Church or State that he considered to be beyond his competence; he had a respect amounting to awe for his divine authority as Emperor; and yet he was always accessible to his subjects.
To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.
Start my trial subscription now
If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.
Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.
