History of Byzantium Vol 2: The Early Reign of Justinian

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curiositystream.com flashpoint and use the promo code flashpoint you'll be helping out my channel and will get an additional 25 off so that's now down to 15 a year so do yourself a favor if you are a fan of learning hit that link and start your journey today and now folks for the video you've been waiting for so [Music] [Music] as i've hopefully firmly established in your minds the reign of justinian is one of the most complicated and incident-filled in the entire history of the roman empire upon his accession in 527 justinian moved from being a workaholic behind the scenes to being the workaholic with the power to have his ideas put into practice the results for us are that the five-year period between 527 and 532 needs to be broken up into several different episodes so that we can fully appreciate what was going on [Music] today we begin in a familiar theater over the last two episodes we've seen the increasingly unstable situation on the empire's eastern front the byzantine empire was not only seen as a superpower by its neighbors but now as the center of christianity from ethiopia in the south to the caucasus mountains in the north states were increasingly seeing religion as a strong influence on their political relations with other states the attempts by the kingdoms of la zika and iberia to switch allegiance to byzantium were partly motivated by the antagonistic stance of the persian state toward christianity understandably the persians were wary that christians might represent some kind of fifth column within their realm and the turbulence stirred up by masdaq within the zoroastrian world was seen by some as a response to the success of christianity at winning converts however religion is seldom the sole motivation for political actions la zika and iberia were small kingdoms on the persian doorstep who saw an alliance with the more distant byzantines as the route to an independent existence similarly justin may have told kavadh that he was bound to support these kingdoms as they sought to help their people get closer to the one true god but naturally there were other considerations the byzantines didn't want the persians to have access to the black sea the security and wealth of constantinople depended on controlling the approaches to it of course the persians probably weren't thinking on such a grand scale their stated demands remained cash and the destruction of the fort at dara today we are going to do something a little different and focus on one battle in particular rather than simply survey the sweep of the war with procopius soon to arrive on the eastern front we have a rare chance to see soldiers in action through his eyes and learn how battle in the age of cavalry had come to be organized remember though that we only know all the details you're about to hear from procopius who as we've already established has many an axe to grind and ear to please in episodes 5 and 11 i made reference to a catastrophic defeat which the persians suffered in battle with the white huns or hephthalites in 484 while attila had been building his empire in europe the hephthalites constructed their own vast domain which today would extend from the western edge of china across pakistan afghanistan and north up into kazakhstan their raiding tactics were similar to the huns or the bulgars more recently in our story and by 484 the persian king peraz had raised a massive army to meet them and destroy them on his northern border peraz himself lined up with the cream of the persian military the immortals these heavy cavalry had been in the front line on the plains near herat and charged the lightly armored hephthalite horse archers the heft the lights had fled and the persians roared after them but as was so often the case with armies from the steps their retreat was actually a trap the hephthalites had dug a large trench across the plain and concealed it they left one crossing in the center which they quickly retreated across the persians fanned out to encircle their prey and with dust rising ever thicker from the hooves of their great steeds they did not see what awaited them the front lines dropped out of sight and into the pits and many behind them couldn't pull up in time and simply followed their comrades down crushing those beneath them among the dead was peraz and in the aftermath the dignity of the sasani royal house was insulted by the levying of tribute to the victorious hephthalites [Music] it was this double humiliation that pressed on kavadh to begin his war with anastasius in 502. by winning great victories over the roman empire kavadh could restore his prestige while also grabbing the necessary cash to pay his benefactors although anastasias had managed to push the persians back kavadh could feel fairly happy with the campaign of the early 6th century he had sacked amida and several other cities and byzantine slaves and gold were in his hands the byzantines had been forced to fight a defensive war which left the persians feeling that their western border was pretty secure this is where the problem of dara comes in the last serious war between rome and persia was launched by julian the apostate in 363. the emperor was killed and the romans were forced to cede territory to the persians this included the large fortress of nisbis nisbis was strategically vital because it was one of the few points on the border between the two great empires where the land was suitable for large armies to the north were the armenian mountains and beyond them the caucasus where iberia and la zika lay as long as you built a fort to guard the mountain passes it was pretty difficult for an enemy army to pass through those areas and keep themselves supplied the same was true for the south where the syrian desert would make life pretty harsh for any invasion force not to mention the newly minted lakhmid arab kingdom so in between these natural barriers on a route which led one way to antioch and the other way to tessephon lay nisbis from their battlements the persians could look out and feel confident that the byzantines were nowhere near that their homelands were secure of course from a byzantine point of view this was a strategic weakness and after the invasion of 502 it was hard to feel like having an armed persian camp on the border really made them feel very secure so anastasias had ordered the construction of a fortress over the village of dara opposite this on the byzantine side now when the persians looked across the plain they would see an armed camp staring right back at them it seems like a classic arms race the byzantines felt this equality would help ensure peace the persians felt it was an aggressive move designed to threaten their security with all of that in mind it's easy to see why the battle over iberia and lazika that broke out in 527 soon spiraled into war which would encompass the whole frontier as the persians got the better of the fighting in the north justinian ordered an attack to commence further south offensives against nisbis and thibatha were unsuccessful although raids into persian armenia did manage to bring back a few slaves during the winter hypatius was dispatched once more to try and arrange peace talks with kavadh the king restated his demands for gold to pay for the defense of the passes through the caucus mountains but justinian refused there was sensitivity on the byzantine side at the idea of paying tribute to the persians which is how many viewed the demand for cash the persian argument was that the money was no