From the Sack of Rome to the ‘Last Roman’

410 – 565 A.D.

Fall of the Western Empire

Huns and Heresies

The Fall of the West

Justinian the Great & Belisarius the Loyal

The Rise of Justinian

Belisarius

Totila the Goth

The Last Years of Justinian

After the sack of Rome the Western Empire continued in its long decline. Over the coming decades intrigue and invasion would reduce what was once the most powerful force in the world to a prostrate, quivering mass.

In 413 A.D. construction was begun on the great Theodosian walls to fortify Constantinople, and it was just as well too, for in the coming decades a new threat loomed on the horizon.

The Huns, a brutal race of warrior-nomads that had entered Europe in the latter half of the 4th century, had already wrought great devastation upon the lands and peoples they had conquered. In 434 A.D. a new king arose to rule over this fearsome nation: Attila the Hun.

In the early 440's he began attacks upon the Eastern Empire, and by 447 A.D. had launched a full blown invasion. Much of the Empire was ravaged, and Constantinople survived by the grace of its massive walls, which the Huns lacked the siege techniques to overcome.

Nonetheless the Emperor Theodosius II bought off Attila with a large tribute, and continued to do so until his death in 450 A.D. At this point his successor Marcian suspended payments, but rather than resume his attacks Attila had other business: the invasion of the Western Empire. After a rather ill-conceived proposal of marriage to Attila from the Western Emperor's sister, Attila demanded half the Empire as a dowry, and when this was not forthcoming decided to take it by force.

The invasion of Gaul in 451 A.D. resulted in great brutality and slaughter, and things looked grim until the general Aetius (considered the last great general of the Western Empire) defeated Attila at the truly epic Battle of Châlons on 20 June 451 A.D. (likewise considered the last great victory of the Western Roman Empire).

Though Attila invaded Italy the year after, he ultimately turned back from Rome (thanks to the intervention of Pope Leo the Great), and died the next year, ending the Hunnish threat to the Empire.

During this same era, religious controversy was no less disruptive (though considerably less bloody) to the life of the Empire. Two heresies were condemned during the period: Nestorianism, which was relatively harmless, and Monophysitism, which would have enormous long term effects on the Empire.

In 455 A.D. Aetius (who had effectively ruled the Western Empire for the last 30 years) was assassinated on the orders of the Emperor Valentinian III, who was in turn killed by those loyal to Aetius. With the strong leadership of Aetius out of the way, a new force turned it eye upon Rome: the Vandals (think about that name for a minute).

That same year the Vandals under their king Gaiseric sacked Rome once more, though due to an agreement with the Pope they did it in a bloodless and organized fashion (most un-vandal like, in the modern sense).

In 468 A.D. a truly massive expedition to retake North Africa (the heart of the Vandal's kingdom) by the Eastern Empire failed miserably under the incompetent leadership of the Emperor's brother-in-law, Basiliscus.

When in 474 A.D. the Emperor Leo I died, a period of back and forth jockeying for power began, ending with the Emperor Zeno securing the throne. In the meantime however, the Western Empire had fallen.

Emperor Leo I

After Leo I had refused to accept the barbarian backed puppet Emperor of the west, a force from the Eastern Empire had overthrown him and placed its own appointee on the throne. Ultimately, the general Orestes placed his own son on the throne, who ruled as the Emperor Romulus Augustulus.

The Empire in 476 A.D.

After Orestes was murdered, his son abdicated on September 4, 476 A.D. This marked the fall of the Western Empire. The barbarian Odoacer proposed to rule as an Imperial vassal, but refused an Emperor.

At the same time the office of the Pope was invested much of the pomp and ceremony of the absent Emperors, beginning the era of the Medieval Papacy.

While Zeno was disinclined to accept Odoacer's offer, he was busy with his own problems. In the year 487/488 A.D. however, a solution was found. Zeno and the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great agreed that Theodoric would invade Italy, and then rule it as a kingdom under Imperial sovereignty. Theodoric the Great

The conquest of Italy was complete by 493 A.D., and Theodoric went on to rule it loyally until his death in 526 A.D.

The Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was born in the last quarter of the fourth century to a distinguished Roman family. After receiving one of the best educations possible in the age, he worked ceaselessly on scholarly projects, while also answering his family’s ancient calling to public service under King Theodoric.

Despite his great fortune in life, fate had a poor end in mind for Boethius. When word of a conspiracy reached Theodoric (who was declining in health and mental faculties) Boethius rushed to defend a friend who had been accused. This in conjunction with the denunciation of enemies led him to share his friend's fate, and he was arrested.

While in prison, Boethius composed a work of philosophy examining his unfortunate position. It took the form of a dialogue between himself and ‘Lady Philosophy’. Reasoning that fortune will balance out the good with chastising blows, he asks her where true happiness lies.

The answer was that happiness is not to be found in power or wealth, but in union with God. It must be noted however that despite Boethius Christianity, there is no suggestion of it in the text, and the sentiment could as easily have come from Zeno or Marcus Aurelius. In this way ‘The Consolation of Philosophy’ can be seen as the last work of classical philosophy (contrasting Augustine, who represented the beginning of Medieval thought).

Late in 524 Boethius was executed (accounts differ, but it is generally believed to have been in a particularly brutal manner).

Realizing the error of his ways, Theodoric is reported to have wept for this wrong he had done to Boethius, and followed his shortly thereafter to the grave.

His reign was one of peace and prosperity, and with his death Italy lost its greatest ruler of the early Middle Ages, unequalled until the days of Charlemagne.

