What was the most significant contribution of the Emperor Justinian to the Byzantine Empire?

Answer 1

The reign of Justinian I is seen as a distinct period of Byzantine history by historians. It was a period of conquest, splendour, great prosperity and important public works, and administrative and religious reforms andimperialunity.

Justinian I wanted to ‘restore’ the Roman Empire by reconquering the lands lost by the Western Roman Empire as a result of the Germanic invasions. He succeeded in defeating the Vandals in Africa, retaking this area, the Ostrogoths, retaking Italy, Sicily and Dalmatia (on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea) and the Visigoths in Spain, retaking southern Spain. This gave him control of the western Mediterranean. The large state revenues the conquests generated (they increased by 20%) helped him with an ambitious programme of church building and public works. He rebuilt the damaged Church of the Holy Apostles and the Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople, which were both badly damaged, and built the church of San Vitale in Ravenna (the centre of Byzantine rule in Italy). He built underground cisterns to secure water supply for Constantinople, including the massive Basilica Cistern (453 by 212 feet and 30 ft. high)). He built a dam is southwestern Turkey to prevent flood and the Sangiarius bridge in northwestern Turkey to secure a supply route to the east for the army. He built border fortifications from Africa to the East. Justinian restored towns damaged by an earthquake and built a new city, Justiniana Prima, as the new capital of the province of Illyria. He built a massive granary on an island near Constantinople to make the grain traffic form Egypt more efficient. He also established diplomatic relations with Ethiopia to bypass the land Silk Road through Persia because there were wars with Persia and managed to establish a local production of silk.

Justinian I took measures to tackle corruption in the provinces and made tax collection more efficient by increasing its professionalization. He protected the purity of the official church and persecuted dissident Christian sects and paganism. He secured the rights of the church and the clergy and protected and expanded the monastic orders. He granted the monks the right to inherit property from private individuals and to receive annual gits for the state of from taxes and banned the confiscation of monastic property. He gave the canons of the church legal force and issued laws regarding the administration of church property, the elections and rights and obligations of the clergy, the conduct of service and episcopal jurisdiction. Justinian I was one of the most important emperors in the history of the Orthodox Church. He described as a ‘nursing father’ of the church and put it on a more solid footing, and redefined its structure. Justinian’s rule was quite despotic. He regulated everything in administration, law and religion tightly. It was said that the church could do nothing contrary to his will.

Justinian I’s most enduring legacy was his commissioning of the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil law) which was later called the Justinian Code. This was a digest of centuries of Roman civil law and gave a uniform organisation this law, scrapped obsolete enactments and redefined obscure passages. It also included a collection of essays by famous jurists and a student textbook. The Corpus Juiris Civilis has provided the basis of the civil law of many modern countries.

Towards the end of his reign, the splendour and prosperity of his reign was undone by the outbreak of a major plague which decimated the population of the empire. Its impact has been compared to that of the Black Death in the Middle Ages.

Answer 2

Justinian made a cod called "Justinian's Code" which became the basis for many legal codes in the western world.

Answer 3

Justinian's code of law was the most important contribution to the Byzantine Empire.

Source: AP World History student