different than similar amounts given to federate troops or foreign allies who defended the danube so the war escalated in 528 and 529 with bad results for the byzantines the persians steadily eroded their position on the lazikian border while a successful raid on persian territory in mesopotamia brought a fearsome response from al-munthar of the lakmids after killing the local dukes in battle he raided deep into imperial territory ravaging the lands around amisa apamaya and even into the territory of antioch on his way home he had captured many slaves including around 400 nuns who he promptly sacrificed to the goddess al-uzza who was likened to aphrodite by greek contemporaries even to pre-christian roman eyes this would have been seen as a monstrous act [Music] as we shall see over the next couple of episodes one of justinian's solutions to any problem was to build he sent men to fortify cities along the border but several drew persian attacks which prevented the work crews from completing their tasks at thanuras it was belisarius who we will soon introduce fully who was guarding the men with a persian army in the vicinity reinforcements were sent in to join him under the command of two balkan-born brothers boozies and cootsies they are described as young and rash by procopius and so it proved the persians arrived with a large army and learning from perez's fate dug trenches in the desert before luring the excitable byzantine commanders into a headlong attack once more men and horses flew into the unseen ditch to be killed cootsis was amongst them and now it was the turn of the persians to look down on their cunning with pride although there were casualties on the persian side too it was unmistakably their victory and although belisarius and the other commanders were able to retreat the persians took many prisoners and the foundations of the new fortress were destroyed [Music] justinian clearly needed to act first came a major reorganization of the eastern army clearly one field army was not enough to push back the persians and the lakhmids so fresh troops were drafted from the west and a second field army the army of armenia was established with around fifteen thousand men to the south the army of the east would now be about 20 000 strong [Music] new commands were also created in towns and cities across the east with noblemen from constantinople hastily shoved out the door to help shore up the border new commanders were promoted too and justinian turned to two balkan-born men like himself sitas and belisarius the two young men had come to the emperor's attention when he was serving as master of the pracental armies and they were part of his personal bodyguard these guards would swear oaths of loyalty to their commander and might be asked to take on confidential missions or even stand in the presence of their master while he ate his meals [Music] sitas had clearly made a favorable impression on his master because during the late 520s he'd been tasked with subduing the mountain dwelling tsarni of north east anatolia bringing them onto the tax rolls and conscripting their men into the army his successful leadership had also won him personal favor as marriage was arranged to theodora's sister comito making him essentially part of the family he was now promoted to magister militant in charge of the armenian army and based at theodosiopolis belisarius was younger still and may have been as young as 25 when given important commands in the east [Music] born in thrace it's probable that belisarius was from a minor noble family as his first assignments seemed to be as a cavalry officer and he clearly impressed everyone around him with his maturity and judgment belisarius was now promoted to be magister militant for the east arguably the most important command in the empire it's at this point that procopius was hired to be his legal secretary and who made his way to dara to join his master justinian couldn't rest there though he ordered more building work with improved fortifications for martyropolis and theodosiopolis the abandoned streets of palmyra were to be rebuilt to station troops and in light of what al-munthar had just done the monastery of saint sabas had a fort built around it the lakmids were becoming a pressing threat unlike their persian sponsors the arab raiders could move too fast to be easily fought and their raids were becoming ever more disturbing so justinian sent envoys into the syrian desert they sought out the leader of the largest christian tribe in the area the gassanids and asked if they would be interested in becoming byzantine clients in exchange for cash and the title of supreme phylak which could be seen as simply chieftain but king would not be inaccurate the leader of the gassanids al-harith ibn jabala was charged with protecting the christian people of the eastern provinces and wherever possible inflicting as much damage on the pagan lakhmits as he could al-harith was given authority over the whole area from the euphrates down to the red sea he didn't currently hold that sway and so as the lakhmids had done he now set about using his money and muscle to bring fellow tribes into the fold and organize the defense of the byzantine order the empowering of a people who once the imperial authorities would have ignored was seen as an unprecedented move by procopius but the times they were a-changing and justinian needed help patrolling his southern border as with aksum and lizeka and iberia it was christianity that allowed him to put his faith in the gassanids and not be fearful what arming and paying a huge group of men on his doorstep might lead to of course i should mention that the gassanids were monophysites but justinian was not in a position to be picky so at last we come to a halt at the gates of dara if a new fortress couldn't be built then justinian would settle for upgrades to his existing stronghold in late 529 sent a letter to justinian telling him that he needed gold he gave him notice that war was coming and tried to guilt-trip justinian into seeing his point of view look at all the innocent people on the border who are going to be killed because of your refusal to pay what you owe justinian assumed that negotiations would continue but kavadh was serious and after a string of victories he was confident that he could push the new emperor's armies back and get the peace that he wanted work at dara continued throughout the first half of 5 30 with belisarius eyeing the horizon news reached him that a huge persian army was gathering at nisbis determined to destroy the illegal fortress once and for all although much faith had been placed in the young general his youth was on the emperor's mind and the master of offices homogeneous was sent to lend the general his experience in the coming battle by june the persians made their appearance an army 40 000 strong began to gather outside the gates of nisbis amongst the army were 5 000 of the immortals their horses were draped in armor while their rider wore iron plates greaves and gloves and carried whips and maces and a lance so heavy that it had to first be attached to the side of the horse's mount most strikingly of all the rider wore a one-piece helmet crafted to look like a man's face a striking sight to behold no doubt and their presence made it clear how important the coming conflict was to the king of kings the persian commander feroz also brought with him a train of artillery sappers engineers and other weaponry ready for a siege and the raising of dara elisarius had with him the army of the east about 25 000 men strong but only recently formed with new recruits from