Emperor Justinian ruled the Byzantine Empire. Justinian I the Great. Justinian was a noble representative of two great ideas: the idea of ​​empire and the idea of ​​Christianity

The power of the Byzantine emperors was not legally hereditary. In fact, anyone could be on the throne. In 518, after the death of Anastasius, as a result of intrigue, the head of Justin's guard ascended the throne. He was a peasant from Macedonia, brave, but completely illiterate and had no experience in state affairs as a soldier. This upstart, who became the founder of a dynasty at the age of about 70, would have been greatly hampered by the power entrusted to him if he had not had an adviser in the person of his nephew Justinian.

A native of Macedonia, Justinian, at the invitation of his uncle, came to Constantinople as a young man, where he received a full Roman and Christian education. He had experience in business, had a mature mind, and an established character. And from 518 to 527. he actually ruled in the name of Justin. And after the death of Justin, which followed in 527, he became the sole ruler of Byzantium.

Justinian was a noble representative of two great ideas: the idea of ​​empire and the idea of ​​Christianity

Justinian dreamed of restoring the Roman Empire to what it once was, strengthening the immutable rights that Byzantium, the heir of Rome, retained over the western barbarian kingdoms, and restoring the unity of the Roman world.

Justinian considered his priority task to be strengthening the military and political power of Byzantium. Under Justinian, the territory of Byzantium almost doubled, its borders began to approach the borders of the Roman Empire. It became a powerful Mediterranean state. Justinian called himself Emperor Frankish, Alemannic and other titles, emphasizing his claims to dominance in Europe.

Created under Justinian, the Code of Civil Law is the pinnacle of Byzantine legal thought. The Code reflects the changes that occurred in the economic and social life of the empire, incl. improving the legal status of women, manumission of slaves, etc. For the first time, the theory of natural law was legally recognized, according to which all people are equal by nature, and slavery is incompatible with human nature.

Under Justinian, Byzantium became not only the largest and richest state in Europe, but also the most cultural. Justinian strengthened law and order in the country. Constantinople turns into the famous artistic center of the medieval world, into the “palladium of sciences and arts,” followed by Ravenna, Rome, Nicaea, Thessalonica, which also became the focus of the Byzantine artistic style.

Under Justinian, wonderful churches were built that have survived to this day - the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna. He established connections with Pope John, whom he met with honor in his capital. in Constantinople in 525. Pope John is the first of the Roman high priests to visit the new Rome.

Formally, in relation to the Church, Justinian observed the principle of the symphony, which presupposed equal and friendly coexistence of the Church and the state

A man of faith and convinced that he rules by the grace of God, he attached significant importance to the spiritual and moral leadership of his subjects. He wanted that in a single empire, in which he established a single law, there would be a single faith and a single spiritual power, namely his faith and his will. He was very fond of theological reasoning, considered himself a wonderful theologian, believed that God spoke through his lips, and declared himself “a teacher of the faith and the head of the church,” ready to protect the church from its own errors and from the attacks of opponents. He always and invariably granted himself the right to dictate dogmas, discipline, rights, duties to the church, in a word, he turned it into an organ of his highest (holiest) power.

Its legislative acts are full of decrees on the church structure, regulating all its details. At the same time, Justinian strives to benefit the church with generous grants, decoration and construction of temples. To better emphasize his pious zeal, he severely persecuted heretics, in 529 ordered the closure of the Athenian University, where a few pagan teachers still secretly remained, and fiercely persecuted schismatics.

In addition, he knew how to rule the church like a master, and in exchange for the patronage and favors with which he showered it, he despotically and rudely prescribed his will to it, openly calling himself “emperor and priest.”

Heir to the Caesars, he wanted, like them, to be a living law, the most complete embodiment of absolute power and at the same time an infallible legislator and reformer, caring for order in the empire. The emperor arrogated to himself the right to freely appoint and remove bishops, to establish church laws convenient for himself. It was he who said that “the source of all the wealth of the church is the generosity of the emperor.”

Under Justinian, the ranks of the church hierarchy received many rights and advantages. The bishops were entrusted not only with the leadership of charitable affairs: they were appointed to correct abuses in the secular administration and court. Sometimes they resolved the matter themselves, sometimes they entered into an agreement with the official against whom the claim was made, sometimes they brought the matter to the attention of the emperor himself. The clergy were removed from subjection to ordinary courts; priests were judged by bishops, bishops by councils, and in important cases by the emperor himself.

A special support and advisor for Justinian in his activities was his wife, Empress Theodora.

Theodora also came from the people. The daughter of the bear keeper from the hippodrome, a fashionable actress, forced Justinian to marry her and took the throne with him.

There is no doubt that while she was alive - Theodora died in 548 - she exercised enormous influence on the emperor and ruled the empire to the same extent as he did, and perhaps more. This happened because despite her shortcomings - she loved money, power and, in order to maintain the throne, often acted treacherously, cruelly and was adamant in her hatred - this ambitious woman had excellent qualities - energy, firmness, decisive and strong will, a cautious and clear political mind and, perhaps, saw many things more correctly than her royal husband.

While Justinian dreamed of reconquering the West and restoring the Roman Empire in alliance with the papacy, she, a native of the East, turned her gaze to the East with a more accurate understanding of the situation and the needs of the time. She wanted to put an end to the religious quarrels there that were harming the peace and power of the empire, to return the apostate peoples of Syria and Egypt through various concessions and a policy of broad religious tolerance, and, at least at the cost of a break with Rome, to recreate the strong unity of the eastern monarchy. The policy of unity and toleration that Theodora advised was, without a doubt, cautious and reasonable.

As emperor, Justinian repeatedly found himself in difficulty, not knowing what course of action he should take. For the success of his Western enterprises it was necessary for him to maintain the established harmony with the papacy; in order to restore political and moral unity in the East, it was necessary to spare the Monophysites, very numerous and influential in Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia. His wavering will tried, despite all the contradictions, to find the basis for mutual understanding and to find a means to reconcile these contradictions.

