Justinian the Great part II - Eastern Roman Empire
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2024
- The year was 543, the plague had peaked in intensity and was now slowly fading out throughout the war ridden mediterranean basin. Justinian had recovered, bringing much needed security to the political life in the court. The worst of the crisis had passed. Now stood the formidable challenge of securing the overstretched empire. The reign of Justinian entered its second phase.
⏰ Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction
0:40 - Struggle of the 540'
4:45 - Imperial reaffirmation
9:15 - Consolidation
12:35 - Epilogue
16:32 - Conclusion
🤝 Support
You can support me and donate a Follis or more on Patreon :
/ ancientsight
🎵 Music
www.epidemicsound.com/
Civilization Meltdown - Eoin Mantell
Deconstructing the Empire - Christian Andersen
Forever to Run - Howard Harper-Barnes
This Is Our Land - Bonnie Grace
Walk With Legends - Bonnie Grace
Weapons of Impact - Bonnie Grace
Age Of Men - Jo Wandrini
📚 Main sources
- Hugh Elton, The Roman Empire of Late Antiquity; 2016
- Morisson Cécile, Le Monde Byzantin I - L'empire rome d'Orient (330-641): puf; 2012
- Peter Heather, Rome Resurgent - War and Empire in the age of Justinian : Oxford
🌐 Internet sources
- Wikipedia fr eng, 2021
- Historical Map Animators, CZcams, czcams.com/users/playlist?list...
📽️ More videos
- czcams.com/users/playlist?list...
- czcams.com/users/playlist?list...
Sorry for those who may have missed the premiere, I made a mistake at first in the date.
Justinian and Belisarius' relationship can be summarized like this:
Justinian: "Hello, Belisarius. You're not going to join my Legions"
Belisarius: "I want to join your Legions"
Justinian: "YOU ARE IN"
Man, what a masterpiece did you make! Truly a great summary of Justinian's reign. And yeah, historians today agree that Justinian left the Empire in the pretty good shape considering the circumstances. Justinian's rule was hit by so many natural disasters that it was uncanny: worst plague that world has ever seen (or at least up to that point), big famines, unbelievably disastrous earthquakes like in Antioch in 526 (one of the worst in history with 250-300.000 dead) and 528, Constantinople multiple times in 550's, especially in 557, multiple times in Anatolia and Greece in 540's etc. and even a freaking tsunami that wiped out most of the coast of Levant, killing 30.000 people just in Beirut, one of the most prosperous cities in the Empire, huge fires in Constantinople during the Nika riots that destroyed a quarter of the city. To call upon historian John Malalas, perhaps the best source for Justinian's age besides Procopius, in his estimate that during the entire Empire's history to that point is that there were 38 major natural disasters, while just in reigns of Justinian and his uncle Justin I (during which it was basically Justinian that ruled), so between 518 and 565, there were as many as 37 such huge natural disasters. Not to mention that Justinian was forced to wage a bunch of wars that he didn't want to (two wars with Persia in 526-532 and 540-557, multiple Gepid, Hun and Slavic invasions of Balkans, Moorish wars in Africa 533-548, Samaritan uprisings in Judea in 529-531 and 556) or many problems that he had with civil unrest (besides Nika revolts, there was unrest in Monophysite Syria in Antioch and Egypt in Alexandria), so yeah it was pretty rough. And yet despite that, when he died Justinian left army bigger than it was at beginning of his reign (95.000 at beginning, 150.000 at the end according to famous Byzantine historian Warren Treadgold), a pretty stable imperial revenue (annual revenue was about 6.000.000 to 8.500.000 golden solidi coins, compared to 5.000.000 at the beginning of his reign) and even brought silk to Europe, a completely codified law system, lowered interest rates from 12-12,5% to between 4-8%, greatly simplified administration and quite successfully battled corruption, all of which greatly improved the lives of citizens, restored Church unity in 519 between Constantinople and Rome broken in 484 during Acacian schism and, to us modern people most obviously, left hundreds of most beautiful works of art, from engineering marvels like dam of Dara, over endless churches, most