the west that weren't used to one another yet belisarius's personal retinue or comitatus was only 1500 strong and heavy cavalry though they were they could not match the immortals for training equipment or skill belisarius knew that the earlier defeats he had witnessed were not just due to superior persian numbers or the rashness of men like kutzis no it was superior persian organization and discipline in mounted warfare that had often been the key to victory the byzantines may have learned how to ride and shoot arrows at the same time but they were new to this game the persians were centuries ahead of them in institutional experience the roman army though was hardly known as an undisciplined force and belisarius was a commander of rare vision who was able to get the most out of what he had and use his enemy's strengths against them on hearing of the size of the persian force he knew that dara would not hold out against a prolonged siege and made the decision to fight out on the plane outside the walls there were two advantages belisarius felt his army had over their enemy the first was that the persian infantry were no match for the byzantines he dismisses them as merely the servants of the noblemen riding the horses as a large part of the persian army were infantry their numerical advantage may not have been as overwhelming as it might seem the second advantage were the federate troops serving the byzantines the army of the east had two contingents of particularly fearsome barbarians from north of the danube the first were some herulians riders originally from scandinavia who were good horsemen and had been particularly strong warriors in attila's armies procopius claims they were the basest of men and utterly abandoned rascals the other group were actual huns step horse archers whose reputation for their deadly arrow fire preceded them in order to make best use of his forces and attempt to overcome their numerical inferiority belisarius chose a strategy which the persians were now entirely familiar with outside the walls of dara he ordered the digging of a trench this was not to be a concealed trap though this trench was very much to be seen by the enemy the trench was not a straight line it looks to us more like a hockey goal the motivation for digging these trenches was to protect the infantry from being crushed by the persian heavy cavalry belisarius made sure that the enemy scouts would see the pits he had dug and hoped that they would ensure that the persian cavalry would steer clear of the center of his line behind the central line of the trench he placed himself homogeneous and the infantry the byzantine cavalry would sit behind the two other parallel trenches and there were points where one could cross the ditches it wasn't just a giant hole in the ground but why the hockey goal shape you ask in the mouth of the goal as it were he placed his huns with ditches jutting out in front of them they were unlikely to be charged by the persians but would maintain maneuverability which was one of their key strengths the heralds were placed on the dip of a hill on the left side of the line concealed from view under their commander faras the persians duly split their forces in three in response to this with infantry in the middle and cavalry on each wing with his army assembled firoz began proceedings by sending belisarius a note in it he asked if the byzantine general would be so kind as to prepare him a meal and a bath in dara for the next day no doubt chuckling to himself furrows spent the first day discussing tactics with his officers and perhaps debating what exactly belisarius was up to with all his ditch digging procopius reports that to keep the byzantines occupied firoz sent some men down to their line who challenged the soldiers to single combat the next day ten thousand more persians arrived from nisbis giving furos a two to one numerical advantage belisarius sent a note to furos telling him not to go to war without justification firoz replied that that would be good counsel from an honest man but from a lying byzantine it meant nothing belisarius replied that the insulting letter would be fastened to the banners of his men for extra motivation on the third day the battle began the persians advanced and poured volleys of arrows across the trenches the byzantines returned fire but the larger persian numbers meant it was the byzantines who were on the defensive maintaining discipline behind their shields as the arrows rained down upon them when each side had used up its arrows the infantry used their spears hand to hand although the byzantine center was well protected from direct attack by the ditches the byzantine left began taking heavy casualties and the regular persian cavalry advanced against that wing who were commanded by boozies doubtless with revenge on his mind once within a hundred yards the persians drew up in formation ready to charge and the byzantines withdrew rapidly so rapidly that the persians galloped forward believing that they could turn the whole army in on itself as had happened at herat 50 years earlier though the persians began to lose cohesion and with dust flying into the air they didn't see what awaited them as they rounded the trench in pursuit of the fleeing byzantines the huns in the left side of the goal now sprinted out and around the trench smashing into the persian flanks meanwhile bouzis led his men past the hill and as the persians raced to catch them the heralds burst out of their position and smashed into their other flank turning to face two enemies on your sides is an impossible task and with the mad press of man and horse two thousand persians were dead within twenty minutes those who escaped fled back to their lines with boozies leading the pursuit with the left wing disappearing into a cloud of dust and confusion the persian immortals under the command of beres manus were harassing the outnumbered byzantine rite again the byzantines broke and fled but this time they darted back towards the walls of dara and behind the trench so that the persians headed straight toward the byzantine infantry belisarius was ready for them and prepared a wall of shields to block their path once they pass the edge of the trench the huns on the right of the gold mouth raced into action with the speed and horsemanship that only a life in the saddle can give you the huns curved around the trench and into the persian rear like a barn door swinging shut the huns bore down on the exposed backs of the persian cavalry firing arrows at point-blank range even the armor of the immortals could not protect them as if this wasn't enough belisarius's reserve cavalry arrived on their flank and the other group of huns soon returned almost surrounding the persian cavalry they were cut down in their thousands as they tried to escape procopius estimates that five thousand died on this wing alone with bearish menace among the slain those who could escape raced away at top speed the persian infantry realizing what had happened also began to flee many dropping their shields and making a run for nisbis the byzantines pursued and cut hundreds down as they fled the temptation at this moment of victorious slaughter would have been to surge forward away from the trenches and attempt to storm the rest of the persian army who were standing gobsmacked across the plain but belisarius had learned his lessons and gave the order to quickly abandon the pursuit rather than risk losing men in the chaos that would have followed belisarius had won the first significant byzantine victory of the war and he wasn't going to squander it the battle of