Gradually, to please Rome, he allowed the Council of Constantinople in 536 to anathematize dissidents, began to persecute them (537–538), attacked their stronghold - Egypt, and to please Theodora, he gave the Monophysites the opportunity to restore their church (543) and tried to Council of 553 to obtain from the pope an indirect condemnation of the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon.

The growth of the empire's wealth, the unlimited power of the monarch who stood above the laws, the subordinate role of the Church, the humiliating ceremonies of worship of the Christian emperor, worthy of pagan kings, could not but affect the morals of the then society.

People's spiritual needs became impoverished. Residents of Constantinople spent their days in circuses, where they excitedly divided into parties, provoking riots and bloodshed. At the hippodromes, spectators furiously screamed: “Virgin Mary, give us victory!” Sorcerers were hired to cast spells on horses; Mime artists performed, depicting the most obscene scenes and, without embarrassment, blasphemed. Brothels, taverns, rampant drunkenness, and debauchery flourished in the city. The exorbitant luxury of the imperial nobility and the highest clergy was accompanied by appalling poverty.

Paradoxically, laxity of morals coexisted in Byzantium with a widespread demonstration of piety. The population of Byzantium showed an amazing inclination towards theology. So, according to the historian Agapius, crowds of idlers in the market and in pubs talked about God and His essence. According to the witty remark of the Russian philosopher Vl. Solovyov, “in Byzantium there were more theologians than Christians.”

Thus, at the instigation of the most blessed of the Byzantine emperors, inevitable punishment hung over the Christian world, which kept the Divine commandments but did not fulfill them. As Justinian approached old age, he lost energy and enthusiasm. The death of Theodora (548) deprived him of an important support, a source of firmness and inspiration. He was already about 65 years old then, but he reigned until he was 82 years old, gradually bowing his head to the obstacles that life presented to his goals. Plunging into apathy, he watched almost indifferently as the administration became more and more upset, disasters and discontent grew more and more. Corippus says that in these last years “the old emperor did not care about anything. As if already numb, he was completely immersed in the expectation of eternal life; his spirit was already in heaven.” Justinian died in November 565 without appointing a successor (Theodora left him childless)..

Alexander A. Sokolovsky

Justinian I the Great, whose full name sounds like Justinian Flavius ​​Peter Sabbatius, is a Byzantine emperor (i.e. the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire), one of the largest emperors of late antiquity, under which this era began to give way to the Middle Ages, and the Roman style of government gave way to the Byzantine . He remained in history as a major reformer.

Born around 483, he was a native of Macedonia, the son of a peasant. A decisive role in the biography of Justinian was played by his uncle, who became Emperor Justin I. The childless monarch, who loved his nephew, brought him closer to himself, contributed to his education and advancement in society. Researchers suggest that Justinian could have arrived in Rome at approximately 25 years of age, studied law and theology in the capital and began his ascent to the top of political Olympus with the rank of personal imperial bodyguard, head of the guard corps.

In 521, Justinian rose to the rank of consul and became a very popular personality, not least thanks to the organization of luxurious circus performances. The Senate repeatedly suggested that Justin make his nephew co-emperor, but the emperor took this step only in April 527, when his health deteriorated significantly. On August 1 of the same year, after the death of his uncle, Justinian became the sovereign ruler.

The newly-crowned emperor, harboring ambitious plans, immediately set about strengthening the power of the country. In domestic policy, this was manifested, in particular, in the implementation of legal reform. The 12 books of the Justinian Code and 50 of the Digest that were published remained relevant for more than a millennium. Justinian's laws contributed to centralization, expansion of the powers of the monarch, strengthening of the state apparatus and army, and strengthening of control in certain areas, in particular in trade.

The coming to power was marked by the onset of a period of large-scale construction. The Constantinople Church of St., which became a victim of fire. Sofia was rebuilt in such a way that among Christian churches for many centuries it had no equal.

Justinian I the Great pursued a fairly aggressive foreign policy aimed at conquering new territories. His military leaders (the emperor himself did not have the habit of personally participating in hostilities) managed to conquer part of North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and a significant part of the territory of the Western Roman Empire.

The reign of this emperor was marked by a number of riots, incl. the largest Nika uprising in Byzantine history: this is how the population reacted to the harshness of the measures taken. In 529, Justinian closed Plato's Academy, and in 542, the consular post was abolished. He was given more and more honors, likening him to a saint. Justinian himself, towards the end of his life, gradually lost interest in state concerns, giving preference to theology, dialogues with philosophers and clergy. He died in Constantinople in the fall of 565.

During the reign of Justinian I (527 - 565), the Byzantine Empire reached the pinnacle of power. This emperor tried to restore the Roman Empire to its former borders.

By order of Emperor Justinian I, in 528-534, a collection of laws, the Code of Civil Law, was concluded, which united long-standing Roman legal norms and the spiritual values ​​of Christianity. The "Code..." proclaimed the equality of all citizens before the law. Although slavery was not abolished, it was forbidden to kill slaves and they were given the opportunity to free themselves. Justinian's laws equalized the rights of man and woman and prohibited divorce, which was condemned by the Christian Church. The Code proclaimed the idea of ​​unlimited and absolute power of the emperor: “the will of the emperor is the source of laws.” The right to inviolability of private property was secured. The "Code..." became a model for the development of laws in most countries of Western Europe in the 12th - 14th centuries. Kazhdan A.P., Litavrin G.G. Essays on the history of Byzantium and the South Slavs. St. Petersburg, “Aletheia”, 1998 p. 58

The transformations begun by Justinian required significant funds. Rising taxes, abuses and bribery of imperial officials sparked the 532 revolt in Constantinople. The uprising was called "Nika" for the slogan of the rebels (Nika! - "Win!") The rebels dominated the city for eight days. Justinian even decided to run away, but on the advice of Theodora he stayed, declaring that he would rather die than lose power. The emperor bribed the leaders of the uprising, and with the help of detachments of barbarian mercenaries, he suppressed the uprising, killing about 35 thousand people.