notably Hagia Sophia, to precious mosaics like the one that portrays Justinian and Theodora themselves. As for Justinian's reconquests, yes Langobards conquered half of Italy, but other half, Rome-Ravena corridor, South of Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica remained in Empire's hands for hundreds of years. Ravenna and Rome would fall only in 751 and 754 respectively, more than 200 years than Belisarius and Narses reconquered them. That was more time than Dacia was in the Empire (106-270), but we don't talk about Trajan's conquests as unsuccessful, do we? North Africa would remain in its entirety in Empire for almost the same duration (533 to 698), while Sicily would remain largely Roman until 878, with the last city on the island falling only in 902, 370 since Belisarius took it. However it was the South of Italy that was the longest in the Empire. For 500 years, half of millennium, Romans held Italian South in its entirety, beginning to lose it only by the mid 11th century, with the last city Bari falling only in 1071. To give you the comparison, Justinian's conquest of Italian South was longer part of the Empire than Britain or Gaul were! I mean we don't call Caesar's conquest of Gaul unsuccessful, do we?
In conclusion, a lot of it was achieved during Justinian's reign. It was in part due to him being able to assemble one of the greatest governments that world has ever seen. With generals like Belisarius, Narses, Germanus, John Troglita, Sittas, John the Armenian, Solomon, Mundas, Chilibudius, Liberius, Bessas or Justin, lawgivers like Tribonian, diplomats, spymasters and prime ministers (magister officiorums) like Hermogenes and Peter the Patrician, administrators like John the Capadocian and Peter Barysmes, engineers like Anthemius of Tralles, Isidore of Miletus and Isidore the Younger, with support from great women of the age like Theodora and Antonina, his own uncle Justin and with all of their deeds immortalized by magnificent historians like Procopius, John Malalas, Agathias, Menander Protector, Evagrius Scholasticus, John of Ephesus, John the Lydian, Jordanes and Cassiodorus, it does seem like Justinian's government was one to be considered greatest that Rome ever assembled. And what a great legacy did they all left us.
I'm truly happy that you portrayed it so well. And especially music, since I don't know that I ever heard such good and appropriate music in history videos anywhere on YT! I eagerly await the day when your channel gets as many subscribers as it deserves!
Then Phocas messed up everything...
Wow, you might a taken some time to write this greatly informative comment, thank you. Also, I am glad I lived up to your expectations for this one !
Thanks for providing another perspective of your conquests. I hope your opinion would shed some light!
Hope to see this series continue, the Chad Maurice is too underrated
Yes it will continue
Chad Heraclius, leo III, and all the great Emperor of the east as well.
@@theodlt5980 isaurians fucking based
Heraclius, Constans II, Justinian II, Leo III, Constantine V, Theophilos, Basil I and II, Alexios I, Theodore I, Manuel II etc were all chads or wojak with some chad features
@@causantinthescot not sure about theophilus, agree with the rest
This detail telling of the reign of Justinian shows how the Roman world, with effective leadership, was back to its old self, sending wave after wave of army after army with a large array of good / decent generals... until the job was done. Even after massive plague destroying population and wealth.
The shot at the end is just BEAUTIFUL
*Fun fact:* Emperor Justinian appears in the 1968 german-italian film "The Last Roman" (which portrays the re-conquest of Rome by the Eastern Empire after the death of Theodoric), being played by the legendary Orson Wells. The movie depicts his relationship with Theodora in a pretty similar way to the tragic marriage of Emperor Claudius and Messalina, as Justinian appears a man sickly obsessed with building christian temples in order to honor Christ while Theodora is portrayed as a pagan nymphonaniac who has s*x with every man she considers worthy of her beauty
That sounds like a film to watch
You are so underrated ur channel is Gold
Pristine quality. You need more SUBS!!
