Legislative activities '', an imperial
porphyry head in Venice perhaps representing Justinian Justinian remains well-known for his judicial reforms, particularly through the complete revision of all
Roman law, something that had not previously been attempted. The total of Justinian's legislation is known today as the . It consists of the , the or , the , and the . Early in his reign, Justinian had appointed the
Tribonian to oversee this task. The first draft of the , a codification of imperial constitutions from the 2nd century onward, was issued on 7 April 529. (The final version appeared in 534.) It was followed by the (or ), a compilation of older legal texts, in 533, and by the , a textbook explaining the principles of law. The , a collection of new laws issued during Justinian's reign, supplements the . As opposed to the rest of the corpus, the appeared in
Greek, the common language of the Eastern Empire. The forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including ecclesiastical
Canon Law) and, for historians, provides a valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire. As a collection it gathers together the many sources in which the and the other rules were expressed or published: proper laws,
senatorial consults (), imperial decrees,
case law, and jurists' opinions and interpretations (). Tribonian's code ensured the survival of Roman law. It formed the basis of later Byzantine law, as expressed in the of
Basil I and
Leo VI the Wise. The only western province where the Justinianic code was introduced was Italy (after the conquest by the so-called
Pragmatic Sanction of 554), from where it was to pass to
Western Europe in the 12th century and become the basis of much Continental European law code, which was eventually spread by European empires to the
Americas and beyond in the
Age of Discovery. It eventually passed to
Eastern Europe where it appeared in Slavic editions, and it also passed on to
Russia. It remains influential to this day. His legislations restricted avenues of divorce, including divorce by mutual consent. The latter was overturned by his immediate successor,
Justin II. He passed laws to protect prostitutes from exploitation and women from being
forced into prostitution. Rapists were treated severely. Further, by his policies: women charged with major crimes should be guarded by other women to prevent sexual abuse; if a woman was widowed, her dowry should be returned; and a husband could not take on a major debt without his wife giving her consent twice. Family legislation also revealed a greater concern for the interests of children. This was particularly so with respect to children born out of wedlock. The law under Justinian also reveals a striking interest in child neglect issues. Justinian protected the rights of children whose parents remarried and produced more offspring, or who simply separated and abandoned their offspring, forcing them to beg. Justinian also improved the rights of slaves. Slaves were given the right to plead personally for their freedom, and a master killing his slave would be classified as murder. Justinian acknowledged that slavery was an unnatural state of human existence and not a feature of natural law. The Justinian law retained the principle that a slave was an item of property, but it did not state that a slave was devoid of personality. He passed legislations directed against the Christian "heretics", pagans, Jews and Samaritans, forbidding them from holding public office, destroying their places of worship and restricting the ownership of property. Justinian discontinued the regular appointment of
Consuls in 541.
Nika riots , thought to portray either Justinian or
Anastasius I In January 532, partisans of the
chariot racing factions in Constantinople, normally rivals, united against Justinian in a revolt that has become known as the
Nika riots. They forced him to dismiss
Tribonian and two of his other ministers, and then attempted to overthrow Justinian himself and replace him with the senator
Hypatius, who was a nephew of the late emperor
Anastasius. While the crowd was rioting in the streets, Justinian considered fleeing the capital by sea, but eventually decided to stay, apparently on the prompting of his wife Theodora, who refused to leave. In the next two days, he ordered the brutal suppression of the riots by his generals Belisarius and
Mundus. Procopius relates that 30,000 unarmed civilians were killed in the Hippodrome. Justinian had Anastasius' nephews executed. The damage caused by the riots was extensive. The rioters destroyed governmental buildings, state archives, hospices, hospitals and charitable institutions. The patients of the Hospice of Samson were all killed during the riots and the fires caused by the rioters reached as far as the Baths of Zeuxippus, which contained famous statues and monuments. The destruction that took place during the revolt provided Justinian with an opportunity to carry out his building program in Constantinople, most notably the architectural innovation of the domed
Hagia Sophia.
Military activities , after Cornelius Gurlitt, 1912. The column was erected in the
Augustaeum in Constantinople in 543 in honour of his military victories. Justinian's reign was marked by the recovery of large stretches of land around the Western Mediterranean basin that had slipped out of imperial control in the 5th century. Although he never personally took part in military campaigns, he boasted of his successes in the prefaces to his laws and had them commemorated in art. The re-conquests were in large part carried out by his general Belisarius.