dara is perhaps more significant to historians than to history as we shall see next episode one victory does not win a war but for those charting the change in military tactics and personnel procopius's account shows us the completely different way of war from the classical image of roman legionaries standing on foot wearing their enemies down in belisarius the byzantines had found a commander who understood the new realities of warfare and the byzantine's own diminished position it's worth saying that the bias of the people of the mediterranean was still firmly in the infantry camp tales of homeric heroism fill procopius's pages and he feels the need to mount a defense of why use of horse arches is not a cowardly move but once we sift through the stuff his audience demanded we get the picture of a world where cavalry was king and protecting these vital assets was of paramount importance by using ditches to control the field of battle belisarius had put the persians on notice that the roman army was still a force to be reckoned with [Music] last time we followed the developments on the persian frontier the war which began in justin's reign over lazika and iberia soon spilt out across the whole eastern border as king kavadh committed the bulk of his armed forces to securing a favorable peace justinian was forced to scramble building new defenses and appointing new commanders until something stemmed the tide the new master of soldiers in the east belisarius was the man to finally do it winning a famous victory at the battle of dara in 5 30. in fact it was not only belisarius who was victorious in the campaigning season of that year to the north sitas the commander of the army of armenia had met another large persian force at sitala outside theodosiopolis and routed it unfortunately for sitas we have no procopius to tell us about what a wonderful guy he was and so we are left with only the statement that he used a ruse to secure victory over the persian commander mihir miro however he did it it was clearly an impressive achievement which allowed him soon after to conquer a slice of persian armenia and secure the defection of two important armenian chiefs narses and eratius justinian was thrilled with these victories not only because they arrested the persian advance but because they were his men who had succeeded an important fact for an emperor with little pedigree beyond his peasant uncle's sponsorship in keeping with his favorite policy he demanded more building of fortifications including a massive upgrade to the existing walls of dara he wanted the city to appear impregnable and renamed it justiniana newtown for some reason though dara was oddly hard to rename anastasias had ordered it to be called anastasiopolis when he first converted it into a fortress but the name never stuck and the city's odd pride in its original name continues listeners of the history of rome might be expecting to hear that instead of building more defensive fortifications the armies of the roman empire might now take the fight to the persians that had been the usual balance of power for centuries but it was no longer the case the romans had lost half of their empire the persians had not it's also worth remembering that war with persia was not something justinian had any interest in born in the balkans and educated about the glories of the roman past it was west not east the justinian looked by the autumn of 530 peace negotiations resumed with the byzantines ever keen to end the war but unfortunately the victories at dara and sitala pretty much guaranteed that war would continue kavadh wanted a peace favorable to the persian state to agree a treaty after being defeated would undermine him and so he spent the winter licking his wounds and when the spring of 531 arrived his armies were back on the move show the byzantines that he meant business kavan put together an all-cavalry army of 20 000 including 5 000 under al-munthar of the lakhmids and sent them straight towards antioch belisarius began to follow them but could not take his whole army as he needed to leave a strong contingent to guard dara he did have with him a party of huns and his gassanid allies under their new phylak harith the persians began to ravage the province of euphratensis and then moved into the territory of antioch itself many of the citizens of the great city fled in panic at the news remember that their walls were still being rebuilt after a devastating earthquake belisarius was able to get his forces to the city of chalkis which prevented the persians from advancing any further the young general seemed content to just let the persians return home they would do damage on their way no doubt but he saw no point in engaging them while he was outnumbered however the other commanders in the area disagreed sonicass the leader of one of the groups of huns from the battle of dara had already harried persian foragers and hermogenes the master of offices had just arrived with fresh troops who were agitating for battle another pressure on belisarius was the fact that the prisoners who al-monthar had taken two years before when he had sacrificed all those nuns had just been ransomed and had returned to cities nearby including chulkis belisarius was called upon by the friends and family of these people to take revenge now apparently against his better judgment belisarius led his forces to kalanicom where an attack was immediately launched it was a mistake and the superior persian cavalry swept the byzantines off the field driving many into the euphrates river belisarius kept his infantry in tight formation to prevent a slaughter but it was a defeat which undid the psychological success of the battle of dara [Music] now we might suspect that procopius being our main source for the battle was massaging his employer's ego elisarius didn't want to engage the persians you understand it was the fault of other men however this inability to control subordinate commanders happens repeatedly in belisarius's career to the point where it seems to be a huge weakness of his as a general the truly great generals of history like caesar or alexander were men who others wanted to fight for and for reasons we will explore down the road belisarius did not seem to command such respect justinian responded to the defeat by launching a commission of inquiry to look into who was to blame quite the modern bureaucratic solution to the situation and belisarius was duly recalled to constantinople this wasn't quite the slap in the face it might seem belisarius wasn't being fired exactly just reassigned to the north though the war continued to go better for the byzantines an experienced general of gothic origin named bessus arrived on the eastern front to become the dukes in mesopotamia and routed a force of persian cavalry on the banks of the tigris in response a large persian force tried to besiege martaropolis but bassass and boozies marshalled the garrison inside the city and held out through autumn right through until november byzantine reinforcements gathered and were ready to engage the persians when news came that kavadh the king of kings was dead the persian troops withdrew and justinian breathed a sigh of relief four years of war had exhausted his treasury and now perhaps the expected civil war in persia would put an end to the conflict kavan's son kusrow was declared the new king but justinian withheld his ambassadors waiting to see what kavadh's other sons would do and hope that one of them might overthrow him and be in a position to strike a more favorable peace but cusro swiftly defeated his brothers and sent word to