Having suppressed the uprising, Justinian began to realize the main goal of his life - the restoration of the Roman Empire within its former borders. It contributed to the realization of his plans that the barbarian kingdoms in the West were experiencing a deep crisis at that time.

In 534, the Byzantine army led by the outstanding commander Belisarius defeated the Vandals and captured North Africa. Next, the army of Belisarius, capturing Fr. Sicily, broke into Italy. The support of the Byzantines by the Christian Church and the population of Italy played a significant role. In 536, the army of Belisarius entered Rome without a fight, and within three years the Byzantines captured the capital of the barbarians, Ravenna. It seemed that Justinian had almost achieved his cherished goal, but then the Slavs and Persians began to attack Byzantium, taking advantage of the presence of its troops in Italy. The emperor recalled Belisarius and sent him with an army to defend the eastern borders. The commander coped with this task too. Before conquering lands in the West, Justinian returned only in 552. And although he managed to restore the borders of the Roman Empire from the time of Emperor Constantinian, he almost doubled the territory of his state. Dil S. Main problems of Byzantine history. M., 1947 p. 24

During the time of Justinian I, the Church of Hagia Sophia was built in Constantinople. Its construction, begun in 532, was supported by 10 thousand people for 5 years. From the outside the temple looked ordinary, but inside it was amazing in size. The giant mosaic vault with a diameter of 31 meters seemed to be hanging in the air without any support. This was achieved by the fact that the large bathhouse was supported by two pubs, each of which in turn rested on three small pubs. The four pillars holding up the vault were hidden, and only the triangle sails between the arches were clearly visible. The cross on the vault symbolized God's guardianship and protection of the empire. When the temple was consecrated in 537, Emperor Justinian I, enchanted by its majestic beauty, exclaimed: “Praise the Lord, who inspired me to accomplish such a thing! Solomon, I have surpassed you! Kazhdan A.P., Litavrin G.G. Essays on the history of Byzantium and Southern Slavs. St. Petersburg, “Aletheia”, 1998 p. 64

To this day I remember them by heart and don’t like them, I’m afraid of these brittle lines, as if, having learned them, I was poisoned by them. I meet them from time to time - sometimes they are quoted. Every time I explain my hostility by saying that I probably taught them through force. I explain, knowing that this is not true. Much of what I love more than life, I taught through force - with fear and humility. Maybe some subtle poison penetrated into me then - with the dust of my youthful reading room, with the sound of someone else's wedding ring tapping on wood. Gold band on the ring finger. One day I got sick with the flu, and the day before I ate a full frying pan of fried zucchini. The smell has made me sick ever since.

And the only glance

After the winter holidays, our English group was left without a teacher. Lydia Alexandrovna's husband enlisted in Egypt to build the Aswan Dam. A replacement was not selected in advance. She probably kept her family plans secret until the last minute - she was afraid of jinxing it. As usual, our group was divided into two and sent to others: half to Valentina Pavlovna, half to Boris Grigorievich. I always went to B.G. because my Irka studied with him. A month later he fell ill. I remember this day. We sat at desks in groups of three - there are always few desks in English classrooms, and without making a fuss, we hoped that they would leave us alone and forget about us. Ten minutes passed from the lesson. Hopes came true. The door swung open, Sashka Guchkov rushed in like a devil on a broom. "Seka! They're coming! With the headmistress!" The door whined and opened again. We got up from our seats. The outermost stood in the aisles, freezing like a soldier. The middle ones were hunched over, hanging over the desks. A small, impossibly small woman came in, closed the door behind her and waved her hand. There was no headmistress. The woman said her name, which was unusual for our Russian-English ears, and spoke in English. The noise died down. None of the teachers So didn't speak English. It’s not that they didn’t know the language; we knew it even worse. This probably sounds strange, but the English we were used to was no different from mathematics or literature: English for second-graders, English for sixth-graders. He was by our standards or a little taller. The teachers taught us the way our parents bought clothes.

She spoke freely and quickly, without any fear that we would not understand, as if she knew in advance that it was impossible not to understand. Almost without looking at us, she told some story of hers, from time to time she came up to the board and quickly scribbled an English word with white chalk - without translation. We heard this word for the first time, and she knew about it in advance. We saw it emerge white from under her hand, and that was enough for both her and us, as if she trusted our eyes more than our ears, as if our eyes had already encountered this word before and recognized it, I should have written to her. Her English was light and cheerful, her jokes were quick, her heels were thin and high. I was probably about to say something to Irka, because, distracted for a second, I saw Irka’s gloomy face and eyes squinted to the side, as then, during that conversation of ours. It was as if Irka, turning away from my arguments, continued that conversation, but this time not with me. For a second or two I still stood at the threshold - an unexpected guest. Then she turned away and walked away. I became eyes again, as keen as hawks. She looked forward, now at the board, now at the little woman standing straight as a bowstring. She didn’t see me, and how could it even have occurred to her to snatch someone from behind the desks of a crowded class, to single me out from the present for the sake of a dubious future. This required other eyes, looking at both of us from afar. They were unknown to me, twelve years old, I couldn’t tell the difference. All I could manage was to hear a voice: “You will always be with her.” The bell rang. She fell silent, as if she had stopped mid-sentence. She used the call as a threshold that she did not want to cross. The call gave her every right to do so. She walked back to the teacher's table and approached him for the first time in the entire lesson. Everyone headed towards the exit, still smiling at her story. As they passed, everyone said “goodbye,” and she said goodbye to everyone. Calm and indifferent. She didn't care whether she saw us again. She was still standing straight, but I could already see how the bowstring had weakened. Everyone left, and I walked forward down the aisle alone.

