Meet Justinian, The Emperor Who Destroyed Rome.

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[Maiorianus_Sebastian]

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[kennethconnally]

We should keep in mind that our source for all this, Procopius, was an adviser to Belisarius who hated Justinian's guts. So it's not so surprising that in his account every decision of Belisarius is an act of perfect genius and virtue, while all his failures are attributed to Justinian's incompetence.

[YeS]

A tad harsh I'd say. Justinian definitely had a knack of picking good people for the job. John the Cappadocian and Trebonian were great picks as much as Belisarius was. Justinian's law reforms alone earn him a shot at "the great". Let's not forget the Hagia Sophia as well which alone was a powerful diplomatic tool that future emperors used to wow foreign envoys and project what we would today call "soft power". He survived the plague as well which for contemporaries would be seen as a divine sign, further boosting his "great" credentials. I think the fact that he listened to his wife a lot may have something to do with his treatment of Belisarius. There's a theory that Belisarius' wife Antonina was an agent of Theodora and kept tabs on him. It could be that Theodora was always warning Justinian to be careful of Belisarius, since it wasn't unknown in recent roman history at that point for generals to declare themselves emperor. I think the fact that Justinian never assassinated Belisarius on trumped up charges (again, not an uncommon thing for emperors to do) shows he truly did trust him. Finally, I think the plague more than anything else, is what leads some people to say "Justinian overstretched the empire's manpower". A third of the empire's population was killed by plague and the climate change caused by the dimming of the sun's rays. That plague and climate event of 536 is something that hurt the empire for centuries hereafter, and together with manzikert and the 1204 sack stands as one of the huge hits the empire took that it never fully recovered from.

[TetsuShima]

Justinian: "Now that Rome is ours again, nothing will stop us from restoring the Roman Empire to its full glory!" 😎
Plagues, Franks and Sassanid: *Awaken begins to play*

[John-jwpz]

"Justinian was evil and destroyed rome"

- Some historian who openly hated Justinian, even before the reconquest

[dirremoire]

The Nika riot wasn't just a riot, it was an attempted coup. Augustus himself would have done the same.

[danieldalessandro]

No mention that Justinian gave the privilege of a triumph to belisarius? Yes he had to walk instead of being pulled by horses but that is an honor few men ever recieved unless you were an emperor or part of the royal family.

Lots of emphasis of jealousy and perhaps there was a tad but Justinian knew his strengths Similar to Augustus hence why he had his second man agrippa. Different side of the same coin.

[altairiel]

For the people at the time, Justinian was probably something straight out of a legend alongside Belisarius with how successful his campaigns were, especially when during his reign, there were people who were young when the empire fell, and still remembered everything, telling their children and grandchildren about it, so it should be no surprise that the entire generation told their birthright was invaded and stolen from them (Despite Rome conquering all that land over 1000 years prior) were more than willing to fulfill a duty as "Roman Byzantines". Justinian also did many things for his people, despite how many resources he had ordered used that never truly recovered. Law, economy, military, education, all part of the endless list of reforms he administered while simultaneously restoring as much of Rome as he could throughout his life. It took Augustus all the way to Trajan to fully expand the empire to its highest extent, and this guy managed to rule all of what he had in what, 40 years? Justinian was Great in many ways, just not as a Christian, in my opinion.

[aaronTGP_]

Imo, Justinian's policies were still enough to call him great.
Knowing he wasn't a general himself, he delegated military powers to generals like Belisarius. He was a civil emperor, not a military emperor.
The zealous Christianization was inevitable at the time, so someone was bound to be this brutal. It just so happened to be Justinian.
The legal code was not mentioned. Still influences modern western law to this day.
Suppressing the Nika riots was a necessary evil. It had already gotten out of control.
The eternal peace. It didn't work, but Justinian clearly wanted to maintain peaceful relations instead of killing each other.
The conquest of the Vandals worked perfectly.
Numerous natural disasters: the plague, the year 536, etc. They crippled the Roman war effort in Italy, and more energetic kings became a thorn in the side.
While not prudent, recalling Belisarius did make some sense. After all, the the west there was always the problem of rebellious generals. He saw Belisarius as too powerful.
Justinian was not perfect, and made plenty of mistakes, but I still personally consider him to be Great.

[ammazer]

This dude just pissed of the entire Byzantophile community

[雪狐fluffy]

I like how you pretend the Romans crushed paganism while ignoring the fact that all the pagan Germanic successor states occupying former Roman territories they had no control over converted to Christianity and crushed paganism

[lukemitchell]

I heavily disagree with this video. Thumbs down. Firstly, Belisarius was Justinian’s friend. The reasons following are why he was not treated disfavorably.