justinian that he was now ready to negotiate cusro did want peace he may have cleared away the obvious rivals to the throne but he needed time to consolidate and so the two men who once might have been brothers began to discuss terms the negotiations lasted for a whole year as ambassadors and messengers headed back and forth across the border but eventually agreements were made the persians would withdraw from lazika while the byzantines would do the same in armenia dara would remain where it was but the byzantines agreed to withdraw the dukes of mesopotamia from living there so that his troops would be stationed further away from the frontier at constantia however cusro insisted that justinian pay for the peace the persians felt that as almost all the fighting had taken place on the byzantine side they had had the better of the war and therefore they should be paid for their withdrawal although the optics were not good for justinian as paying tribute was what it looked like he agreed to do it the byzantines would pay 11 000 pounds of gold in order to secure the treaty though ostensibly the money was to pay for the troops who would guard the caucus mountains although this was a huge pile of cash it's perhaps not as shocking as it might seem at first that amount was roughly equivalent to the tax bill of egypt for one year certainly a large number but this peace treaty had no time limit it was a perpetual peace or as some would translate it optimistically an eternal peace previous treaties between the two powers had been for say 50 years or some other long duration which suggested that peace should be the norm between them but a perpetual peace was quite the statement within the treaty it was explicitly stated that the king and emperor were brothers who should aid one another financially or militarily without question while these glowing sentiments may not have been taken entirely seriously justinian felt it was definitely worth paying a large sum now to end the expensive and damaging hostilities for good as we shall see next episode the expenses were racking up back home as justinian's grand projects took effect now he could give his whole attention to them and the other plans that were forming in his mind for now though we travel back in time to 527 and see what's been going on on the other major border of the empire the danube river the danube frontier was in a state of flux bulgars slavs heralds and lombards lived alongside one another and eyed the riches of the empire with envy some would be paid to protect the border some would sign up for the army while others would raid the land and grab what they could around 520 justin's other nephew jomanas was made master of the soldiers in thrace and drove off some slavic raiders leaving the balkans quiet for the next few years however in 527 the year justinian became emperor a major raid on thrace took place with bulgars and slavs joining in the two people seemed to have cooperated or commingled on these invasions so you are free to assume that both are involved in these attacks in 528 there was a raid on illyricum and in 529 the bulgars returned and defeated germanus and his colleague baduaris in battle the bulgars pushed on into thrace and the environs of constantinople hanging around long enough to extract ransom money from justinian for the officers they had captured however the tide was about to turn in the emperor's favor just as it did at a similar time on the eastern front a gapid prince named mundus had been working for theodoric the ostrogoth until the latter's death in 526 at this point mundus returned home and a few years later accepted an invitation from justinian to bring his retinue and come work for the empire as he had done in the east justinian made two new appointments that winter mundus would become master of soldiers for a lyricum and a certain chill boudis was made master of soldiers for thrace chilbodius may have had gothic origins or possibly even slavic ones either way he was a competent general who likes sittas and belisarius had once worked directly for the emperor in 530 the bulgars came back for more and were violently repulsed by the new generals mundus in particular crushed the force that he encountered and captured the bulgar king both generals pushed their troops to the danube itself and prevented any more raiding over the next three years in fact both led their forces into the territory of the slavs making raids of their own to send the message that the empire would not simply wait to be invaded the work the two men did was so successful that we hear of no more serious raiding until the next decade jumping ahead slightly in 533 chilbudius took things too far and was killed in battle after crossing the river without a large enough force curiously though this is not the last we will hear of chilbodius [Music] in the meantime though mundus's major victory over the bulgars won him much acclaim back in constantinople taking place as it did in the campaign season of 5 30 it coincided with belisarius's famous victory at dara justinian the student of roman history and eager restorer of its former glory couldn't resist the opportunity and held a triumph in the city to celebrate the two victories [Music] justinian also melted down the statue of theodosius that had stood in the orgasteon and replaced it with a statue of himself dressed as achilles on a horse holding a globe in one hand facing the east and with his other arm pointing to the rising sun there are a number of interesting things to note about the statue the first is obviously that justinian had been nowhere near a battlefield and yet all was for the glory of the emperor who was to be seen as the one protecting his people second is that there were still relatives of the theodosian family living in constantinople and the use of their ancestor statue may have been a deliberate signal of justinian's imperial legitimacy this statement was slightly undercut by the fact that justinian statue was made of a bronze alloy which could shimmer like gold while also of course being much cheaper we've spent the majority of the last three episodes on the frontier and soon we need to head back to the capital to spend more time with justinian what was the new emperor doing day by day why did he need to cut corners with his finances why was he underlining his right to rule to the city's nobility next episode these are the questions we will answer the equestrian statue by the way did last for another 900 years until the fall of the city when the turks recycled it into a cannon for now though we need to note some other developments in foreign affairs justinian's use of christianity as a diplomatic tool continued in other arenas during the early years of his reign in 527 the year he became emperor he invited greppes king of the heralds to convert his people to the one true faith we don't know exactly how far christianity had already penetrated amongst the herald people but a trip to constantinople lavish gifts and receptions and the offer of future subsidies and titles was certainly enough for greppes to accept jesus christ on behalf of his people the heralds now agreed to guard the border around sinjardunam in the old province of second pannonia this meant that herald troops were available to the empire as we saw last episode in spectacular fashion at the battle of dara [Music] the following year some missionaries that justinian had sponsored succeeded in converting a group of huns who lived north of the crimea their king grodd accepted the new emperor's invitation to come to constantinople and receive the same baptism and gifts