She watched as I approached and became smaller with each step, so that in the end she could hardly distinguish. She became bigger, the narrow wings of her nose became longer, her cheekbones became sharper, her smile emptier, leaving no hope. It was not too late to simply say “goodbye.” "Will you tell me more?" I don't know what made me ask. I was alone, but did she really not know at that moment, the only one in our entire life? already Did I know? I asked and became big again, bigger than her. She winced, my words were monstrously rude to her, she had to muster the strength to restrain herself. I retreated, not fully realizing what had happened, but already shuddering from what I had done, and then my children’s teachers stood behind me - fear and melancholy. For six years, while I was learning everything in the world at my own peril and risk, they did not make themselves felt. But now, oh, how cleverly they chose the timing. They came down to help from my ancient years, as if from heaven. The rustle of wings rising above my head like arms - for protection, so that I understood that I loved her.

Lord, why did you leave me? I didn’t know the words, I couldn’t speak, I was speechless. What could my dumb teachers teach me? This is me saying, the one I have become now - in my forties. Now I know a lot of words, both Russian and English. I know words that are smarter than me, they themselves become me, my memory, my thoughts. I can swallow them like triadol and put them under my tongue like validol. Russian and English - double action pain reliever. What can I know about time, about His time? They say He always looks at us, and if He looks away, you can always call us. Why am I still sure that it’s different with me? At me - one single moment, one single glance - then. There is no rule or law, at least not that I can deduce. Insignificant and weak. Well, let it be so: fear and longing and a single look.

I wasn't actually numb. The very next day I hardly remembered this incident and chatted as if nothing had happened. Even when I came to an English lesson and saw her with my own eyes, I forgot about my night terrors and listened excitedly. The lessons went on as usual, she never returned to that story, didn’t even remember, as if the whole story and the white chalk were needed only for the first acquaintance, in order to look with almost indifferent eyes how All walk past her, muttering "goodbye." Meanwhile, B.G. went to work, and the number of English groups returned to the original three. After a long break of chatter, Irka Eisner spoke to me seriously again. She was determined to join F’s group. Averting her eyes, Irka said that she needed such quality of teaching, but how can you say about it... In general, she persuaded me to go to B.G. together. B.G. listened calmly. I don’t know if he was offended: Irka is the best in the class. Accurate mathematical mind, memory, conscientiousness. Interrupting each other, we talked about friendship. He agreed immediately. He said he would miss her. The only condition is to select someone from my group who would agree to go to him instead of Irka - voluntarily. Most likely, this condition seemed easy to him. We, leaving his office, stood neither alive nor dead, because - here not one of us averted our eyes - who, in their right mind, would agree to leave F. And yet Irka did not want to give up. I went through last names. We agreed on Lariska Panferova. Threes. Crazy as hell. In the group B.G. girlfriend. They lied accurately and artistically. He wants to transfer because we are friends. B.G. I don't mind, I just asked for a replacement. He is kinder, he asks less brutally. Myself offered it to Panferov. Lariska agreed immediately. We at Irkoy felt like winners. Finally, we said. Of course it's convenient. We called each other in the evenings and discussed homework.

At night I was in pain. Pain flowed from the eyes like tears, oozed from the mouth like saliva. The pillow, soaked in pain, became wet like a baby sheet. I didn't get up to dry. The horror of death - her death - weakened me. From night to night I saw the same thing. What I saw in reality twenty-five years later. Overnight the pain dried up on its own. By morning, yellowish stains remained on the blue pillowcase. So I cried my eyes out. Three months later my vision deteriorated. By May the eyes became bad: 07–06. They gave me some medicine and released me from classes for two weeks. I came to school and listened. I could neither read nor write. Then they prescribed me glasses. The frame was ugly. The fear of her death let me go. Now I was afraid of going blind.

In 518, after the death of Anastasius, a rather dark intrigue brought the chief of the guard, Justin, to the throne. He was a peasant from Macedonia, who about fifty years ago came to Constantinople in search of his fortune, brave, but completely illiterate and a soldier who had no experience in state affairs. That is why this upstart, who became the founder of a dynasty at the age of about 70, would have been very difficult with the power entrusted to him if he had not had an adviser in the person of his nephew Justinian.

A native of Macedonia like Justin - the romantic tradition that makes him a Slav arose at a much later time and has no historical value - Justinian, at the invitation of his uncle, came to Constantinople as a youth, where he received a full Roman and Christian education. He had experience in business, had a mature mind, an established character - everything necessary to become an assistant to the new ruler. Indeed, from 518 to 527 he effectively ruled on behalf of Justin, awaiting an independent reign that lasted from 527 to 565.

Thus, Justinian controlled the destinies of the Eastern Roman Empire for almost half a century; he left a deep mark on the era dominated by his majestic appearance, for his will alone was enough to stop the natural evolution that carried the empire towards the East.

Under his influence, from the very beginning of Justin's reign, a new political orientation was determined. The first concern of the Constantinople government was to reconcile with Rome and put an end to the schism; In order to cement the alliance and give the pope a pledge of his zeal in orthodoxy, Justinian for three years (518-521) fiercely persecuted the Monophysites throughout the East. This rapprochement with Rome strengthened the new dynasty. In addition, Justinian very far-sightedly managed to take the necessary measures to ensure the strength of the regime. He freed himself from Vitalian, his most terrible enemy; He gained particular popularity thanks to his generosity and love of luxury. From now on, Justinian began to dream of more: he perfectly understood the significance that an alliance with the papacy could have for his future ambitious plans; That is why, when Pope John, the first of the Roman high priests to visit the new Rome, appeared in Constantinople in 525, he was given a solemn reception in the capital; Justinian felt how the West liked this behavior, how it inevitably led to comparisons of the pious emperors who ruled in Constantinople with the Arian barbarian kings who dominated Africa and Italy. Thus Justinian cherished great plans when, after the death of Justin, which followed in 527, he became the sole ruler of Byzantium.

Justinian is completely different from his predecessors, the sovereigns of the 5th century. This upstart, who sat on the throne of the Caesars, wanted to be a Roman emperor, and indeed he was the last great emperor of Rome. However, despite his undeniable diligence and hard work - one of the courtiers spoke of him: “the emperor who never sleeps” - despite a genuine concern for order and sincere concern for good administration, Justinian, due to his suspicious and jealous despotism, naive ambition, restless activity, combined with an unsteady and weak will, could seem on the whole to be a very mediocre and unbalanced ruler if he did not have a great mind. This Macedonian peasant was a noble representative of two great ideas: the idea of ​​empire and the idea of ​​Christianity; and because he had these two ideas, his name remains immortal in history.

