Justinian and the Byzantine Empire | World History | Khan Academy

In previous videos, we talked about how, as we exit the 4th Century in the 390s, the emperor Theodosius actually splits the Roman Empire. We already had the city of Constantinople being established as a capital of the Empire; that was done by Constantine in 324. The city, previously known as Byzantium, was a crucial point.

As we enter into the fifth century, there was an official split between the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. They were actually governed separately. Now, also in other videos, we talked about the eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Now, one thing to keep in mind, sometimes when we talk about the fall of the West, it somehow implies that there's no governance left, or there's no kingdoms left, and nothing could be further from the truth. One of the reasons why the Western Roman Empire fell is repeated attacks by Germanic tribes. After the Western Roman Empire was gone, the Germanic tribes, for the most part, took over the Italian Peninsula.

You at first have the kingdom of Odoacer, but eventually, you have rule—especially as we get into the late fifth century—you have the Ostrogothic kingdom. The Ostrogoths, the Eastern Goths, were one of the Eastern Germanic tribes. Here in North Africa, you have the Vandals, another Germanic tribe.

Here in the Iberian Peninsula, you have the Visigoths, the Western Goths, yet another Germanic tribe. Here you have the Burgundians; you have the Franks. The word "France" comes from the notion of the land of the Franks. Once again, all of these are Germanic kingdoms that took over where before you had the Western Roman Empire.

Now, as you can see from this map—and we've talked about it in previous videos—it was only the Western Roman Empire that fell and fragmented and for the most part came into the hands of these Germanic tribes. The Eastern Empire continues on and it's often known as the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople.

Now, what we'll see is that the Byzantine Empire lasts for almost another 1,000 years, but its importance in the region diminishes for most of that period. It does have one last hurrah, so to speak, with the reign of Emperor Justinian. Justinian is able to come to power in 527, with the help of his uncle, who was the previous Emperor, Justin.

Justinian is able to regain much of the land that was lost to the Germanic tribes over the course of Justinian's reign. As you can see, they're able to retake the Italian Peninsula and much of North Africa. Now, things weren't always easy for Justinian; they were very difficult at the beginning of his rule and they got hard near the end of his rule as well.

In 532, there’s significant rioting in Constantinople, which is his capital. It all starts around chariot racing and the different groups or gangs that support the different chariot racing teams. But it eventually becomes an all-out revolt against Justinian.

Many of Justinian's advisers, and including Justinian himself, are afraid that they're going to be overthrown and killed, and they think about fleeing Constantinople. This is only five years into his reign. This is in 532, and at that point, his wife, Empress Theodora, stands up and becomes a very important actor in history.

She has her famous speech at the point in time when Justinian and his advisers were thinking about fleeing in fear of death; they thought they were going to be overthrown. Here is that famous quote from Empress Theodora: “The present occasion is too serious to allow me to follow the convention that a woman should not speak in a man's counsel. Those whose interests are threatened by extreme danger should think only of the wisest course of action, not of conventions.

In my opinion, flight is not the right course, even if it should bring us to safety. It is impossible for a person having been born into this world not to die, but for one who has reigned, it is intolerable to be a fugitive. May I never be deprived of this purple robe, the purple robe signifying royalty, being an empress. May I never see the day when those who meet me do not call me Empress.

If you wish to save yourself”—so she is talking to Justinian and Justinian's advisers—“if you wish to save yourself, my Lord, there is no difficulty. We are rich; over there is the sea, and there are the ships. Yet reflect for a moment whether when you have once escaped to a place of security you would not gladly exchange such safety for death.

As for me, I agree with the adage that the Royal Purple is the noblest shroud.” So she's saying she would rather die as an empress than try to be a fugitive and just live the rest of her life somehow comfortably.

She's able to convince Justinian, and they're able to put down the uprising quite brutally, killing 30,000 of the people who are rising up against them. Now, during that uprising, much of Constantinople is burned, including the main church, the Hagia Sophia.

It was under Justinian's rule that the Hagia Sophia gets rebuilt, and it still exists in what is now Istanbul. Today, Constantinople eventually gets renamed Istanbul once it’s conquered by the Turks, and it eventually gets turned into a mosque. Today, it is a museum. The Hagia Sophia literally means "Holy Wisdom."

You might recognize the word Sophia from philosophy, which literally means "friend of wisdom" (philosophia). Now, perhaps what Justinian is most famous for is his attempt to better codify a set of laws. The Roman Empire, of course, always had laws, but Justinian got legal experts to go and collect the laws of the land to make them consistent, to throw out the laws that are inconsistent, to add new laws as necessary, and he did this over his entire reign.

He spread them, and they are often referred to as the Code of Justinian. They would have an influence on the Byzantine Empire for the next 900 years and even some influence on some relatively modern schools of law.

Now, as I've mentioned before, the reign of Justinian is considered really the high point of the Byzantine Empire. Even as we get into roughly the second half of his reign, things start to slide downward.

Over the next 900 years, they are just in a state of decline. Starting in the 540s, there’s a significant plague in the Byzantine Empire. Some accounts I've seen show that roughly 40% of Constantinople dies—a significant chunk of the population of the Byzantine Empire dies—and that makes it more susceptible to attack from the various Germanic tribes throughout Justinian's reign and well after Justinian's reign.

There's constant tension and often conflict between the Sassanid Persians in the East. Then as we go further on, especially as we get into the 7th and 8th Century, you have the rise of Islam. Early Islamic Empires are able to take over the Sassanids and significantly eat into the Byzantine Empire.

Then, even some of the Germanic Kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, and so this is taking us now to the middle of the 8th century. If we go further on, we see this gradual decline continue where you have further invasions into the Byzantine Empire from Turkish Muslim kingdoms or Turkish Muslim conquerors—all the way until we get to 1453 when Constantinople itself falls to the Turks and eventually gets renamed Istanbul.