Justinian I

483-565

Byzantine Emperor

The most famous of all the emperors of the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, was Justinian I. After becoming emperor, heembarked upon an extensive building program that produced many magnificent examples of early Byzantine architecture, including churches, aqueducts, and canals, throughout Constantinople. He commissioned the building of the Church of the Holy Wisdom, or the Hagia Sophia, which is the best known example of the Byzantine style of architecture. Many of his administrative programs as emperor have stood the test of time and have been integrated into modern policies.

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinian was born in the year 483 to Slavic parents in a country along the eastern Adriatic coast. Little is known of his early years except that as a youth he was adopted by his uncle, Emperor Justin I, and was educated in Constantinople. In 527 Justin made him coruler of the empire. When his uncle died a few months later, Justinian became the sole emperor.

Justinian was known as a strong ruler and excellent administrator. When he assumed power the laws of the empire were in confusion. Many were out of date, many contradicted themselves, and different provinces had a different understanding of the laws. One of his most valuable contributions was his code of Roman law, which took all the laws from the Roman Empire and consolidated them into one uniform system. This became known as the Codex Justinianus and comprised the most logical and fairest system of law. In later centuries, when Europe began to develop into states, this code became the legal basis of the new governments. Today the laws of most European countries and the Roman Catholic Church show the influence of these laws compiled by Justinian I.

Under Justinian, the Eastern Roman Empire enjoyed its greatest glory. Financed by taxation, he used these funds to construct buildings in the capital city of Constantinople. The golden age of early Byzantine art and architecture blossomed under Emperor Justinian, who was a prolific builder and patron of the arts. Throughout his vast empire he authorized the building of forts and aqueducts, and the building or rebuilding of 30 churches. The most famous of these churches is the Church of the Holy Wisdom, or Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople. This church, designed and engineered by Isodorius of Melitus and Anthemius of Tralles, was a magnificent example of Byzantine architecture.

The Hagia Sophia was built in five years and incorporates a style of architecture known as "hanging architecture," which gives the church its ethereal quality. The domed structure uses pendentives, a new technique at the time of its construction, that support the dome on a square framework of four enormous arches. This engineering feat gives the structure a feeling of weightless stability and a visual sense of great spaciousness.

Justinan was also instrumental in the development of an art form known as mosaics. Mosaics were the favored medium for the internal decoration of the Hagia Sophia and other Byzantine churches. Mosaics were created by assembling small pieces of colored glass or enamels, occasionally overlaid with gold leaf, into pictures and designs. Spread over the walls and vaults of the churches, these mosaics created a luminous effect that complimented the mystic character of the Christian Church as well as embellishing the magnificence of the imperial court, presided over by emperor Justinian I.

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