Filled with memories of the greatness of Rome, Justinian dreamed of restoring the Roman Empire to what it had once been, strengthening the inviolable rights that Byzantium, the heir of Rome, retained over the western barbarian kingdoms, and restoring the unity of the Roman world. Heir to the Caesars, he wanted, like them, to be a living law, the most complete embodiment of absolute power and at the same time an infallible legislator and reformer, caring for order in the empire. Finally, proud of his imperial rank, he wanted to decorate it with all the pomp and splendor; the splendor of his buildings, the splendor of his court, the somewhat childish way of calling by his name (“Justinian’s”) the fortresses he built, the cities he restored, the magistrates he established; he wanted to perpetuate the glory of his reign and make his subjects, as he said, feel the incomparable happiness of being born in his time. He dreamed of more. The chosen one of God, the representative and vicegerent of God on earth, he took upon himself the task of being a champion of Orthodoxy, be it in the wars he undertook, the religious character of which is undeniable, be it in the enormous effort that he made to spread Orthodoxy throughout the world, be it in the way in which he ruled the church and destroyed heresies. He devoted his whole life to the fulfillment of this magnificent and proud dream, and was fortunate to find intelligent ministers such as the legal advisor Tribonianus and the praetorian prefect John of Cappadocia, brave generals like Belisarius and Narses, and especially, an excellent adviser in the person of “the most honorable, God-given wife ”, the one whom he liked to call “his most tender charm”, in the Empress Theodora.

Theodora also came from the people. The daughter of a bear keeper from the hippodrome, she, if you believe the gossip of Procopius in The Secret History, infuriated her contemporaries with her life as a fashionable actress, the noise of her adventures, and most of all because she won the heart of Justinian, forced him to marry her and with him took the throne.

There is no doubt that while she was alive - Theodora died in 548 - she exercised enormous influence on the emperor and ruled the empire to the same extent as he did, and perhaps more. This happened because despite her shortcomings - she loved money, power and, in order to maintain the throne, often acted treacherously, cruelly and was adamant in her hatred - this ambitious woman had excellent qualities - energy, firmness, decisive and strong will, a cautious and clear political mind and, perhaps, saw many things more correctly than her royal husband. While Justinian dreamed of reconquering the West and restoring the Roman Empire in alliance with the papacy, she, a native of the East, turned her gaze to the East with a more accurate understanding of the situation and the needs of the time. She wanted to put an end to the religious quarrels there that were harming the peace and power of the empire, to return the apostate peoples of Syria and Egypt through various concessions and a policy of broad religious tolerance, and, at least at the cost of a break with Rome, to recreate the strong unity of the eastern monarchy. And one can ask oneself whether the empire she dreamed of would not have been better able to resist the onslaught of the Persians and Arabs - more compact, more homogeneous and stronger? Be that as it may, Theodora made her hand felt everywhere - in administration, in diplomacy, in religious politics; still to this day in the church of St. Vitaliy in Ravenna, among the mosaics decorating the apse, her image in all the splendor of royal grandeur flaunts as an equal to the image of Justinian.

At the moment when Justinian came to power, the empire had not yet recovered from the serious crisis that had gripped it since the end of the 5th century. In the last months of Justin's reign, the Persians, dissatisfied with the penetration of imperial policy into the Caucasus, Armenia, and the borders of Syria, again started a war, and the best part of the Byzantine army found itself chained in the East. Within the state, the struggle between green and blue maintained an extremely dangerous political excitement, which was further aggravated by the deplorable corruption of the administration, which caused general discontent. Justinian's urgent concern was to remove these difficulties which were delaying the fulfillment of his ambitious dreams for the West. Not seeing or not wanting to see the extent of the eastern danger, at the cost of significant concessions, he signed peace with the “great king” in 532, which gave him the opportunity to freely dispose of his military forces. On the other hand, he mercilessly suppressed internal unrest. But in January 532, a formidable uprising, which retained the name “Nike” from the rebels’ cry, filled Constantinople with fires and blood for a week. During this uprising, when it seemed that the throne was about to collapse, Justinian found himself owing his salvation mainly to the courage of Theodora and the energy of Belisarius. But in any case, the brutal suppression of the uprising, which covered the hippodrome with thirty thousand corpses, resulted in the establishment of lasting order in the capital and the transformation of imperial power into more absolute than ever before.

In 532, Justinian's hands were untied.

Restoration of the Empire in the West. The situation in the West was favorable to his projects. Both in Africa and in Italy, the inhabitants under the rule of heretical barbarians had long called for the restoration of imperial power; the prestige of the empire was still so great that even the Vandals and Ostrogoths recognized the legitimacy of the Byzantine claims. That is why the rapid decline of these barbarian kingdoms made them powerless against the advance of Justinian's troops, and their differences did not give them the opportunity to unite against a common enemy. When, in 531, the seizure of power by Gelimer gave Byzantine diplomacy a reason to intervene in African affairs, Justinian, relying on the formidable strength of his army, did not hesitate, seeking at one blow to liberate the African Orthodox population from “Arian captivity” and force the Vandal kingdom to enter the fold. imperial unity. In 533, Belisarius sailed from Constantinople with an army consisting of 10 thousand infantry and 5-6 thousand cavalry; the campaign was swift and brilliant. Gelimer, defeated at Decimus and Tricamara, surrounded during the retreat on Mount Pappua, was forced to surrender (534). Within a few months, several cavalry regiments - for it was they who played the decisive role - destroyed the kingdom of Genseric against all expectations. The victorious Belisarius was given triumphal honors in Constantinople. And although it took another fifteen years (534-548) to suppress the Berber uprisings and the riots of the dissolute mercenaries of the empire, Justinian could still be proud of the conquest of most of Africa and arrogantly appropriated the title of Emperor of the Vandals and Africans.