War with the Sassanid Empire, 527–532 From his uncle, Justinian inherited ongoing hostilities with the
Sassanid Empire. In 530 the Persian forces suffered a double defeat at
Dara and
Satala, but the next year saw the defeat of Roman forces under Belisarius near
Callinicum. When king
Kavadh I of Persia died (September 531), Justinian concluded an "
Eternal Peace" (which cost him 11,000 pounds of gold) with his successor
Khosrau I (532). Having thus secured his eastern frontier, Justinian turned his attention to the West, where
Germanic kingdoms had been established in the territories of the former
Western Roman Empire.
Conquest of North Africa, 533–534 The first of the western kingdoms Justinian attacked was that of the
Vandals in
North Africa. King
Hilderic, who had maintained good relations with Justinian and the North African
Catholic clergy, had been overthrown by his cousin
Gelimer in 530 AD. Imprisoned, the deposed king appealed to Justinian. Justinian protested Gelimer's actions, demanding that Gelimer return the kingdom to Hilderic. Gelimer replied, in effect, that Justinian had no authority to make these demands. Angered at this response, Justinian quickly concluded
his ongoing war with the
Sassanian Empire and prepared an expedition against the Vandals in 533. , AD 534 In this war, the contemporary
Procopius remarks that Africa was so entirely depopulated that a person might travel several days without meeting a human being, and he adds, "it is no exaggeration to say, that in the course of the war 5,000,000 perished by the sword, and famine, and pestilence." An
African prefecture, centred in Carthage, was established in April 534, but it would teeter on the brink of collapse during the next 15 years, amidst warfare with the
Moors and military mutinies. By the mid-540s, under a succession of Byzantine generals, the region was disrupted under civil war, plague and military campaigning. The area was not completely
pacified until 548, but remained peaceful thereafter and enjoyed a measure of prosperity. The recovery of Africa cost the empire about 100,000 pounds of gold.
War in Italy, first phase, 535–540 As in Africa, dynastic struggles in
Ostrogothic Italy provided an opportunity for intervention. The young king
Athalaric had died on 2 October 534, and a usurper,
Theodahad, had imprisoned queen
Amalasuintha, Theodoric's daughter and mother of Athalaric, on the island of Martana in
Lake Bolsena, where he had her assassinated in 535. Thereupon Belisarius, with 7,500 men, invaded Sicily (535) and advanced into Italy, sacking
Naples and capturing Rome on 9 December 536. By that time Theodahad had been deposed by the Ostrogothic army, who had elected
Vitigis as their new king. He gathered a large army and besieged Rome from February 537 to March 538 without being able to retake the city. Justinian sent another general,
Narses, to Italy, but tensions between Narses and Belisarius hampered the progress of the campaign.
Milan was taken, but was soon recaptured and razed by the Ostrogoths. Justinian recalled Narses in 539. By then the military situation had turned in favour of the Romans, and in 540 Belisarius
reached the Ostrogothic capital
Ravenna. There he was offered the title of Western Roman Emperor by the Ostrogoths at the same time that envoys of Justinian were arriving to negotiate a peace that would leave the region north of the
Po River in Gothic hands. Belisarius feigned acceptance of the offer, entered the city in May 540, and reclaimed it for the Empire. Then, having been recalled by Justinian, Belisarius returned to Constantinople, taking the captured
Vitigis and his wife
Matasuntha with him.
War with the Sassanid Empire, 540–562 on the eastern shore of the Black Sea became the new battlefield of the
Roman–Persian Wars. Belisarius had been recalled in the face of renewed hostilities by the
Persians. Following a revolt against the Empire in
Armenia in the late 530s and possibly motivated by the pleas of Ostrogothic ambassadors, King
Khosrau I broke the "Eternal Peace" and invaded Roman territory in the spring of 540. He first sacked
Beroea and then
Antioch (allowing the garrison of 6,000 men to leave the city), besieged
Daras, and then went on to attack the Byzantine base in the small but strategically significant satellite kingdom of
Lazica near the Black Sea as requested by its discontented king
Gubazes, exacting tribute from the towns he passed along his way. He forced Justinian I to pay him 5,000 pounds of gold, plus 500 pounds of gold more each year. The outbreak of the plague coupled with a rebellion in Persia brought Khosrow I's offensives to a halt. Exploiting this, Justinian ordered all the forces in the East to invade Persian Armenia, but the 30,000-strong Byzantine force was defeated by a small force at
Anglon. The next year, Khosrau unsuccessfully
besieged the major city of
Edessa. Both parties made little headway, and in 545 a truce was agreed upon for the southern part of the Roman-Persian frontier. After that, the
Lazic War in the North continued for several years: the Lazic king switched to the Byzantine side, and in 549 Justinian sent
Dagisthaeus to
recapture Petra, but he faced heavy resistance and the siege was relieved by Sasanian reinforcements. Justinian replaced him with
Bessas, who was under a cloud after the loss of Rome in 546, but he managed to
capture and dismantle Petra in 551. The war continued for several years until a second truce in 557, followed by a
fifty years' peace in 562. Under its terms, the Persians agreed to abandon Lazica in exchange for an annual tribute of 400 or 500 pounds of gold (30,000 ) to be paid by the Romans.
