Download PDF | (Greenwood Guides to Historic Events of the Ancient World) James Allan Evans - The Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire-Greenwood (2005).
216 Pages
SERIES FOREWORD
As a professor and scholar of the ancient Greek world, I am often asked by students and scholars of other disciplines, why study antiquity? What possible relevance could human events from two, three, or more thousand years ago have to our lives today? This questioning of the continued validity of our historical past may be the offshoot of the forces shaping the history of the American people. Proud of forging a new nation out of immigrants wrenched willingly or not from their home soils, Americans have experienced a liberating headiness of separation from traditional historical demands on their social and cultural identity.
The result has been a skepticism about the very validity of that historical past. Some of that skepticism is healthy and serves constructive purposes of scholarly inquiry. Questions of how, by whom, and in whose interest “history” is written are valid questions pursued by contemporary historians striving to uncover the multiple forces shaping any historical event and the multilayered social consequences that result. But the current academic focus on “presentism’—the concern with only recent events and a deliberate ignoring of premodern eras—betrays an extreme distortion of legitimate intellectual inquiry. This stress on the present seems to have deepened in the early years of the twenty-first century. The cybertechnological explosions of the preceding decades seem to have propelled us into a new cultural age requiring new rules that make the past appear all the more obsolete.
So again I ask, why study ancient cultures? In the past year, after it ousted that nation’s heinous regime, the United States’ occupation of Iraq has kept that nation in the forefront of the news. The land base of Iraq is ancient Mesopotamia, “the land between the rivers” of the Tigris and Euphrates, two of the four rivers in the biblical Garden of Eden (Gen. 2). Called the cradle of civilization, this area witnessed the early development of a centrally organized, hierarchical social system that utilized the new technology of writing to administer an increasingly complex state.
Is there a connection between the ancient events, literature, and art coming out of this land and contemporary events? Michael Wood, in his educational video Iraq: The Cradle of Civilization, produced shortly after the 1991 Gulf War, thinks so and makes this connection explicit—between the people, their way of interacting with their environment, and even the cosmological stories they create to explain and define their world.
Study of the ancient world, like study of contemporary cultures other than one’s own, has more than academic or exotic value. First, study of the past seeks meaning beyond solely acquiring factual knowledge. It strives to understand the human and social dynamics that underlie any historical event and what these underlying dynamics teach us about ourselves as human beings in interaction with one another. Study of the past also encourages deeper inquiry than what appears to some as the “quaint” observation that this region of current and recent conflict could have served as a biblical ideal or as a critical marker in the development of world civilizations. In fact, these apparently quaint dimensions can serve as the hook that piques our interest into examining the past and discovering what it may have to say to us today. Not an end in itself, the knowledge forms the bedrock for exploring deeper meanings.
Consider, for example, the following questions. What does it mean that three major world religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—developed out of the ancient Mesopotamian worldview? In this view, the world, and hence its gods, were seen as being in perpetual conflict with one another and with the environment, and death was perceived as a matter of despair and desolation. What does it mean that Western forms of thinking derive from the particular intellectual revolution of archaic Greece that developed into what is called rational discourse, ultimately systematized by Aristotle in the fourth century B.c.£.? How does this thinking, now fundamental to Western discourse, shape how we see the world and ourselves, and how we interact with one another? And how does it affect our ability, or lack thereof, to communicate intelligibly with people with differently framed cultural perceptions? What, ultimately, do we gain from being aware of the origin and development of these fundamental features of our thinking and beliefs?
In short, knowing the past is essential for knowing ourselves in the present. Without an understanding of where we came from, and the journey we took to get where we are today, we cannot understand why we think or act the way we do. Nor, without an understanding of historical development, are we in a position to make the kinds of constructive changes necessary to advance as a society. Awareness of the past gives us the resources necessary to make comparisons between our contemporary world and past times. It is from those comparisons that we can assess both the advances we have made as human societies and those aspects that can still benefit from change. Hence, knowledge of the past is crucial for shaping our individual and social identities, providing us with the resources to make intelligent, aware, and informed decisions for the future.
All ancient societies, whether significant for the evolution of Western ideas and values, or whether they developed largely separate from the cultures that more directly influenced Western civilization, such as China, have important lessons to teach us. For fundamentally they all address questions that have faced every human individual and every human society that has existed. Because ancient civilizations erected great monuments of themselves in stone, writings, and the visual arts— all enduring material evidence—we can view how these ancient cultures dealt with many of the same questions we face today. And we learn the consequences of the actions taken by people in other societies and times that, ideally, should help us as we seek solutions to contemporary issues. Thus it was that President John E Kennedy wrote of his reliance upon Thucydides’ treatment of the devastating war between the ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta (see the volume on the Peloponnesian War) in his study of exemplary figures, Profiles in Courage.