treatment and grog turned out to be an enthusiastic convert and returned home to persecute heresy outraging his native priesthood by melting down the silver idols of their pagan gods a rebellion broke out which overwhelmed grodd and destroyed the byzantine garrison at boss porus one of the two imperial cities in the crimea justinian sent a fleet to retake the city and the rebels withdrew however the emperor now needed to find another people willing to keep an eye on the huns so he made overtures to the ostrogoths now don't get confused this was a small group of gods who had never moved west with their brethren and stayed put by the shores of the black sea they were orthodox christians and accepted byzantine cash in exchange for guarding imperial interests justinian naturally ordered the building of walls and defenses to secure the area justinian's military successes did not go unnoticed in the west in vandal africa paranoia ran high amongst the leading men that their king hilderick who was on very friendly terms with the emperor might voluntarily cede their territory to him a coup in 530 deposed him and replaced him with his aryan cousin galema justinian sent strong letters of protest demanding either hilderich's restoration or his transfer to constantinople gelimer refused either suggestion and justinian warned him that this meant the end of peace between the empire and the vandal kingdom which had been in effect since the time of zeno gelimer was unmoved [Music] in italy amala suntha the daughter of theodoric found herself in a similar position to hilderich she continued to hear whispers that certain gothic nobles planned on deposing her feeling increasingly isolated she wrote to justinian asking if she could flee to imperial territory should she need to justinian was more than happy to oblige and had a mansion prepared for her in derekian when she heard this she took action against the three leading conspirators she sent them north on various pretexts and then had them murdered in the meantime she had her possessions and a good chunk of the treasury sent by boat to derekian just in case her plan failed however no revolt came so she recalled the boat and for now remained in charge at ravenna [Music] the final bit of information to note is that mundus the slayer of the bulgars was briefly appointed to replace belisarius in the east mundus julie made the journey across the empire just as peace negotiations began and seemed to be going well at this point justinian decided that mundus was still needed in the balkans and recalled him by the end of 531 therefore mundus was wintering in the capital along with belisarius [Music] in the last two and a half episodes we've been out on the frontiers as the new emperor justinian tried to extricate himself from a costly war with persia this week we return to domestic matters and explore what justinian achieved during his first five years in power of course as we know the year 527 wasn't exactly justinian's first year in power although he only became caesar and then augustus in the year that his uncle died he had clearly wielded considerable influence during justin's nine-year reign it was the kind of imperial apprenticeship which very few men enjoyed during this time justinian took a keen interest in the architecture of the capital we have evidence of half a dozen churches which were restored or refurbished during that time several of them originally founded by constantine to honor local martyrs only days after his coronation justinian began the construction of a church of his own which still stands today the small church of saint sergius and bacchus honours two more martyrs they were roman centurions who were dear to the new emperor's heart these building projects give us an insight into the three guiding principles which motivated justinian's first five years on the throne the new emperor was a deeply committed christian who saw it as his duty to not only defend the faith but to regulate and unify it he took his inheritance of the roman empire equally seriously and wanted to restore its former glory with those beliefs in mind the refurbishment of ancient churches can be seen as an act of both piety and duty what better way to signal the roman empire's strength and glory than by restoring its great churches of course building is something that emperors had always been keen on because it was a tangible achievement which would remind those who saw it of who was in charge while surviving on to educate future generations constant building projects must also be seen in this context anastasius may have had no imperial pedigree to speak of but he was chosen by the empress justin had been chosen essentially by the palace guards and justinian was therefore merely the nephew of a usurper in the eyes of some with buildings gleaming anew in the capital justinian hope to say here is a man worthy of god worthy of rome and worthy to be your emperor over the next few years justinian would commission a slew of new building projects some we already saw out on the frontiers while back in the capital he helped complete new baths orphanages hospitals and several new public amenities for the suburb of sikhai just across the golden horn the population of the empire had been growing for a while now and justinian aimed to turn sikai into an independent city which he could then rename justinianopolis the plans wouldn't come to fruition in the end but the emperor's desire for legitimacy and immortality would lead him to name at least two dozen new settlements after himself during his time on the throne the other interesting note about the expansion of sikai is that the last imperially sponsored theater was built there during this period the ever ever-christianizing population would soon have no interest in the plays of antiquity next justinian turned his attention to the law under theodosius ii all the laws issued since the time of constantine had been gathered together and published in 438 with the empire coming under attack from without and within the law code had been an attempt to bring order to the chaos roman law was recognized by barbarians and byzantines alike as representing something special something that could legitimize rulers and regulate a kingdom since theodosius's code had been issued both the visigothic and burgundian courts had ordered their own compilations of roman law to help bind their power to their new subjects legitimacy was something justinian needed and in early 528 he announced to the senate his intention of compiling a new law code of course expediency wasn't the emperor's only motivation the theodosian code had been desperately needed century after century of imperial decree and legal decision had accumulated making lawsuits ever more complicated and expensive the theodosian code simply gathered all these rulings together into one place no attempt had been made to remove obsolete laws or question laws which contradicted one another and of course 90 years had now passed since the code had been published and so a collection of new laws and edicts had been issued in the meantime justinian appointed a commission of 10 expert jurists to create a new code their instructions were to collect together and revise every imperial constitution they could find from the time of hadrian up to the present law codes issued by diocletian as well as the adoptions were included along with all the edicts of all the western and eastern emperors commission arranged the new law code according to subject matter and then into chronological order not only were contradictory or obsolete laws removed but words were altered omitted