A New Rome in a New Setting, ct'd
A New Rome in a New Setting
- In order to regain Rome's glory, Justinian sent his best general, Belisarius, to recover North Africa from the Germanic tribes.
- They won.
- Two years later, Belisarius attacked Rome and took it from barbarians called the Ostrogoths.
- The city kept being attacked by other tribes and over 16 years Rome changed hands 6 times.
- Eventually, though, Justinian's armies won almost all of Italy and parts of Spain.
- Even though the Roman empire was divided (mostly because of communications difficulties...), rulers in the East saw themselves as Emperors of Rome.
- In 527, a Byzantine nobleman named Justinian succeeded his uncle to the throne of the Eastern empire.
Let's rewind...and look forward:
Setting the Stage...
Life in the New Rome, ct'd
- When the Roman Empire crumbled, it was in 2 parts: Western and Eastern.
In the Eastern Roman Empire, a strong capital city called Byzantium had its name changed to Constantinople after the emperor Constantine.
- The panel of legal experts created a single, uniform code of law known as the Justinian Code. It had 4 parts:
- The Code... nearly 5,000 laws
- The Digest... a summary of what Rome's thinkers thought about the laws
- The Institutes... a textbook
- The Novellae... new laws
The Western Roman Empire was overrun by Germanic tribes (aka barbarians).
- Even though the name Constantinople stayed the name of the capital city, the entire Eastern Roman Empire became known as Byzantium.
- Byzantium carried on the glory of Roman traditions.
A New Rome in a New Setting, ct'd
- Byzantine emperors had absolute power.
- They were in charge of politics and religion.
Life in the New Rome
Chapter 8, Section 1: The Byzantine Empire
- Most Byzantines spoke Greek.
- Justinian set up a panel of legal experts in the hopes of not making the same mistakes of others before him who had tried to govern such a large territory.