Flavius Iustinus ( c. 450 – August 1, 527), known in English as Justin I, was a Byzantine Emperor (518–527), who rose through the ranks of the Byzantine army and ultimately became its emperor, in spite of the fact he was illiterate and almost seventy-years-old at the time of accession. His reign is significant for the founding of the Justinian Dynasty that included his eminent nephew Justinian I and for the enactment of laws that de-emphasized the influence of the old Byzantine nobility. His consort was Empress Euphemia.

Early career

Justin was a peasant from the Latinophone region of Dardania, which is part of the province of Illyricum. He was born in a hamlet near Bederiana[7746] in Naissus (modern Niš, South Serbia). He was of Thraco-Roman stock, and who bore, like his companions and members of his family (Zimarchus, Dityvistus, Boraides, Bigleniza, Sabatius, etc.) a Thracian name, and who never learned to speak more than rudimentary Greek. His sister Vigilantia (b. ca 455) married Sabbatius and had three children: Vigilantia (b. ca 490), married to Dulcissimus and had Praejecta (b. ca 520), married to Artabanos (ca 515 - aft. 554), a Magister Militum of Armenian origin, and Justin II (b. ca 520); Justinian I; and a son (b. ca 485) who was the father of General Germanus Justinus.

As a teenager, he and two companions fled from a barbaric invasion, taking refuge in Constantinople. Justin soon joined the army and, because of his ability, rose through the ranks to become a general and commander of the palace guard under the Emperor Anastasius I decades later. He held the rank of Comes Excubitorum at one time.

Emperor

Thanks to his position commanding the only troops in the city and making gifts of money, Justin was able to secure election as emperor in 518.

A career soldier with little knowledge of statecraft, Justin wisely surrounded himself with trusted advisors. The most prominent of these, of course, was his nephew Flavius Petrus Sabbatius, whom he adopted as his son and invested with the name Iustinianus (Justinian).

Relying upon the accounts of the historian Procopius, it often has been said that Justinian ruled the empire in his uncle's name during the reign of Justin, however, there is much evidence to the contrary. The information from the Secret History of Procopius was published posthumously. Critics of Procopius (whose work reveals a man seriously disillusioned with his rulers) have dismissed his work as a severely biased source, being vitriolic and pornographic, but without other sources, critics have been unable to discredit some of the assertions in the publication. However, contrary to the secret history, Justinian was not named as successor until less than a year before Justin's death and he spent 3,700 pounds of gold during a celebration in 520.

In 525, Justin repealed a law that effectively prohibited a member of the senatorial class from marrying a woman from a lower class of society, including the theatre, which was considered scandalous at the time. This edict paved the way for Justinian to marry Theodora, a former mime actress, and eventually resulted in a major change to the old class distinctions at the Imperial court. She became an equal to Justinian, participating in the governance with significant influence.

Later years

The latter years of the reign of Justin were marked by strife among the empire, the Ostrogoths, and the Persians. In 526, Justin's health began to decline and he formally named Justinian as co-emperor and, on April 1, 527 as his successor. On August 1 of that year, Justin died and was succeeded by Justinian.

Legacy

The town of Anazarbus was re-named Justinopolis in 525, in honour of Justin I.

Notes

1. The Cambridge Ancient History By Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards, Cambridge University Press[1]
2. Ascetics and Ambassadors of Christ: The Monasteries of Palestine, 314-631 By John Binns[2]
3. The Cambridge Ancient History By Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards, Cambridge University Press[3]
4. The Encyclopedia Americana by Grolier Incorporated
5. Ion I. Russu, Elementele traco-getice în Imperiul Roman și în Byzantium (veacurile III-VII), Editura Academiei R. S. România, 1976, pag.95
6. Velizar Iv Velkov, Cities in Thrace and Dacia in Late Antiquity: (studies and Materials), University of Michigan, 1977, pag.47
7. Robert Browning, Justinian and Theodora, Gorgias Press LLC, 2003, ISBN 1593330537, pag.23
8. Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, Greek Literature in Late Antiquity, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2006, ISBN 0754656837, pag.166
9. John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium, Vintage Books, 1997, ISBN 0679772693, pag.59
10. James Allan Stewart Evans, The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power, Routledge, 1996, ISBN 0415237262, pag. 96
11. J. Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 189

References

• Continuité des élites à Byzance durante les siècles obscurs. Les princes caucasiens et l'Empire du VIe au IXe siècle, 2006

External links

• Bury, John Bagnall, History of the Later Roman Empire, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1923
• Evans, James Allan, "Justin I (518-527 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis, 1998
• Gibbon, Edward, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 4, chapter xl.
• Smith, "Justinus I.", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, v. 2, p. 677
• Encyclopædia Britannica Justin I