>How could anyone put Justinian’s ways into words? These and many even worse vices were disclosed in him as in no other mortal: nature seemed to have taken the wickedness of all other men combined and planted it in this man’s soul. And besides this, he was too prone to listen to accusations; and too quick to punish. For he decided such cases without full examination, naming the punishment when he had heard only the accuser’s side of the matter. Without hesitation he wrote decrees for the plundering of countries, sacking of cities, and slavery of whole nations, for no cause whatever. So that if one wished to take all the calamities which had befallen the Romans before this time and weigh them against his crimes, I think it would be found that more men had been murdered by this single man than in all previous history.
>>16894445Emperor Justinian (527–565) is one of history’s greatest and most controversial rulers. During his reign, the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, empire reached its largest extent since the last Western Roman emperor was deposed in 476. Led by the general Belisarius, Justinian’s armies began a reconquest that brought North Africa, Italy, and parts of Spain back under imperial control. At the same time, Justinian and his wife, Theodora, oversaw a wide-ranging series of political, legal, and religious reforms, which laid the foundation for later Western law and saw the construction of the magnificent church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (now Istanbul). Yet this was also an age of conflict and tragedy. Justinian’s attempts to impose religious unity upon his empire failed, his wars caused widespread devastation, and his reign witnessed the first outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean world.
He bankrupted the Greek empire and married a literal whore, subsequently published by god./thread
>>16895838He remained completely solvent his entire reign though?
nobody cares
>>16894445His army was so garbage, so much division in and in part because of the different Christian sects.
Competent (do not confuse with perfect) emperor, fucked by an unexpected plague
>>16895941>so much division in and in part because of the different Christian sects.proof?
>>16896004Not him, but whole outlawing arianism and fully enforcing it in north africa, despite many of his troops being arian. Said troops rose up against him and only came back after Belisarius wrecked them
>>16896013>but whole outlawing arianismThis was done by Constantine. Arianism was outright illegal even if favoured under different names, the last actually pro-Arian Emperor was Valens, after his death Arian bishops were more or less swept away in the East, and they were never popular in the West. >despite many of his troops being arianI don't see how they could have been Arian considering Arianism had effectively stopped mattering well over a century beforehand. >Said troops rose up against him and only came back after Belisarius wrecked themWhat is this from?
