Choose two accomplishments of Justinian and explain the importance of each?

Answer 1

Justinian's major achievements were: 1) the (temporary) reconquest of territories lost by the western part of the Roman Empire when it fell; 2) laws which redefined, protected and strengthened the Orthodox Church; 3) the commissioning of the Corpus Juris Civilis (also dubbed Justinian Code); 4) important public works. His reign is seen by historians as a distinct period of Byzantine history. It was a period of conquest, great prosperity, important public works, administrative and religious reforms and imperial unity.

Justinian I wanted to 'restore' the Roman Empire by reconquering the lands lost by the western part of the Roman Empire as a result of the Germanic invasions. He succeeded in defeating the Vandals in north-western Africa, retaking this area, the Ostrogoths, retaking Italy, Sicily and Dalmatia (on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea) and the Visigoths, retaking southern Spain. This was a major achievement and gave him control of the western Mediterranean. Although the war in Italy was very costly, the conquests generated a large state revenues the ( they increased by 20%) helped him with an ambitious programme of church building and public works.

Justinian I was one of the most important emperors in the history the Orthodox Church, the official church of the empire. He was described as a nursing father of the church. He put the church on a more solid footing and redefined its structure. He wanted to protect its purity and persecuted dissident Christian sects. 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 gifts for the state 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, rights and obligations of the clergy, the conduct of service and episcopal jurisdiction.

Justinian rebuilt the badly damaged Church of the Holy Apostles and the famous Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople. He built the church of San Vitale in Ravenna (the centre of Byzantine rule in Italy). He built underground cisterns to secure the water supply for Constantinople, including the massive Basilica Cistern (453x 212 feet and 30 ft. high). He built a dam is south-western Turkey to prevent floods and the Sangiarius bridge in north-western 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 commissioned the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) which was dubbed Justinian code in the 16th century. It was a review of imperial laws going back 400 years (to the time of Hadrian). It scrapped obsolete or unnecessary laws, made changes when necessary and clarified obscure passages. Its aim was to put the laws into books (previously they were written on many different scrolls), harmonise conflicting views among jurists which arose from centuries of poorly organised development of Roman law and have a uniform and coherent body of law. It also included the Institutiones (a textbook for first year law students), the Digesta (a collection of fragments taken from essays on laws written by jurists, which was used as an advanced law student textbook) and the Novellae Constitutiones (a collection of the laws issued by Justinian).

Justinian I also undertook measures to tackle corruption in the provinces and made tax collection more efficient by increasing its professionalization. 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. He started the byzantine tradition of the emperor being in charge of the church.