War in Italy, second phase, 541–554 gold
Tremissis in the name of emperor Justinian I, 7th century. The
Christian cross on the breast defines the Visigothic attribution.
British Museum. While military efforts were directed to the East, the situation in Italy took a turn for the worse. Under their respective kings
Ildibad and
Eraric (both murdered in 541) and especially
Totila, the Ostrogoths made quick gains. After a
victory at
Faenza in 542, they reconquered the major cities of Southern Italy and soon held almost the entire Italian Peninsula. Belisarius was sent back to Italy late in 544 but lacked sufficient troops and supplies. Making no headway, he was relieved of his command in 548. Belisarius succeeded in defeating a Gothic fleet of 200 ships. During this period the city of Rome changed hands three more times, first
taken and depopulated by the Ostrogoths in December 546, then reconquered by the Byzantines in 547, and then again by the Goths in January 550. Totila also plundered
Sicily and attacked Greek coastlines. Finally, Justinian dispatched a force of approximately 35,000 men (2,000 men were detached and sent to invade southern Visigothic Hispania) under the command of Narses. The army reached Ravenna in June 552 and defeated the Ostrogoths decisively within a month at the
battle of Busta Gallorum in the
Apennines, where Totila was slain. After a second battle at
Mons Lactarius in October that year, the resistance of the Ostrogoths was finally broken. In 554, a large-scale
Frankish invasion was defeated at
Casilinum, and Italy was secured for the empire, though it would take Narses several years to reduce the remaining Gothic strongholds. At the end of the war, Italy was garrisoned with an army of 16,000 men. The recovery of Italy cost the empire about 300,000 pounds of gold.
Other campaigns In addition to the other conquests, the Empire established a presence in
Visigothic Hispania, when the usurper
Athanagild requested assistance in his rebellion against King
Agila I. In 552, Justinian dispatched a force of 2,000 men; according to the historian
Jordanes, this army was led by the octogenarian
Liberius. The Byzantines took
Cartagena and other cities on the southeastern coast and founded the new province of
Spania before being checked by their former ally Athanagild, who had by now become king. This campaign marked the apogee of Byzantine expansion. During Justinian's reign, the
Balkans suffered from several incursions by the
Turkic and
Slavic peoples who lived north of the
Danube. Here, Justinian resorted mainly to a combination of diplomacy and a system of defensive works. In 559 a particularly dangerous invasion of
Sklavinoi and
Kutrigurs under their
khan Zabergan threatened Constantinople, but they were repulsed by the aged general Belisarius.
Results , under Justinian I in 565 AD. Emperor Justinian reconquered many former territories of the Western Roman Empire, including
Italia,
Dalmatia, Africa, and southern
Hispania. Justinian's ambition for re-conquest was only partly realized, with the only lasting and sustainable conquest being
Africa. In the West, the early military successes of the 530s were followed by years of stagnation. The dragging war with the Goths was a disaster for Italy, even though its long-lasting effects may have been less severe than is sometimes thought. The heavy taxes that the administration imposed upon Italian population were deeply resented. The final victory in Italy and the conquest of Africa and the coast of southern
Hispania significantly enlarged the area of Byzantine influence and eliminated all naval threats to the empire, which in 555 reached its territorial zenith. Despite losing much of Italy soon after Justinian's death, the empire retained several important cities, including Rome, Naples, and Ravenna, leaving the
Lombards as a regional threat. The newly founded province of Spania kept the Visigoths as a threat to Hispania alone and not to the western Mediterranean and Africa. Events of the later years of his reign showed that Constantinople itself was not safe from barbarian incursions from the north, and even the relatively benevolent historian
Menander Protector felt the need to attribute the Emperor's failure to protect the capital to the weakness of his body in his old age. Some historians view that in his efforts to renew the Roman Empire, Justinian dangerously stretched its resources while failing to take into account the changed realities of 6th-century Europe. With regard to the long term consequences of Justinian's conquests, the provinces of
Italy,
North Africa and
Spain were one of the wealthiest provinces of the
Roman Empire, and thus it would not be unreasonable to assume that those provinces would make a substantial contribution to the empire's coffers given that these provinces were highly taxable. Peter Sarris suggests that Justinian's efforts were hampered by the plague and as a result it made reconquering the West harder and costlier. According to some historians, despite the scale of destruction caused by the conquests, North Africa and Southern Italy generally paid for themselves and yielded substantial profit for the empire. The conquests in the West also expanded Byzantine influence over the papacy and added a source of Germanic warriors for recruitment in the army.
