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Justinian I (/ dʒ ʌ ˈ s t ɪ n i ə n / just-IN-ee-ən; Latin: Iūstīniānus, Classical Latin pronunciation: [juːstiːniˈaːnʊs]; Ancient Greek: Ἰουστινιανός, romanized: Ioustinianós, Byzantine Greek pronunciation: [i.ustini.aˈnos]; 482 – 14 November 565), [b] also known as Justinian the Great, [c] was the Roman emperor from 527 to 565.
The Code of Justinian (Latin: Codex Justinianus, Justinianeus [2] or Justiniani) is one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the codification of Roman law ordered early in the 6th century AD by Justinian I, who was Eastern Roman emperor in Constantinople. Two other units, the Digest and the Institutes, were created during his reign.
The Justinian dynasty began with the accession of its namesake Justin I to the throne. Justin I was born in a big village, Bederiana, in the 450s AD. [1] Like many country youths, he went to Constantinople and enlisted in the army, where, due to his physical abilities, he became a part of the Excubitors, the palace guards. [2]
Justinian I depicted on a mosaic in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy. Justinian acceded to the imperial throne in Constantinople in 527. [4] Six months after his accession, in order to reduce the great number of imperial constitutions and thus also the number of court proceedings, Justinian arranged for the creation of a new collection of imperial constitutions (Codex Iustinianus). [4]
He consequently refused Justinian's demand on the grounds that this was an internal matter among the Vandals. [16] [17] [18] Justinian now had his pretext, and with peace restored on his eastern frontier with Sassanid Persia in 532, he started assembling an invasion force. [19]
The rioters demanded that Justinian dismiss the prefect John the Cappadocian and the quaestor Tribonian. To de-escalate the situation, Justinian apologized and accepted their demands. However, many in the crowd did not accept his apology. [5] They then declared a new emperor, Hypatius, a nephew of former Emperor Anastasius I. [20]
Justinian continued to legislate after he created the second edition of the Code. Thus, in his pragmatic sanction of 554 ( Sanctio pragmatica pro petitione Vigilii ), [ 5 ] he foresaw that he would need to maintain a collection of these new constitutions modifying the Code ( novellae constitutiones, quae post nostri codicis confectionem ).
In 525, Justin passed a new law that effectively allowed a member of the senatorial class to marry reformed actresses, paving the way for Justinian to marry Theodora, a former mime actress. In 525, Justin elevated Justinian as caesar. Justin's health began to decline and he formally named Justinian as co-emperor and, on 1 April 527, as his ...