Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theodora - From Swineherd to Emperor - Extra History - Part 1

📜 Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theodora - Part 1- Extra History
Justinian arose from humble roots, the nephew of an illiterate pig farmer named Justin. Justin joined the army and rose to become leader of the palace guard, then took his nephew under his wing and made sure that he was well educated. When Emperor Anastasius died, Justin used his position (and his standing army inside Constantinople) to claim the crown for himself. His nephew guided the early years of his reign, helping Justin secure support both in the capitol and abroad. When Justin died, rule of the Byzantine Empire passed to the young Justinian, who had grand ambitions to restore its waning glory. It also freed him to marry Theodora, a famous actress who was far beneath his social station, and who would also rise from her humble beginnings to become a revered empress.

*Miss an episode in our Justinian & Theodora Series?*

Artist: David Hueso I Writer: James Portnow I Voice: Daniel Floyd I Editor: Carrie Floyd

#ExtraHistory #ByzantineEmpire #History

[olefredrikskjegstad]

Emperor Justin seems like a guy who was pretty intelligent without being educated. He recognized his own limitations and deferred to people who knew better than him on various topics, and recognized the value of developing the skills of someone else to help him do things he otherwise wouldn't have been able to achieve. That demands respect.

[cheezemonkeyeater]

"You can think of them as a sports club, a political party, a community group, and a moving riot all rolled up into one."

Kinda like Brazilian soccer, then.

[Drillingmana]

The drawing of Justinian in this series looks like me, and I choose to accept that as fate.

I am now your emperor.

[Peanutjoepap]

I'm I the only one that think's Justinian's drawing design as adorable? With his flippy hair and all the weird reactionary facial expressions they give him.

[JorneDeSmedt]

Who doesn't dream of riding a T-rex with laser eyes into battle?

[InMaTeofDeath]

This man knew how to play the Game of Thrones.

[TheCroArmyBilice]

It was Walpole, Justinian employed Walpole.

[pcachu]

Laser-eyed fire-breathing dinosaur mounts.

Mr. Justinian, your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[frostyguy]

It's always struck me as weird that when studying Rome, we tend to cover the Caesars and the Empire up to about Marcus Aurelius in the 180s AD, and then just stop there. It's as if the curriculum in school is like "Wow, look at how Rome rose up to such spectacular heights despite the odds... oh, and it falls to barbarians after 200 years or something where nothing happened at all. And nothing happens afterwards for 1000 years."

That's actually skipping over more than half of Roman history. The Byzantines (shh, don't call them Romans or the Germans and the Pope will get butthurt) were a natural continuation of Roman culture and traditions, whereas the West was more heavily influenced by the "barbarian" cultures that colonised the empire's former holdings.

You miss out on the Third Century Crisis, which was a fascinating civil war where the Roman Empire actually got split into three parts. You miss out on Diocletian, one of the most brilliant and innovative leaders Rome ever had. Of course, you miss out Justinian and Theodora's epic quest to rebuild the empire's former glory. You miss out on the Arab Conquests and how the empire survived- and outlasted, I might add- the seemingly unstoppable Caliphate. You miss out how Byzantine philosophy, art, architecture and religion became immensely influential on Eastern Europe, Russia and the Islamic world, and remains so to this day. And you miss out how the Byzantines influenced their successors, the Ottomans, who considered themselves to be Rome's heir and went on to dominate and terrorise Europe for centuries.

[greypotter]

Oh god thank you so, so much for calling Justinian a Roman Emperor. The Byzantine Empire gets so overlooked as it is, and even when it is being considered and taught about, its always as some footnote wholly separate from the Roman Empire itself. Sure, it grew into its own thing, but its so weird how a former part of the Roman Empire gets so overlooked in most history classes and "western" texts (if "western" even means anything...)

[Obstreperous_Octopus]

After classical Rome, but before the Medieval age, this is a period of history people in general tend to overlook, but it's a fascinating time. Thanks for doing this one!

[UserCnc]

lol that Justinian hiring Ezio to assassinate Vitaly illustration

[horus_]

ALL THE THINGS SHE SAID, ALL THE THING SHE SAID
RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD
RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD
RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD

[lathamhendrickson]

Similar to how the Voortrekers weren't called Voortrekers until after they were gone, the Byzantine Empire never called itself the Byzantine Empire. To them, they were always just the Eastern Roman Empire, but we use the term Byzantine Empire to differentiate them from the Western Roman Empire, which we just call Rome.

Also, Justinian supported the Blues? Sarge would be very disappointed. Blues suck!

[yavuzrao]

He really went all the way and changed the damn law just to marry Theodora. Have to respect that level of dedication / commitment. What a fella

[Matt-czti]

One of my all time favourite periods of history - and I'm a historian. Can't wait to see what you'll teach me

[ChrisPrantza]

0:43 As a typical greek, My heart become 1000 pieces when I saw these Banners...

[Weebusaurus]

WHY CAN'T THIS BE TWICE A WEEK

Just tell me how much money I need to shove into your Patreon to make that so

[Mr.Korzack]

Euro-centric Football context: The hippodrome had a bigger capacity than the Nou Camp in Barcelona. That kind of puts things into perspective for me. Holy Crap!

[Dlopwoo]

seeing the hagia sophia becoming a mosque made me break down in tears