Born Flavius Peter Sabbatios in Bederiana, a province of Dardania, Justinian was the nephew of emperor Justin I, who made his nephew co-emperor on 1 April 527. Justinian is best known for his attempts to restore the Roman Empire by undertaking military campaigns at both frontiers of the empire; his aim was to recover the West from the Goths and the East from the Persians. He successfully occupied North Africa, Italy, and parts of coastal Spain. His attempts in the East were less successful, and the Persian general, Chosroes I, was able to seize several regions of the empire. The Danube area also proved to be tactically challenging, and Justinian was only able to ensure peace by paying an annual tribute and stationing troops on the frontier. By the end of his reign, Justinian had managed to restore the borders of the empire to an area close to the those of the second-century. His military successes were record by the historian Procopius, who also recorded Justinian's attempts to unite the empire with a centralized administration. He instigated legal reforms, consolidated earlier codes, and constructed a series of new edicts meant to curb corruption, limit the powers of large landowners, and revise the taxation system to subsidize the cost of the expansion and reorganization of the empire. As the head of the church, Justinian was also very involved in church affairs. He implemented new edicts, which sought to regulate the foundation and patronage of monasteries, made senior clerical appointments, and suppressed heretical groups in order to achieve religious unity.

Justinian's policies were not always popular, and early in his reign, his rule was almost brought to an end by the 'Nika' riots of Constantinople in 532. The riots ruined large parts of the city and were finally put down with great violence, including the massacre of thousands in the hippodrome. This destruction of the city gave Justinian the opportunity to rebuild large parts of the city according to his vision. He is credited with building or rebuilding more than thirty churches in Constantinople alone, including Hagia Sophia, Hagia Eirene, Holy Apostles, and the Virgin of Pege, which was the site of the spring whose waters are said to have cured the emperor of a kidney ailment. At this time, Justinian also constructed an honorific column of his own at the entrance of Hagia Sophia from the Augustaion. The column, constructed brick with bands of stone like Hagia Sophia, stood on seven steps and was covered with bronze and wreathed with garlands like the column of Constantine. Also like the column of Constantine, Justinian's column was topped with a statue of the emperor wearing a plumed headdress and carrying a globe surmounted by a cross. Justinian sits astride a horse facing east with a raised right hand. He was also responsible for the building of numerous churches throughout the empire, such as San Vitale and San Apollinare in Classe in Ravenna and the monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai.

One of the best representations of Justinian as the savior of the Roman Empire is found on an ivory housed in the Louvre. The "Barberini Diptych" is generally understood to be a representation of Justinian's role as defender of the new Roman Empire, the Christian Empire. At the center, in a highly undercut relief, Justinian sits astride his horse, which rears up over a female personification of the earth. A Victory reaches out to crown the emperor. A barbarian follows him while a procession of barbarians at the bottom of the panel pay tribute. Generals, each carrying a Victory, flank Justinian on either side (the left image is now lost). Overhead, Christ rules the heavenly sphere of the sun, moon, and stars as Justinian rules the earth below. BLR

COMPARANDA
Justinian Mosaic (Ravenna, San Vitale)
Barberini Diptych (Paris, Louvre)
Justinian presenting the church to the Virgin (Istanbul, Hagia Sophia)