Religious activities Justinian saw the orthodoxy of his empire threatened by diverging religious currents, especially
miaphysitism, which had many adherents in the eastern provinces of Syria and Egypt. Miaphysitism rejected the
Council of Chalcedon in 451, which ruled that Jesus Christ has two natures (one divine and one human), instead maintaining that he has one nature that is both fully divine and fully human. The tolerant policies towards Miaphysitism of
Zeno and
Anastasius I had been a source of tension in the relationship with the bishops of Rome. Justin reversed this trend and confirmed the Chalcedonian doctrine, openly condemning the Miaphysites. Justinian, who continued this policy, tried to impose religious unity on his subjects by forcing them to accept doctrinal compromises that might appeal to all parties, a policy that proved unsuccessful as he satisfied none of them. The empress Theodora, herself a Miaphysite, sympathized with the Miaphysites and was accused of being constant source of pro-Miaphysite intrigues at the court in Constantinople in the earlier years. In the course of his reign, Justinian, who had a genuine interest in matters of theology, authored a small number of theological treatises.
Religious policy (Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus) was built by Justinian As in his secular administration,
despotism appeared also in the Emperor's ecclesiastical policy. At the very beginning of his reign, he promulgated by law the Church's belief in the
Trinity and the
Incarnation, and to threaten all
heretics with the appropriate penalties, whereas he subsequently declared that he intended to deprive all disturbers of orthodoxy of the opportunity for such offense by
due process of law. He made the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed the sole symbol of the Church and accorded legal force to the
canons of the four
ecumenical councils. The bishops in attendance at the
Council of Constantinople (536) recognized that nothing could be done in the Church contrary to the emperor's will and command, while, on his side, the emperor, in the case of the
Patriarch Anthimus, reinforced the ban of the Church with temporal proscription. Justinian protected the purity of the church by suppressing heretics. He neglected no opportunity to secure the rights of the Church and clergy, and to protect and extend
monasticism. He granted the monks the right to inherit property from private citizens and the right to receive
solemnia, or annual gifts, from the
imperial treasury or from the taxes of certain provinces and he prohibited lay confiscation of monastic estates. Throughout his reign Justinian promoted
Archangel Michael as imperial
archistratēgos, forwarding the cult of Michael directly and indirectly through his inclusion in imperial oaths, liturgical commemorations and imperial iconography, and building churches in his honour. In doing this Justinian reinforced his own legitimacy by placing Michael as his imperial protector. the original site having been destroyed during the Nika riots. The new Hagia Sophia, with its numerous chapels and shrines, gilded octagonal dome, and
mosaics, became the Eastern Roman Empire's space of identification.
Religious relations with Rome Justinian entered the arena of ecclesiastical conflicts shortly after his uncle's accession in 518, and put an end to the
Acacian schism. Previous Emperors had tried to alleviate theological conflicts by declarations that deemphasized the
Council of Chalcedon, which had condemned
miaphysitism, which had strongholds in Egypt and Syria, and by tolerating the appointment of Miaphysites to church offices. The Popes reacted by severing ties with the Patriarch of Constantinople who supported these policies. Emperors Justin I (and later Justinian himself) rescinded these policies and re-established the union between Constantinople and Rome. After this, Justinian also felt entitled to settle disputes in papal elections, as he did when he favored
Vigilius and had his rival
Silverius deported. This new-found unity between East and West did not, however, solve the ongoing disputes in the east. Justinian's policies switched between attempts to force Miaphysites to accept the Chalcedonian creed by persecuting their bishops and monks – thereby embittering their sympathizers in Egypt and other provinces – and attempts at a compromise that would win over the Miaphysites without surrendering the Chalcedonian faith. Such an approach was supported by the Empress Theodora, who favoured the Miaphysites unreservedly. In the condemnation of the
Three Chapters, three theologians that had opposed Miaphysitism before and after the Council of Chalcedon, Justinian tried to win over the opposition. At the
Fifth Ecumenical Council, most of the Eastern church yielded to the Emperor's demands, and
Pope Vigilius, who was forcibly brought to Constantinople and besieged at a chapel, finally also gave his assent. However, the condemnation was received unfavourably in the west, where it led to new (albeit temporal) schism, and failed to reach its goal in the east, as the Miaphysites remained unsatisfied – all the more bitter for him because during his last years he took an even greater interest in theological matters.