The Ostrogoths of Italy did not move during the defeat of the Vandal kingdom. Soon it was their turn. The murder of Amalasuntha, daughter of the great Theodoric, by her husband Theodagatus (534) gave Justinian the occasion to intervene; this time, however, the war was more difficult and prolonged; despite the success of Belisarius, who conquered Sicily (535), captured Naples, then Rome, where he1 besieged the new Ostrogothic king Vitiges for a whole year (March 537-March 538), and then took possession of Ravenna (540) and brought the captive Vitiges to the feet emperor, the Goths recovered again under the leadership of the clever and energetic Totilla, Belisarius, sent with insufficient forces to Italy, was defeated (544-548); it took the energy of Narses to suppress the resistance of the Ostrogoths at Tagina (552), crush the last remnants of the barbarians in Campania (553) and liberate the peninsula from the Frankish hordes of Leutaris and Butilinus (554). It took twenty years to reconquer Italy. Again, Justinian, with his characteristic optimism, too quickly believed in the final victory, and perhaps that is why he did not make the necessary effort in time to break the power of the Ostrogoths with one blow. After all, the subjugation of Italy to imperial influence was begun with a completely insufficient army - with twenty-five or barely thirty thousand soldiers. As a result, the war dragged on hopelessly.

Likewise, in Spain, Justinian took advantage of the circumstances to intervene in the dynastic feuds of the Visigothic kingdom (554) and reconquer the southeast of the country.

As a result of these successful campaigns, Justinian could flatter himself with the thought that he had succeeded in realizing his dream. Thanks to his persistent ambition, Dalmatia, Italy, all of East Africa, southern Spain, the islands of the western Mediterranean - Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands - again became parts of a single Roman Empire; The territory of the monarchy almost doubled. As a result of the capture of Ceuta, the power of the emperor extended all the way to the Pillars of Hercules and, if we exclude the part of the coast preserved by the Visigoths in Spain and Septimania and the Franks in Provence, it can be said that the Mediterranean Sea again became a Roman lake. Without a doubt, neither Africa nor Italy entered the empire in its former size; Moreover, they were already exhausted and devastated by long years of war. However, as a result of these victories, the influence and glory of the empire undeniably increased, and Justinian took every opportunity to consolidate his successes. Africa and Italy formed, as once upon a time, two praetorian prefectures, and the emperor tried to return to the population their former idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe empire. Restoration measures partially smoothed over the war devastation. The organization of defense - the creation of large military commands, the formation of border marks (limites), occupied by special border troops (limitanei), the construction of a powerful network of fortresses - all this guaranteed the security of the country. Justinian could be proud that he had restored that perfect peace, that “perfect order” in the West, which seemed to him the sign of a truly civilized state.

Wars in the East. Unfortunately, these large enterprises exhausted the empire and caused it to neglect the East. The East took revenge for itself in the most terrible way.

The First Persian War (527-532) was only a harbinger of the danger that threatened. Since neither opponent went very far, the issue of the struggle remained undecided; Belisarius's victory at Dara (530) was offset by his defeat at Callinicus (531), and both sides were forced to conclude an unstable peace (532). But the new Persian king Khosroy Anushirvan (531-579), active and ambitious, was not one of those who could be satisfied with such results. Seeing that Byzantium was busy in the West, especially concerned about the projects of world domination, which Justinian did not hide, he rushed to Syria in 540 and took Antioch; in 541, he invaded the Laz country and captured Petra; in 542 he destroyed Commagene; in 543 he defeated the Greeks in Armenia; in 544 he devastated Mesopotamia. Belisarius himself was unable to defeat him. It was necessary to conclude a truce (545), which was renewed many times, and in 562 a peace was signed for fifty years, according to which Justinian undertook to pay tribute to the “great king” and abandoned any attempt to preach Christianity on Persian territory; but although at this price he preserved the country of the Laz, ancient Colchis, the Persian threat after this long and devastating war did not become less terrifying for the future.

At the same time, in Europe, the border on the Danube succumbed to the pressure of the barbarians. In 540, the Huns put Thrace, Illyria, Greece to fire and sword up to the Isthmus of Corinth and reached the approaches to Constantinople; in 547 and 551. the Slavs devastated Illyria, and in 552 they threatened Thessalonica; in 559 the Huns again appeared before the capital, saved with great difficulty thanks to the courage of old Belisarius.

In addition, Avars appear on the stage. Of course, none of these invasions established lasting foreign domination of the empire. But still, the Balkan Peninsula was brutally devastated. The Empire paid dearly in the east for Justinian's triumphs in the west.

Protection measures and diplomacy. Nevertheless, Justinian sought to ensure the protection and security of the territory in both the west and the east. By organizing large military commands entrusted to the masters of the army (magist ri militum), creating military lines (limites) on all borders, occupied by special troops (l imitanei), in the face of the barbarians, he restored what was once called the “cover of the empire” (praetentura imperii). . But chiefly he erected on all the frontiers a long line of fortresses, which occupied all the important strategic points and formed several successive barriers against invasion; the entire territory behind them was covered with fortified castles for greater security. Even to this day, in many places one can see the majestic ruins of the towers, which rose in hundreds in all the imperial provinces; they serve as magnificent evidence of the colossal effort by which, in the words of Procopius, Justinian truly “saved the empire.”

Finally, Byzantine diplomacy, in addition to military action, sought to secure the prestige and influence of the empire throughout the outside world. Thanks to her clever distribution of favors and money and her skillful ability to sow discord among the enemies of the empire, she brought the barbarian peoples who wandered on the borders of the monarchy under Byzantine rule and made them safe. She included them in the sphere of influence of Byzantium by preaching Christianity. The activities of missionaries who spread Christianity from the shores of the Black Sea to the plateaus of Abyssinia and the oases of the Sahara were one of the most characteristic features of Byzantine politics in the Middle Ages.