Justinian removed Narses on Belisarius’ recommendation.

Some reinforcements were sent to Belisauris during the Italian campaign (that's how Narses arrived in the first place).

Belisarius disobeyed orders by not accepting Justinian’s proposed treaty with the Ostrogoths. Especially when a quick peace was needed. Reason for distrust, yet no reprisals.

Briefly accepted imperium (the western throne) although as a ruse. Reason for distrust, yet no reprisals.

His betrayal of the Ostrogoths was not forgotten and because of this determined resistance continued. Belisarius, as the best commander, was needed desperately in the East, and that is why he had to leave Italy. Not as a punishment.

They were just more spare troops and resources available for the Narses campaign.

Recalled Belisarius out of retirement to defend the Balkans in 559. (Omitted mention in the video).

Correctly acquitted him after a trial in 562, if Justinian was truly jealous that would have been the perfect time to execute him. (Omitted mention in the video).

Most strangely, there is no mention of Belisarius’ triumph after the Vandalic War. Even though it was really uncommon to give an outsider of the imperial family such an honour.


Btw, in 9:15 of the video, there is the symbol of the Palaiologos eagle in the background. Which is deeply anachronistic. Very disappointing to see that. Do better research, please.

[rosskourtis]

Just a few important points:

1. The Platonic Academy in Athens that was closed by Justinian was not the original one, which had in fact been destroyed 500 years before. The one that ceased to exist in the 6th century had been established only in the previous century. It's also important to note that Justinian was evidently not particularly bothered by Neoplatonism; in fact, schools of that philosophy continued to exist, with Imperial funding, in Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria.
2. As far as I can see, there was no general destruction of Pagan art and books in any part of the empire during Justinian's reign. In his Chronographia, Ioannis Malalas only mentions one instance of Pagan book burning, in Antioch; this example was, however, quite tame, as only texts that were being used by particular groups of Pagans were burned. The claim also seems very inconsistent with the fact that Constantinople continued to be renowned after Justinian's death for the wealth of classical art that graced its many streets and public buildings. I don't think one can draw the inference that a "significant" amount of Pagan art and knowledge was destroyed in Justinian's reign.

[LordWyatt]

Greats:
Constantine: earned it
Justinian: earned it
Theodosius: WTF you doing mate?!

[tylere.]

Justinian should have focused on fortifying the eastern borders than "reconquer" western lands, which were quite friendly to Roman culture and recognized Justinian as emperor. Could have prevented a lot of future problems of Islam spreading.

[stevejohnson]

There have 'greats' who have held up like Charlemagne or Alfred the great. But mostly the title refers to what they dared to attempt and what people thought of the state they brought their kingdoms to.

[aldrinmilespartosa]

Justinian reminded me of Hannibal, the blunders in their operation is not their own doing but just a right wave of circumstances in which mis - fortunes stack up and now cannot even be prevent by their own greatness.

[marvelfannumber]

I think there's plenty of fair criticisms to be made against Justinian, but this video has...issues.
-I commented this in another video, but Justinian did not close the "1, 000 year old" Academy of Athens, the academy Justinian closed was just shy of 100 years old, it was not the original academy at all (the original was destroyed in the Roman Conquest of Greece and never repaired).
-Anti Pagan policies are pretty bad in the modern lens, but every other Emperor at the time was issuing these types of edicts. It does not make Justinian uniquely terrrible.
-Calling Belisarius "one of the best generals in history" is dubuious at best considering his record in Italy was extremely mixed with several notable losses and a few poor decisions.
-I think it's a bit dishonest to blame Belisarius' manpower issues on "jealousy". Context clues tell us Justinian trusted Belisarius, but giving a Roman general full control over a massive army, especially a general who scores many great victories, had always been a recipe for disaster. Maurice did the opposite and gave his generals too much power, and we know how that went. With Narses this wasn't an issue because he was a eunuch and couldn't become Emperor, it wasn't a matter of "jealousy".

[CowMaster]

7:31 Do you poorly of FDR for not personally storming the beach at Normandy?

[Leptospirosi]

He was trolled by Cosroe I (probably the better ruler of the two) all his life, treated Belisarius as a tool to use and out away at will, humiliating him on a regular base, destroyed a stable and relatively wealthy Italy and left only ruins in its path.
Justinian law codex is the only legacy that survived him, with Hagia Sofia.