Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus (482-565), better known as Justinian I, was an emperor of the Eastern Roman, now Byzantine, Empire, leading it to its territorial height.
In "Unbiased History"[]
"The Fall of Rome"[]
Justinian is seen on top of the Theodosian Walls, during Dovahhatty's eulogy of the Western Roman Empire.
"Byzantium I - The Eastern Empire"[]
Justinian was taken in by his uncle, Justin I, who was elevated as an emperor by Anastasius after arriving in his chamber. Until he himself was elevated by the death of his uncle/adoptive father, he was given the greatest education in the empire, got given the name Justinian after Justin adopted him, and grew up with Khosrow, the future Sassanid king.
In preparations for the next episode, he found Theodora, a monophysite who would marry him, and Belisarius, who would be given his own military division. The episode ends with Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius, and others looking to the distance, seeing the beginning of the reconquest of the Western Roman Empire.
"Trivia"[]
- Justinian's interclass marriage with Theodora being barred by his aunt--ironically a former Gothic slave who was elevated to the purple--was omitted from the series.
- Justinian also had Vitalian murdered.
- Contrary to his more popular image as a just ruler, Procopius paints him in his Secret History as a cruel and paranoid tyrant, pointing in particular to his handling of the deadly Nika riots in Constantinople as evidence of his tyranny. Given that this work was discovered and not known to other contemporaries at the time, there is much controversy over it. It is also Important to note that the Pagan Procopius may have had a grudge against the Christian Justinian due to religion differences.
- While Justinian did indeed bring North Africa and Italy back into the fold again, the utter destruction the Vandalic and Gothic Wars caused, along with great loss in manpower and money, meant that the Empire was weakened against attacks from Iran, and ultimately this may have been a major contributing factor to Islam's rapid conquest of the Middle East and North Africa.
- Justinian's closure of School of Athens caused a exodus of many scholars to Sassanid Persia under the encouragement of Khosrow, who was given Philosopher King for his generosity.
- As strange as it seems due to the satirically good version of various emperors who are considered as bad rulers or bad people in general, in "Byzantium II - Justinian the Great," Justinian called (for example) Nero and Diocletian as monsters and ordered their demonization in the books of later history. This is perhaps due to the deep Christian influence in the Byzantine era and these 2 emperors were pagan and persecutors of Christians.