In this way the empire created for itself a clientele of vassals; among them were Arabs from Syria and Yemen, Berbers from North Africa, Laz and Tsani on the borders of Armenia, Heruli, Gepids, Lombards, Huns on the Danube, right up to the Frankish sovereigns of distant Gaul, in whose churches they prayed for the Roman emperor. Constantinople, where Justinian solemnly received the barbarian sovereigns, seemed to be the capital of the world. And although the aged emperor, in the last years of his reign, indeed allowed the military institutions to decline and became too carried away by the practice of ruinous diplomacy, which, due to the distribution of money to the barbarians, aroused their dangerous lusts, it is nevertheless certain that as long as the empire was strong enough to defend itself, its diplomacy , operating with the support of weapons, seemed to contemporaries a miracle of prudence, subtlety and insight; Despite the heavy sacrifices that Justinian's great ambition cost the empire, even his detractors admitted that “the natural desire of an emperor with a great soul is the desire to expand the boundaries of the empire and make it more glorious” (Procopius).

The internal administration of the empire gave Justinian no less concern than the defense of the territory. His attention was occupied by urgent administrative reform. A terrible religious crisis insistently demanded his intervention.

Legislative and administrative reform. Troubles continued in the empire. The administration was corrupt and corrupt; disorder and poverty reigned in the provinces; the legal proceedings, due to the uncertainty of the laws, were arbitrary and biased. One of the most serious consequences of this state of affairs was the very poor collection of taxes. Justinian's love of order, desire for administrative centralization, and concern for the public good were too developed for him to tolerate such a state of affairs. Besides this, he constantly needed money for his great endeavors.

So he undertook a double reform. To give the empire “firm and immutable laws,” he entrusted his minister Tribonian with great legislative work. A commission convened in 528 to reform the code collected and classified into a single body the main imperial regulations promulgated since the era of Hadrian. This was the Code of Justinian, published in 529 and reprinted in 534. It was followed by the Digests or Pandects, in which a new commission appointed in 530 collected and classified the most important extracts from the works of the great jurists of the second and third centuries, - a huge work completed in 533, the Institutions - a manual intended for students - summarized the principles of the new law. Finally, the collection of new decrees published by Justinian between 534 and 565 was supplemented by an impressive monument known as the Corpus juris civilis.

Justinian was so proud of this great legislative work that he forbade it to be touched in the future or altered by any comments, and in the schools of law reorganized at Constantinople, Beirut and Rome, he made it the inviolable basis for legal education. And indeed, despite some shortcomings, despite the haste in work, which caused repetitions and contradictions, despite the pitiful appearance of excerpts from the most beautiful monuments of Roman law included in the code, it was truly a great creation, one of the most fruitful for the progress of mankind. If Justinian's law provided the justification for the absolute power of the emperor, it later preserved and recreated the idea of ​​state and social organization in the medieval world. In addition, it infused a new spirit of Christianity into the harsh old Roman law and thus introduced into the law a hitherto unknown concern for social justice, morality and humanity.

In order to transform the administration and court, Justinian promulgated two important decrees in 535, establishing new duties for all officials and requiring them, above all, to be scrupulously honest in governing their subjects. At the same time, the emperor abolished the sale of positions, increased salaries, destroyed useless institutions, and united a number of provinces in order to better ensure order and civil and military authority there. This was the beginning of a reform that was to have significant consequences for the administrative history of the empire. He reorganized the judicial administration and police in the capital; throughout the empire he carried out extensive public works, forced the construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, baths, theaters, churches, and with unheard-of luxury he rebuilt Constantinople, partially destroyed by the uprising of 532. Finally, through skillful economic policies, Justinian achieved the development of rich industry and trade in the empire and, as was his habit, he boasted that “with his magnificent undertakings he gave the state a new flourishing.” However, in reality, despite the good intentions of the emperor, the administrative reform failed. The enormous burden of expenditure and the resulting constant need for money established a cruel fiscal tyranny that exhausted the empire and reduced it to poverty. Of all the great transformations, only one succeeded: in 541, for reasons of economy, the consulate was destroyed.

Religious politics. Like all the emperors who succeeded Constantine to the throne, Justinian was involved in the church as much because the interests of the state required it as because of his personal inclination to theological disputes. To better emphasize his pious zeal, he severely persecuted heretics, in 529 ordered the closure of the Athenian University, where a few pagan teachers still secretly remained, and fiercely persecuted schismatics. In addition, he knew how to rule the church like a master, and in exchange for the patronage and favors with which he showered it, he despotically and rudely prescribed his will to it, openly calling himself “emperor and priest.” Nevertheless, he repeatedly found himself in difficulty, not knowing what line of conduct he should follow. For the success of his Western enterprises it was necessary for him to maintain the established harmony with the papacy; in order to restore political and moral unity in the East, it was necessary to spare the Monophysites, very numerous and influential in Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia. Often the emperor did not know what to decide in the face of Rome, which demanded the condemnation of dissenters, and Theodora, who advised a return to the policy of unity between Zinon and Anastasius, and his wavering will tried, despite all the contradictions, to find the basis for mutual understanding and find a means to reconcile these contradictions. Gradually, to please Rome, he allowed the Council of Constantinople in 536 to anathematize dissidents, began to persecute them (537-538), attacked their stronghold - Egypt, and to please Theodora, he gave the Monophysites the opportunity to restore their church (543) and tried to Council of 553 to obtain from the pope an indirect condemnation of the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. For over twenty years (543-565), the so-called “case of the three heads” worried the empire and gave rise to schism in the Western Church, without establishing peace in the East. Justinian's rage and arbitrariness directed at his opponents (his most famous victim was Pope Vigilius) did not bring any useful results. The policy of unity and toleration that Theodora advised was, without a doubt, cautious and reasonable; The indecision of Justinian, who wavered between the disputing parties, led, despite his good intentions, only to the growth of the separatist tendencies of Egypt and Syria and to the exacerbation of their national hatred of the empire.

