PersonAD 482 – AD 565

Justinian I

Also called: Justinian the Great

Byzantine emperor (r. 527–565) who reconquered former Roman lands, issued the Corpus Juris Civilis and rebuilt Hagia Sophia

Born into a peasant family in the Balkans, he was adopted by his uncle Justin I, who had become emperor, and succeeded him. To marry Theodora, a former actress, he had the law against marriage across social ranks changed. He is known for closing Plato’s Academy in Athens in 529. Silk production is said to have begun in his reign with silkworms smuggled from China. Entering the new Hagia Sophia, he is said to have exclaimed, “Solomon, I have surpassed you!”

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2 related events

1
AD 527 – AD 565Reign of Justinianmonarch
The Byzantine emperor Justinian recovered former Western Roman lands such as North Africa and Italy and issued the Corpus Juris Civilis, seeking to restore the Roman Empire.
2
AD 532 – AD 537Building of Hagia Sophiamonarch
Justinian rebuilt Constantinople’s cathedral, burned in the Nika riots, as Hagia Sophia with a vast dome, dedicating it in 537.

Themes this person appears in

Medieval Europe and ByzantiumAD 476 – 1077
From the fall of Rome in the West to Canossa — the feudal West built by the Franks and the papacy, Byzantium as heir of Rome, and a church divided east and west