or added for the sake of clarity the commission worked feverishly for just over 13 months a terrific speed so that on the 8th of april 5 29 the emperor could announce the publication of the first comprehensive legal code in the empire's history the code of justinian the emperor was clear that every text included in the code would obtain the force of a general constitution justinian was clearly delighted with the code and the prestige it would lend his name he announced that those things which seemed to many former emperors to require correction but which none of them ventured to carry into effect we have decided to accomplish at the present time with the assistance of almighty god [Music] the official aim of the code was to diminish the length and complexity of lawsuits for the public benefit and official copies of the code was sent out to all the provinces an important addition to the existing laws were the canons of the four great ecumenical councils which justinian now declared would have the same validity as imperial laws in this area of religious behavior justinian now began to actively legislate himself the first two years of his reign saw sweeping measures taken against anyone rejecting orthodox christian belief lapsed christians were to be put to death those making sacrifices were to be put to death the unbaptized were to be baptized or they would lose their civil rights pagans were barred from imperial service along with their cv new applicants would need three witnesses to vouch for their religious practice justinian also targeted heretics in the confusing world of early christianity heresy was a term thrown around regularly as various sects began to differentiate themselves but in justinian's laws the term heretic seems to take on its familiar medieval conception as both religious center and social menace or even political traitor the heretics who were being targeted included homosexuals pagans samaritans and manichaeans jews were included as heretics too but didn't lose their civil rights although justinian did dictate which translations of their own scriptures they should be allowed to read aloud local enforcement of these laws undoubtedly varied as they always had done under roman rule however in 529 justinian seems to have demanded a clampdown and strict enforcement of his new laws a sort of inquisition began in constantinople to set an example some prominent pederasts were castrated a few practicing pagans were executed and others were dismissed from public posts this reached right up to senior ministers including the quiestor proclass pagans were also banned from teaching and to underline this point justinian shut down the famous academy in athens confiscating its endowment the samaritans of palestine were also harassed and had their temples destroyed which led to a major uprising which had to be bloodily suppressed with the help of the gassanids procopius being from the region was particularly upset at this and records that valuable farms were still lying abandoned two years later estimates suggest that around 100 000 people had either been killed enslaved or had fled the area christian persecution of minorities had been going on since the time of constantine and earlier emperors had certainly tightened up rules which encouraged the promotion of the faith however justinian took the desire for religious unity more seriously than his predecessors had done he was determined to close all the roads which lead to error and to place religion on the firm foundations of a single faith by removing the right of pagans to teach and indeed equating pagan with heretic justinian was closing the door on independent secular learning future generations would only learn about the classical past from a christian perspective [Music] the year of 529 seems to have been a particularly paranoid one for the new regime historian james evans describes it as a kind of mccarthyist witch hunt as the emperor looked to remove those surrounding him who had lingering pagan habits however despite these upheavals justinian did not spend every year of his reign involved in bloody purges for a start the monophysites were conspicuously spared from being labeled as heretics and it seems clear from the dubious moral conduct of some of justinian's closest advisers but as long as citizens professed orthodox belief in public their private affairs could continue unscrutinized one bishop in palestine wrote to the local governor despairing of how to cope with the sheer number of people seeking baptism around easter time in 529 many officials and even teachers seem to have continued their lives much as they had done before while giving nominal support to christianity seven of the philosophers who had worked at the athens academy emigrated to persia after cusro seized on the chance for a public relations coup keen to emphasize his own greatness and tolerance the king of kings welcomed them with open arms but they didn't stay long homesick and perhaps finding that zoroastrian feathers were as easily ruffled as christian ones the philosophers returned to the empire when the eternal peace was signed in 532. cusro actually had a clause inserted into the treaty to protect the returning teachers from persecution which justinian honored as i said before local enforcement of these measures remained lacks the athens philosophers continue to write and we still have records of pagans teaching in alexandria as late as the early 600s however justinian was certainly intensifying a trend toward homogeneity in religious practice and the only way to advance your career was to follow suit in his secret history procopius provides us with the opinion of the educated agnostic elite when he says of justinian anxious to unite all men in the same opinion about christ he destroyed dissidents indiscriminately and that under the pretext of piety for he did not think that the slaying of men was murder unless they happened to share his own religious opinions in a sentence that sounds startlingly modern procopius adds the following i consider it a sort of insane folly to investigate the nature of god man cannot accurately apprehend the constitution of man how much less that of the deity that attitude though was becoming rarer justinian was a man of great intelligence and for him and the vast majority of the byzantines debating the nature of god was the intellectual topic of the day justinian's christian concern for his subjects did extend to areas that we would thoroughly approve of rapists were punished more severely and laws were enacted to try and stop the trafficking of women into prostitution here theodora's influence can be felt as the city's pimps and procurers were forced out and a convent built where those fleeing the empress's former profession could take refuge justinian also began to prepare the ground for a reconciliation with the monophysites he began to lift some of the restrictions on the clergy in the east and allowed theodora to begin a dialogue with some of the leading men her monophysite beliefs were well known and it seems that the imperial couple used their unusual alliance to try and secure religious unity justinian could still present himself to the pope and those in the west as the defender of orthodoxy while theodora could reassure the monophysite communities that they had a friend at court those who saw through these maneuvers were scornful though in 531 the zealously orthodox saint sabas led a group of monks to the capital and refused the empress's request for prayers that she might conceive a son saint sabbas reasoned that given her monophysite leanings the child would