This series seeks to fulfill this goal both collectively and in the individual volumes. The individual volumes examine key events, trends, and developments in world history in ancient times that are central to the secondary school and lower-level undergraduate history curriculum and that form standard topics for student research. From a vast field of potential subjects, these selected topics emerged after consultations with scholars, educators, and librarians. Each book in the series can be described as a “library in a book.” Each one presents a chronological timeline and an initial factual overview of its subject, three to five topical essays that examine the subject from diverse perspectives and for its various consequences, a concluding essay providing current perspectives on the event, biographies of key players, a selection of primary documents, illustrations, a glossary, and an index. The concept of the series is to provide ready-reference materials that include a quick, in-depth examination of the topic and insightful guidelines for interpretive analysis, suitable for student research and designed to stimulate critical thinking. The authors are all scholars of the topic in their fields, selected both on the basis of their expertise and for their ability to bring their scholarly knowledge to a wider audience in an engaging and clear way. In these regards, this series follows the concept and format of the Greenwood Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century, the Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries, and the Medieval World.
All the works in this series deal with historical developments in early ancient civilizations, almost invariably postdating the emergence of writing and of hierarchical dynastic social structures. Perhaps only incidentally do they deal with what historians call the Paleolithic (“Old Stone Age”) periods, from about 25,000 B.c.£. onward, eras characterized by nomadic, hunting-gathering societies, or the Neolithic (“New Stone Age”), the period of the earliest development of agriculture and hence settled societies, one of the earliest dating to about 7000 B.c.g. at Catal Hoyiik in south-central Turkey.
The earliest dates covered by the books in this series are the fourth to second millennia B.c.£. for the building of the Pyramids in Egypt, and the examination of the Trojan War and the Bronze Age civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean. Most volumes deal with events in the first millennium B.c.£. to the early centuries of the first millennium c.z. Some treat the development of civilizations, such as the rise of the Han Empire in China, or the separate volumes on the rise and on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Some highlight major personalities and their empires, such as the volumes on Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt or Justinian and the beginnings of the Byzantine Empire in eastern Greece and Constantinople (Istanbul). Three volumes examine the emergence in antiquity of religious movements that form major contemporary world systems of belief—Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity. (Islam is being treated in the parallel Medieval World series.) And two volumes examine technological developments, one on the building of the Pyramids and one on other ancient technologies.
Each book examines the complexities of the forces shaping the development of its subject and the historical consequences. Thus, for example, the volume on the fifth-century B.c.z. Greek Peloponnesian War explores the historical causes of the war, the nature of the combatants’ actions, and how these reflect the thinking of the period. A particular issue, which may seem strange to some or timely to others, is how a city like Athens, with its proto-democratic political organization and its outstanding achievements in architecture, sculpture, painting, drama, and philosophy, could engage in openly imperialist policies of land conquest and of vicious revenge against any who countered them. Rather than trying to gloss over the contradictions that emerge, these books conscientiously explore whatever tensions arise in the ancient material, both to portray more completely the ancient event and to highlight the fact that no historical occurrence is simply determined. Sometimes societies that we admire in some ways—such as the artistic achievements and democratic political experiments of ancient Athens—may prove deeply troublesome in other ways—such as what we see as their reprehensible conduct in war and in brutal subjection of other Greek communities. Consequently, the reader is empowered to make informed, well-rounded judgments on the events and actions of the major players.
We offer this series as an invitation to explore the past in various ways. We anticipate that from its volumes the reader will gain a better appreciation of the historical events and forces that shaped the lives of our ancient forebears and that continue to shape our thinking, values, and actions today. However remote in time and culture these ancient civilizations may at times appear, ultimately they show us that the questions confronting human beings of any age are timeless and that the examples of the past can provide valuable insights into our understanding of the present and the future.