Authoritarian rule Justinian's religious policy reflected the conviction that the unity of the empire presupposed unity of faith under the
Chalcedonian Church. Those of different beliefs were subjected to persecution, which imperial legislation had effected from the time of
Constantius II and which would now vigorously continue. The contained two
statutes that decreed the total destruction of
paganism, even in private life; these provisions were zealously enforced. Contemporary sources (John Malalas,
Theophanes, and
John of Ephesus) tell of severe persecutions, including men in high positions. The original
Academy of Plato had been
destroyed by the Roman dictator
Sulla in 86 BC. Several centuries later, in 410 AD, a
Neoplatonic Academy was established that had no institutional continuity with Plato's Academy, and which served as a center for
Neoplatonism and mysticism. It persisted until 529 AD when it was finally closed by Justinian I. Other schools in Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, which were the centers of Justinian's empire, continued. In
Asia Minor alone, John of Ephesus was reported to have
converted 70,000 pagans, which was probably an exaggerated number. Other peoples also accepted Christianity: the
Heruli, the
Huns dwelling near the
Don, the
Abasgi, and the
Tzanni in
Caucasia. The worship of
Amun at the
oasis of
Awjila in the
Libyan desert was abolished, and so were the remnants of the worship of
Isis on the island of
Philae, at the first
cataract of the
Nile. The
Presbyter Julian and the
Bishop Longinus conducted a mission among the
Nabataeans, and Justinian attempted to strengthen
Christianity in
Yemen by dispatching a bishop from
Egypt. The civil rights of Jews were restricted and their religious privileges threatened. Justinian also interfered in the internal affairs of the synagogue and encouraged the Jews to use the Greek
Septuagint in their synagogues in Constantinople. The Emperor faced significant opposition from the
Samaritans, who resisted conversion to Christianity and were
repeatedly in insurrection. He persecuted them with rigorous edicts, for example, in 529, he banned them from having wills, an intentional act of humiliation. However, he could not prevent reprisals towards Christians from taking place in Samaria toward the close of his reign. The
Manicheans too suffered persecution, experiencing both exile and threat of capital punishment. In Constantinople, c.450, a number of Manicheans, after strict inquisition, were executed by burning. Under Justinian's reign, the
San Vitale in Ravenna, which features two famous mosaics representing Justinian and Theodora, was completed under the sponsorship of Julius Argentarius. Most notably, he had the
Hagia Sophia, originally a
basilica-style church that had been burnt down during the
Nika riots, splendidly rebuilt according to a completely different ground plan, under the architectural supervision of
Isidore of Miletus and
Anthemius of Tralles. On 26 December 537, according to Pseudo-Codinus, Justinian stated at the completion of this edifice: "Solomon, I have outdone thee" (in reference to the first Jewish temple). The church had a second inauguration on 24 December 562, after several reworks made by
Isidore the Younger. This new cathedral, with its magnificent dome filled with mosaics, remained the centre of eastern Christianity for centuries. Another prominent church in the capital, the
Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been in a very poor state near the end of the 5th century, was likewise rebuilt. The Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, later renamed
Little Hagia Sophia, was also built between 532 and 536 by the imperial couple. Works of embellishment were not confined to churches alone: excavations at the site of the
Great Palace of Constantinople have yielded several high-quality mosaics dating from Justinian's reign, and a
column topped by a bronze statue of Justinian on horseback and dressed in a military costume was erected in the
Augustaeum in Constantinople in 543. Rivalry with other, more established patrons from the Constantinopolitan and exiled Roman aristocracy might have enforced Justinian's building activities in the capital as a means of strengthening his dynasty's prestige. Justinian also strengthened the borders of the Empire from Africa to the East through the construction of fortifications and ensured Constantinople of its water supply through construction of underground
cisterns (see
Basilica Cistern). To prevent floods from damaging the strategically important border town
Dara,
an advanced arch dam was built. During his reign the large
Sangarius Bridge was built in
Bithynia, securing a major military supply route to the east. Furthermore, Justinian restored cities damaged by earthquake or war and built a new city near his place of birth called
Justiniana Prima, which was intended to replace
Thessalonica as the political and religious centre of
Illyricum. In Justinian's reign, and partly under his patronage, Byzantine culture produced noteworthy historians, including Procopius and
Agathias, and poets such as
Paul the Silentiary and
Romanus the Melodist flourished. On the other hand, centres of learning such as the Neoplatonic Academy in Athens and the famous
Law School of Berytus lost their importance during his reign.