Le montage s'améliore avec des incrustations qui enrichissent les propos. La voix se pose de façon plus fluide. Bravo pour ce travail de synthèse qui dure maintenant depuis 2 ans.
Justinian:
*dies*
Lombards:
And here we go.
Had this video recommended to me and i've now binge-watched every video of yours. You're one of the best history YT channels on the internet. Hopefully the algorithm picks more people up.
I am glad you like these videos
You are truly the best history channel on the whole internet. This terse essential abstract of the reign of Justinian the Great has no comparison.
Thanks to the permanence of the geographic card showing the dynamic of the events
I lerned much more watching those two parts of your Video than reading books, abstracts ,
encyclopedias
, and I could revise and correct much pages of my notes on the reign of Justinian.
I make these sincere congratulations to your work in spite of the fact that I have much Ostrogoth, Langobard, and Frank ancestors ,as also has any dude descending from Charlemagne !
Great video on such an important time period in history! Great work brother.
And Great he was!
Thank you for the detailed video and keep up the good work!
Ancient Sight never disappoints. Always solid content 👍
Justinian may have over reached though.
Yes most probably
This channel's presentations are brillant!
I just discovered this channel, the quality is very good! I hope to see you continue to grow.:)
Great video
Very great video, Ancient Sight. If God granted me wishes, I'd reserve one of you presenting this video to St. Justinian. I believe he'd be proud of you, as Pompey the Great was grateful to Theophanes of
Mytilene for recording his deeds. As a Christian, I believe in Heaven like St. Justinian believed, so maybe one day you'll have the opportunity to meet him, which I pray to God.
I am humbled by your words
yet another fantastic vid, cant wait for all the coming emperors
Me neither
Pretty sure I’ve watched each of your vids a dozen times and still keep watching I love your channel please never stop ❤️❤️
The next video should arrive soon !
Géniale comme vidéo! J’ai bien aimé l’animation
Merci c'est cool
a slice of history while i cook/eat. cheers
PRAISE ISUS CRISTUS ! HE HAS GIVEN US ANOTHER VIDEO FROM ANCIENT SIGHT !
Are you thinking of going post-641 with this series or strictly the late Roman period?
Yes definitely, I want to cover the byzantine dark ages and maybe more
@@ancientsight What about the Principate?
@@RaidenTheRipper950 That is not in my priorities but I have that in mind
@@ancientsightPlease cover at least until the fourth crusade. That’s when Eastern Rome definitively falls.
(even they reconquered Constantinople later on, they were just a ruined state after the 4th crusade)
🔥
should have far more views
If the Eastern Empire didn't start the reconquest of the West, the ostrogoths - already highly romanized - would have mixed completely with the locals in a relatively short time and all Italy - already much richer and urbanized than any other territory in western Europe - would have probably become once again a powerful - by all means - state ready to be the protagonist of the politics of the West and maybe even further than that.
But it didn't go that way. Italy was horribly devastated by the greco-gothic war and later politically divided by the langobardic invasion of 568.
Italy remained politically divided until the unification of 1861 and the conquest of Rome in 1870.
I love history, especially late antiquity and the early middle ages. I love the medieval Roman Empire. But sometimes I think what the World would be nowadays, if Justinian didn't do what he did... How much different Italy, my country, would be if one man, centuries ago, took a different decision?
Great video. Love the channel.