Bella Vivante University of Arizona
PREFACE
Emperor Justinian dominates the history of the Mediterranean world in the sixth century. Not only was his own reign, from 527 to 565, remarkably long, but it was preceded by the nine-year reign of his uncle Justin, which was treated by contemporaries as at best a prelude to Justinian’s. Justin was an old man when he was unexpectedly elevated to the throne, and though he was a shrewd old soldier, he was uneducated by the standards of the ruling elite and as his health deteriorated, he depended increasingly on his ambitious nephew. Justinian was succeeded by his sister’s son, Justin II, whose wife, Sophia, was the niece of Empress Theodora, Justinian’s wife. Justin’s reign was unlucky; he ruled briefly and disastrously before he went insane. Sophia ably filled the power vacuum, chose the next emperor, Tiberius, and had a hand in choosing Tiberius’ successor, Maurice, whose reign was a prelude to calamity. It is estimated that the empire’s population at the end of the sixth century was only 60 percent of what it was at the beginning. Justinian’s reign was a turning point for the empire, and his legacy was a mixed blessing.
The sources for Justinian’s reign are abundant. There are the chroniclers, the most important of whom is John Malalas, who lived through the period, but other than that, we know nothing about Justinian. There are the historians: the greatest of them, Prokopios of Caesarea, wrote a history of Justinian’s wars in seven books up to 550, and later added a final book that brought the history down to 552, when the Goths in Italy were finally defeated. Prokopios was on the staff of the greatest general of the day, Belisarios, and consequently we are well informed about Belisarios, both as a military officer and as a husband. His wife, Antonina, was a formidable lady, a crony of Empress Theodora and, like Theodora, a former actress. Agathias of Myrina continued Prokopios’ history, covering the years 552 to 559, and Menander Protector continued Agathias for the years 558 to 582, which brought his history down to the accession of Emperor Maurice. Menander’s complete history does not survive, but the fragments of it that we still have, are extensive. As well as his history, Prokopios wrote a remarkable commentary on Justinian’s reign, the Anekdota (Unpublished Work), which is better known by its popular title, Secret History. In it, Prokopios claims to report what he could not publish in his history for fear of the vengeance of Justinian and his formidable wife. Justinian was a reformer, tirelessly issuing new laws to improve the administration of the empire and the church, and to establish a Christian faith that was acceptable to all churchmen. The sixthcentury society had no liking for innovators, and Justinian made many enemies, as the Secret History attests.
Justinian’s most lasting achievement was his legal reform. The law code (Justinian issued two editions, of which only the second survives); the Digest, which summarized previous legal decisions; and the Institutes, which was a textbook for lawyers, formed the basis of European law. But Justinian continued to issue a multitude of new laws after the second edition of his code was published. These Novels (New Laws) give us a vivid insight into Justinian’s character, for each law was prefaced by a little essay in which Justinian explained why the law was necessary and how it fitted into the Roman legal tradition. The actual words may not have been written by Justinian, but they express his ideas. They reveal a man who was an inveterate reformer. He was intolerant and despotic, but at the same time he believed that he was working for the general good of his subjects. He claimed to respect the traditions of Rome, but his knowledge of Roman history was sketchy. In that he was no different from most Byzantines of his day.
The archaeological remains are impressive. In Istanbul, as Constantinople is known today, Justinian’s churches of Hagia Sophia, Hagia Eirene, and Saints Sergius and Bacchus are still standing. The first two are now museums, and the last is the mosque of Little Ayasofya, separated from the shore of the Sea of Marmara by an elevated railway. On the eastern frontier, the great fortress of Dara exists as impressive ruins. In 530, outside Dara’s walls, Belisarios won the first victory that the Byzantines had won for over a hundred years. The monastery of Saint Catherine is still standing at the foot of Gebel Musa (according to tra-dition, Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments). On three beams of the monastery church there are inscriptions: one honoring Theodora; one, Justinian; and the third, the builder of the church. But it is at Ravenna in northern Italy that we feel closest to the age of Justinian. The tomb of the great Ostrogothic king, Theodoric, is there. So is the church of San Vitale, dedicated one year before Theodora died of cancer in 548. In its chancel, on the sidewalls, there are mosaics, one showing Justinian and his entourage and the other, Theodora and her attendants. Justinian and Theodora never visited Ravenna, and the mosaics were perhaps made by Italian craftsmen, but it is very likely that the imperial pair saw and approved their designs.
This book is part of the series Greenwood Guides to Historic Events of the Ancient World. Two other volumes in the series complement it: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by James W. Ermatinger, and the Emergence of Christianity, by Cynthia White. For the purposes of comparison, The Establishment of the Han Empire and Imperial China, by Grant Hardy and Anne Kinney, is also useful. China was the source of silk, the luxury fabric of the period, used not only for the garments worn at the Byzantine court but also for the vestments of the clergy. One achievement of Justinian was to acquire silkworm eggs smuggled out of China, which allowed the Byzantine Empire to establish a silk industry of its own. These two empires at either end of the Asian landmass each lived in its own world, but they present interesting parallels.
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