Economy and administration As was the case under Justinian's predecessors, the empire was an agrarian-based economy. In addition, long-distance trade flourished, reaching as far north as
Cornwall where tin was exchanged for Roman wheat. Within the empire, convoys sailing from
Alexandria provided Constantinople with wheat and grains. Justinian made the traffic more efficient by building a large granary on the island of
Tenedos for storage and further transport to Constantinople. Justinian also tried to find new routes for the eastern trade, which was suffering badly from the wars with the Persians. Silk was an important luxury product, which was imported and then processed in the empire. In order to protect the manufacture of silk products, Justinian granted a monopoly to the imperial factories in 541. In order to bypass the Persian landroute, Justinian established friendly relations with the
Abyssinians, whom he wanted to act as trade mediators by transporting Indian silk to the empire; the Abyssinians, however, were unable to compete with the Persian merchants in India. Then, in the early 550s, two monks succeeded in
smuggling eggs of silk worms from
Central Asia back to Constantinople, and silk became an indigenous product. Gold and silver were mined in the Balkans, Anatolia, Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt and Nubia. At the start of Justinian I's reign, he had inherited a surplus 28,800,000 (400,000 pounds of gold) in the imperial treasury from Anastasius I and
Justin I. According to
Brown (1971), the increased professionalization of tax collection did much to destroy the traditional structures of provincial life, as it weakened the autonomy of the town councils in the Greek towns. It has been estimated that before Justinian I's reconquests the state had an annual revenue of 5,000,000 in AD 530, but after his reconquests, the annual revenue was increased to 6,000,000 in AD 550. The empire suffered several major setbacks in the course of the 6th century. The first one was the plague, which lasted from 541 to 543 and, by decreasing the empire's population, probably created a scarcity of labor and a rising of wages. It has been proposed that the lack of manpower also led to a significant increase in the number of "barbarians" in the Byzantine armies after the early 540s, but others are skeptical of this view. The protracted war in Italy and the wars with the Persians themselves laid a heavy burden on the empire's resources, and Justinian was criticized for curtailing the government-run post service, which he limited to only one eastern route of military importance. File:Gold solidus of Justinian I (obverse).jpg|Gold coin of Justinian minted in
Ravenna. File:Follis of Justinian I (obverse).jpg|Follis of Justinian minted in
Nicomedia. File:Gold coin of Justinian I 527CE 565CE excavated in India probably in the south.jpg|Gold coin of Justinian I (527–565) excavated in
India probably in the south, an example of
Indo-Roman trade during the period File:Byzantinischer Mosaizist des 5. Jahrhunderts 002.jpg|Scene from daily life on a mosaic from the
Great Palace of Constantinople, early 6th century
Death Justinian spent his final years on the throne marked by increasing isolation and reliance on a small circle of advisors, many of whom he had brought into the palace nearly 40 years earlier. He became increasingly fixated on religion and intolerant, believing his actions were justified by a higher cause and driven by piety and philanthropy. In Justinian's later life, he became much less ruthless, evidenced by his refusal to execute suspected conspirators, instead opting to display Christian charity and forgiveness. Following a major earthquake in 557, Justinian demonstrated his piety by abstaining from wearing his crown and giving to the poor. In the 560s, Justinian gave clemency to the conspirators who had aimed to murder him, and eventually pardoned Belisarius, who was accused of participating in the plot. Justinian died on the night of 14 November 565 in his sleep. News of Justinian's death quickly reached his nephew
Justin II, who hurried to the palace with his wife
Sophia and a coterie of senatorial supporters. Justin was soon acclaimed as emperor and he received the bishop's blessing. According to
Corippus, Justinian's death triggered widespread mourning throughout the streets of the imperial capital, and Justinian was laid to rest in a golden
tomb in the
Church of the Holy Apostles following a grand
procession. ==Natural disasters==