turn out to be a monster as he had done with his military commands justinian appointed new men to serve in the most important administrative posts in the capital as with belisarius and sitas justinian favored those he saw firsthand and who would owe their loyalty to him being of humble origin justinian also favored men of ability regardless of their background the commission which had produced the law code was chaired by a man known as john the cappadocian a native of caesarea in cappadocia he began working in the palace as a clerk in the office of the master of soldiers and came to justinian's attention during the time when he held that office he was not highly educated but like justinian had a strong work ethic lots of energy and always found a solution to a problem by the time he became chairman of the law commission procopius who did not like him conceded that he was a man of the greatest daring and the cleverest man of his day justinian made john pretorian prefect of the east in 531 and he was tasked with getting a hold of the finances of the state despite the large pile of gold left to justin by anastasius the expenses were racking up the war with persia was dragging on demanding fresh payments to allies like the gassanids while new building projects are always expensive and these included the restoration of antioch after the devastating earthquake of 526 john set about his task with ruthless efficiency he instituted stringent economies in the provisioning of the army launched a determined campaign against corruption and introduced new taxes we have records of 26 of them which hit the rich proportionally more than the poor noble families who had enjoyed their loopholes suddenly found them tightened and men caught bribing tax collectors were harshly fined imperial officials who were caught embezzling were dismissed while a certain amount of downsizing added to the newly unemployed the benefits of the traditional elite were being curtailed as power was centralized and many of the discontented headed for the capital where john became a monster in the popular imagination not all the stories about him were lies though he was clearly a bully and was regularly accused of harassing or even torturing those he suspected were hiding wealth from the state he became very wealthy through personal corruption although according to procopius he would not alter state policy for any amount his popularity was not helped though by his well-earned reputation for debauchery and gluttony the abstentious and milder justinian clearly tolerated all of john's less savoury behavior because of his invaluable skills as an administrator john's outspoken independence and lack of conservative establishment views doubtless endeared him to an emperor whose rapid reforms were looking distinctly radical to many another man who served on the law commission was the jurist tribonian we believe that he was from pamphylia in anatolia and he was certainly educated at one of the great law schools he was a first-class lawyer and caught the eye of justinian for his outstanding abilities after serving on the law commission he was made quiesto the emperor's senior legal minister who would draft imperial legislation to understand the importance of this position you need to consider that the quiet star would have to spend a lot of time with the emperor so that he could interpret and express the sovereign's ideas in law tribonian was john the cappadocian's opposite in two important ways first was that he was charming erudite and learned so unlike john wasn't going to embarrass anyone at dinner less admirably though drabonian was corrupt to an extent that made a mockery of his office again the stories may be exaggerated but trebonian was said to have accepted bribes to alter the law and became stinking rich as a result between 530 and 531 the law on inheritance was said to have changed roughly every two weeks this was an outrage amongst the senatorial families who were presumably having to outbid one another finally we should note the behavior of the new imperial couple conscious of their lowly births and the need to be seen as legitimate rulers justinian and theodora enforced court etiquette strictly earlier emperors had required senators and other patricians to merely genuflect in their presence or asked some to kiss the robe of the emperor but the empress had received no salute now all visitors were asked to prostrate themselves before the royal couple as men did at the court of the sasanids procopius claims that theodora used her position to humiliate members of the elite who she took a dislike to around the palace officials began to refer to the emperor and empress as my lord and my lady in the deferential manner familiar to us from the courts of kings [Music] by christmas of 531 justinian had achieved a huge amount from pannonia to persia and the crimea to ethiopia christian kings were in alliance with the empire the persians had been beaten back and then bought off new churches and other buildings rose across the continent new laws governed the courtrooms and heretics and pagans had been further squeezed the administration had been streamlined and organized and all of this was just the beginning justinian had much grander plans in mind the agitation in africa and italy between the aryan rulers of former roman people had not escaped the emperor's attention his new law code and the restoration of relations with the papacy were potentially paving the way for a restoration of imperial rule despite his dismissal from the east belisarius was back in the capital and justinian had plans for where to send him next however the emperor was not loved his achievements were great but they had come at a price to his subjects those first five years had seen constant warfare bloody rebellion natural disasters stringent taxes and layoffs in the capital the atmosphere was particularly poisonous nothing wrangles quite as badly as injustice to those whose privileges had been taken away or who had lost a lawsuit that they should have won the new regime was the source of their hatred to the aristocracy of constantinople which remember contained the descendants of anastasius and theodosius the low-born imperial couple were a particular disgrace with all that kindling being amassed all it would take was a well-thrown match to set it alight it's a good thing of course that justinian was on such good terms with the dems i mean when you think about how the crowds of unruly young men hanging around the streets of constantinople had nearly overthrown zeno or tore down anastasius's statues or nearly forced him to abdicate well what's that you say justinian isn't popular with the dems you mean the green factions still hate him for the years he spent looking the other way while the blues terrorized them and the blues now hate him for the last few years where he began to remove their privileges and punish them equally with the greens oh dear [Music] you

Channel: Flash Point History

Views: 165,493

Keywords: History, Byzantium, podcast, robin, Pierson, audio, the history of Byzantium, The history of Byzantium podcast, roman, roman empire, eastern roman empire, eastern, byzantine, justinian, justin, emperor, biography, documentary, video documentary, podcast documentary, audiocast, rise, persian, persia, late antiquity, fall of the roman empire, western, the history of rome, rome, theodora, empress, history of the roman empire, documentary roman empire, documentary byzantine empire, belisarius, battle, dara

Id: UHBER5xU9FM

Length: 81min 6sec (4866 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 25 2022