great video, you should make a discord server and a twitter so u can spread ur channel; i recommend staying away from reddit though
I will think about it
The Lazic wars actually ended more in the benifit of the Sassanids
They even won more clashes in that war
Battle of Anglon 543
Siege of Edessa 544 (City wasn't conquered but Byzantines paid the Sassanids to lift the siege)
Battle of Telephis-Ollaria
Siege of Onoguris
Even after siege of Phasis, the Sassanids had the majority of their army
In the end, the Byzantine empire was obliged to pay tribute to the Sassanids each year for the recognition of lazica as a vassal state of Romans by the Sassanids
These wars were quite inconclusive so yes you can see it that way
Unfortunately it only goes downhill from here
Byzantine The Greek Empire 🇬🇷✝️🦅
To call Justinian the great is really away for certain religious minded historians to ignore the facts about Justinian 1st yes he reconquered a huge amount of territory of the former western empire however his reconquest cost enormous amount of money resources man power and money at a time when the surviving eastern empire couldn't exactly afford it especially the invasion of Italy which lead to a two decade long war that left the population of Italy decimated by plague and famine which took century's for Italy to recover from Justinian can't be blamed for the famine that emerged around 536 ce or the bubonic plague of the 540's however his response to carry out massive reconquest of territory of the former western empire would have made things worse the plague would have killed a lot more people because of the war in Italy with armies both ostrogothic and Byzantine marching up and down Italy fighting each over seizing crops from the peasant population leading to more famine and more people dying of the plague plus the destruction of urban centres such as the ostrogothic King Vitigus destroying Rome's aqueducts at the beginning of the ostrogothic-Byzantine wars the results would have been a depopulated Italy with peasant farmer dead no crops harvested the results for the rest of the empire frontier left exposed while soldiers withdrawn to fight wars elsewhere hence the barbarian invasions across the Danube in the mid sixth century ce the results after the death of Justinian 1st the population of the eastern Roman empire significantly reduced meaning a population deficit that the empire probably never fully from recovered with the empire vulnerable to attacks in later decades and century's. Just look at what happened a couple of years after Justinian 1st death the loss of most of Italy in 568 ce to the Lombards the real reasons Justinian 1st went on his reconquest of the former western empire which he recovered a significant part of was because of the Nikia riot of 532 ce when to stay in power he relied on his generals men like Belesarius to crush the crowd and rioters who then wanted Justinian 1st removed from.power his wife Theodora and his generals persuaded him to stay in Constantinople then the generals crushed the riot so Justinian 1st stays in power starts reconquering parts of the former western empire at the sametime such a reconquest would have kept the generals busy discouraging them from plotting against the emperor Justinian 1st he even used the period after the riot to build a new church hagia Sophia to take peoples minds off the problems of the empire and the longer the wars of reconquest continued the less chance of the eastern Roman generals plotting to put someone else on the throne.So calling Justinian the 1st the great well maybe it's time to consider dropping the great as a lot of the problems that emerged doen the track in Europe and the eastern Roman empire can be traced back to Justinian 1st he can't be blamed for the bubonic plague of the 540's or completely for the famine that proceeded the plague but his wars of reconquest certainly put strain on the eastern Roman empire left the empire with a population deficit decades afterwards and leaving it vulnerable to attack long after Justinian 1st was dead yes he built a lot of churches and other architecture and codedfide Roman law but the negatives out way the positives when it comes to Justinian 1st so as I say maybe it's time to drop the term emperor Justinian the great and instead Justinian the 1st.
This question will always be controversial because indeed, the more you learn about a certain emperor's reign, the more subtle it becomes to draw a clear conclusion. "Great" does not mean perfect and this kind of title attribution depend on the moral values as well as the point of view we all have.
You make strong arguments against, especially with the gothic war which brought misery to large amounts of people, but very few at the would have guessed such a final result at the time. The vandalic war motivated many romans that another rapid and affordable war could be achieved.
You also talk about how Justinian countered plots and discontent via selective choices of generals and maybe also palace schemes. But you can also see that this argument goes strongly in his favor. Ruling is not easy and you, as a monarch, will always have to compose and deal with political rivals because you will never claim absolute approval.
You could say that earlier emperors from the principate for exemple, left an empire in better shape after their reign and make the legacy of Justinian more debatable. But that is forgetting a crucial point, the period through which this man ruled was more troublesome and difficult. If we do not look into the massive differences there was between the sixth and second century (again, as a comparison), then very few statesmen would get the acknowledgement they really deserve.