527 A.D.
Administratitte reform is crowned by
the "Corpus luris Ciailis"
As the West entered the so-called
"Dark Ages," a sun rose in the
East. In 527 the first great ruler of
the Byzantine emPire, Justinian,
came io the throne. Constantinople
was then the largest and richest
city in civilization, a great trading
center, with a flourishing silk
industry. It had six arcaded forums
and scores of palaces and domed
churches surrounded bY 12 miles
of land and sea walls. And during
Justinian's reign the stuPendous
Hagia Sophi a $32-37) was added
to the city's sPlendors, a magnificent
symbol of the Eastern
Church's claim to be the head of
universal Christendom.
It was Justinian's ambition to
reunite East and West and restore
the universal emPire to its former
glory; that was never accomplished.
justinian's enduring achievement,
along with the Hagia SoPhia, was
the great codification of Roman
law, the CorPus luris Cittilis
(issued in 534), which he directed
the Roman jurist Tribonian to
prepare. It gave legal unitY to his
ientratzed state and it bequeathed
the principles of Roman law to
succeeding EuroPean Senerations,
who rediscovered them in
the 12th centurY.
Administratitte reform is crowned by
the "Corpus luris Ciailis"
As the West entered the so-called
"Dark Ages," a sun rose in the
East. In 527 the first great ruler of
the Byzantine emPire, Justinian,
came io the throne. Constantinople
was then the largest and richest
city in civilization, a great trading
center, with a flourishing silk
industry. It had six arcaded forums
and scores of palaces and domed
churches surrounded bY 12 miles
of land and sea walls. And during
Justinian's reign the stuPendous
Hagia Sophi a $32-37) was added
to the city's sPlendors, a magnificent
symbol of the Eastern
Church's claim to be the head of
universal Christendom.
It was Justinian's ambition to
reunite East and West and restore
the universal emPire to its former
glory; that was never accomplished.
justinian's enduring achievement,
along with the Hagia SoPhia, was
the great codification of Roman
law, the CorPus luris Cittilis
(issued in 534), which he directed
the Roman jurist Tribonian to
prepare. It gave legal unitY to his
ientratzed state and it bequeathed
the principles of Roman law to
succeeding EuroPean Senerations,
who rediscovered them in
the 12th centurY.