In the history of Byzantine art, the reign of Justinian marks an entire era. Talented writers, historians such as Procopius and Agathius, John of Ephesus or Evagrius, poets such as Paul the Silentiary, such theologians as Leontius of Byzantium, brilliantly continued the traditions of classical Greek literature, and it was at the dawn of the 6th century. Roman Sladkopevets, “the king of melodies,” created religious poetry - perhaps the finest and most original manifestation of the Byzantine spirit. Even more remarkable was the splendor of the visual arts. At this time, a slow process that had been prepared for two centuries in the local schools of the East was being completed in Constantinople. And since Justinian loved buildings, since he was able to find outstanding craftsmen to carry out his intentions and put inexhaustible resources at their disposal, the result was that the monuments of this century - miracles of knowledge, courage and splendor - marked the pinnacle of Byzantine art in perfect creations.

Never has art been more varied, more mature, more free; in the 6th century all architectural styles, all types of buildings are found - basilicas, for example St. Apollinaria in Ravenna or St. Demetrius of Thessalonica; churches that represent polygons in plan, for example the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople or St. Vitaliy in Ravenna; buildings in the shape of a cross, topped with five domes, like the Church of St. Apostles; churches such as Hagia Sophia, built by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus in 532-537; Thanks to its original plan, light, bold and precisely calculated structure, skillful solution of problems of balance, harmonious combination of parts, this temple remains an unsurpassed masterpiece of Byzantine art to this day. The skillful selection of multi-colored marble, the fine sculpting of sculptures, and the mosaic decorations on a blue and gold background inside the temple represent incomparable splendor, an idea of ​​which can still be obtained today, in the absence of the mosaic destroyed in the church of St. Apostles or barely visible under the Turkish painting of St. Sofia, - from the mosaics in the churches of Parenzo and Ravenna, as well as from the remains of the wonderful decorations of the church of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica. Everywhere - in jewelry, in fabrics, in ivory, in manuscripts - the same character of dazzling luxury and solemn grandeur is manifested, which marks the birth of a new style. Under the combined influence of the East and ancient tradition, Byzantine art entered its golden age in the era of Justinian.

If we consider Justinian's reign as a whole, it is impossible not to admit that he was able to return the empire to its former greatness for a short period of time. However, the question arises whether this greatness was not more apparent than real, and whether, on the whole, these great conquests did not do more harm than good, stopping the natural development of the Eastern empire and exhausting it in favor of the extreme ambition of one man. In all of Justinian's enterprises, there was always a discrepancy between the goal pursued and the means for its implementation; lack of money was a constant ulcer, corroding the most brilliant projects and the most laudable intentions! Therefore, it was necessary to increase fiscal oppression to the extreme limit, and since in the last years of his reign the aging Justinian increasingly left the course of affairs to the mercy of fate, the position of the Byzantine Empire when he died - in 565, at the age of 87 years - was absolutely deplorable. Financially and militarily, the empire was exhausted; a formidable danger was approaching from all borders; in the empire itself, state power weakened - in the provinces as a result of the development of large feudal property, in the capital as a result of the constant struggle between green and blue; Deep poverty reigned everywhere, and contemporaries asked themselves in bewilderment: “Where did the wealth of the Romans disappear?” Policy change has become an urgent need; it was a difficult undertaking, fraught with many disasters. It fell to the lot of Justinian's successors - his nephew Justin II (565-578), Tiberius (578-582) and Mauritius (582-602).

They decisively initiated a new policy. Turning away from the West, where, moreover, the Lombard invasion (568) took half of Italy from the empire, Justinian's successors limited themselves to organizing a solid defense, founding the African and Ravenna exarchates. At this price, they again gained the opportunity to take care of the situation in the East and take a more independent position in relation to the enemies of the empire. Thanks to the measures they took to reorganize the army, the Persian war, renewed in 572 and lasting until 591, ended with a favorable peace, according to which Persian Armenia was ceded to Byzantium.

And in Europe, despite the fact that the Avars and Slavs brutally devastated the Balkan Peninsula, capturing fortresses on the Danube, besieging Thessalonica, threatening Constantinople (591) and even beginning to settle on the peninsula for a long time, nevertheless, as a result of a series of brilliant successes, the war was transferred to that side of the borders, and the Byzantine armies reached Tissa (601).

But the internal crisis ruined everything. Justinian too firmly pursued the policy of absolute rule; When he died, the aristocracy raised its head, the separatist tendencies of the provinces began to appear again, and the circus parties became agitated. And since the government was unable to restore the financial situation, discontent grew, facilitated by administrative collapse and military rebellions. Religious politics further aggravated the general confusion. After a brief attempt at religious toleration, fierce persecution of heretics began again; and although Mauritius put an end to these persecutions, the conflict that broke out between the Patriarch of Constantinople, who claimed the title of ecumenical patriarch, and Pope Gregory the Great, increased the ancient hatred between West and East. Despite its undoubted merits, Mauritius was extremely unpopular. The weakening of political authority facilitated the success of the military coup, which placed Phocas on the throne (602).

The new sovereign, a rude soldier, could only hold on through terror (602 - 610); with this he completed the ruin of the monarchy. Khosroes II, taking upon himself the role of avenger of Mauritius, renewed the war; the Persians conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor. In 608 they found themselves in Chalcedon, at the gates of Constantinople. Within the country, uprisings, conspiracies, and rebellions succeeded each other; the entire empire was calling for a savior. He came from Africa. In 610, Heraclius, the son of the Carthaginian exarch, deposed Phocas and founded a new dynasty. After almost half a century of unrest, Byzantium again found a leader capable of leading its destiny. But during this half-century, Byzantium gradually returned to the East. The transformation in the Eastern spirit, interrupted by the long reign of Justinian, was now to be accelerated and completed.

It was during the reign of Justinian that two monks brought the secret of silkworm breeding from China around 557, which allowed the Syrian industry to produce silk, partially freeing Byzantium from foreign imports.

This name is due to the fact that the dispute was based on excerpts from the works of three theologians - Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus and Willow of Edessa, whose teaching was approved by the Council of Chalcedon, and Justinian, to please the Monophysites, forced them to condemn.