Mausoleum of Theodoric, Ravenna

Even though the Western Empire had fallen, the Empire of the East (henceforth referred to as the Byzantine Empire) continued going strong. As the Empire's situation stabilized in the early 6th century, it turned its attention to a great new endeavour: the re-conquest of the west. All this turned on the careers of Justinian the Great, often known as the last 'Roman' Emperor, and Byzantium’s (and very possibly history’s) greatest general: Belisarius.

With the death of Zeno in 491 A.D. the Emperor Anastasius assumed the throne. His long rule was marked by border conflicts and religious dissension, but nothing of truly massive proportions.

The Emperor Anastasius

His successor, Justin I, had a very interesting background: an illiterate peasant, he had joined the army and worked his way up to command one of the elite palace regiments. His religious orthodoxy and popularity with the soldiery helped in his acceptance, but his real advantage was his nephew, Justinian.

Himself a peasant, he had been educated and advanced by his uncle's patronage, and with his keen mind he worked to support his uncle's rule. In 527 A.D. Justinian himself came to the throne

The Emperor Justinian the Great

Though generous in spreading funds and building projects, his high taxes and acceptance of corrupt (though highly effective) officials led to revolt in Constantinople during 532 A.D. These Nika Riots had Justinian and his advisors prepared to flee

It was his wife Theodora who refused to leave the city, and thusly put the steel back into their spines. The rioters, concentrated in the city's great Hippodrome, were surrounded by troops led by Belisarius and slaughtered: 30,000 died and so did the revolt. The Empress Theodora

After this the Emperor and people treated each other more carefully: taxes were high but not unreasonable, and the people realized that Emperors were not simply made and unmade. The riot's destruction had one upside: various destroyed buildings were rebuilt magnificently, the crown jewel of which was the Hagia Sophia, the greatest ever example of Byzantine architecture, which still stands to this day.

Upon the conclusion of the riot, Justinian decided it was time to embark upon his lifelong dream: the re-conquest of the Western Empire. This task was handed to the Empire's greatest general: Belisarius.

Belisarius

He first departed for the kingdom of the Vandals in North

Africa. In 533 A.D. he crushed the Vandal army at the Battle of Ad Decimum, sending the enemy fleeing.

A few months later at the battle of Tricamarum the war was finished off, and by the next year the Vandal state had been reintegrated into the Empire, its king brought to Constantinople for Belisarius' triumph (the first for someone outside the Imperial family since 19 B.C.).

The Vandalic War was a mere prelude: Belisarius was then tasked with the conquest of Italy itself.

The death of Theodoric had led to a struggle for power among the Gothic nobility, which Justinian used as a Casus belli to invade the peninsula.

First Sicily was won for the Empire, and in the spring of 536 A.D. Belisarius moved on Italy, where after a brief siege Naples fell to the Byzantines. The Goths fell back into the north of Italy to regroup, allowing Rome to fall without a fight.

The Goths returned however, to place Rome and its Byzantine garrison under siege for an entire year, lifting it only in March of 538 A.D. (the major result of this was the cutting of the city's aqueducts, from which it would not recover for 1,000 years).

Byzantine reinforcements then reached Belisarius, but the presence of the general Narses (an elderly eunuch and favourite of Theodora) effectively split command between the two of them.

Narses

Eventually (after much aggravation) Narses was recalled, and Belisarius had cornered the Gothic leadership in the city of Ravenna, when he received notice that Justinian wished him to return to Constantinople due to the Persian menace. Not wishing to forfeit so many years of effort, a clever ruse allowed him to take the city with no bloodshed in the spring of 540 A.D.

But the celebrations were short lived: upon his return to Constantinople he learned that the Persian king Chosroes I had invaded the Empire and brutally sacked Antioch. Belisarius was needed in the east.

Chosroes I (also known as Anushirvan - The Immortal Soul) was probably the greatest of the Sassanid Persian Emperors, and for over 30 years was Justinian's worthy rival.

Chosroes I

The Byzantines would likely have been in a bad way had not Belisarius been on hand to deal with the situation. After some back and forth (and rather lacklustre) campaigning by both sides, in 542 A.D. Belisarius so impressed a Persian envoy that Chosroes decided to turn back based on this reputation alone. Belisarius was loudly praised, but trouble was still in store for the Empire.

In 542 A.D. a virulent plague struck the Empire (part of a worldwide pandemic) which in 4 months killed some 300,000 in Constantinople alone (~40% of the city's population). To make matters worse Justinian became ill, and in the chaos his potential death caused Belisarius was disgraced and stripped of his fortune and personal guard.

Upon Justinian's recovery however Belisarius was restored to favour and dispatched west in 544 A.D. to deal with a new rising by the Goths under their new leader Totila.

Totila

In the years since Belisarius’ departure, the situation in Italy had been badly handled by a veritable pantheon of incompetents. Totila had managed to win great popularity by his populist reforms, had seized Naples, and with Belisarius en route was preparing to besiege Rome.

Belisarius was unable to save the city (through no fault of his own) and for the next several years struggled on. With the death of the empress Theodora in 548 A.D. Belisarius was recalled, but he had laid the groundwork for the eventual Byzantine victory.

Justinian greeted Belisarius as an old friend, but even then the general could not convince the Emperor to allocate the resources needed to finish the conflict in Italy. Instead Justinian was focused on theological disputes at home: while his Monophysite wife lived there had been a tentative peace, but with her death tensions had risen sharply.

Eventually Justinian did get around to Italy, assigning Narses to organize the forces there. In 552 A.D. he defeated Totila at the Battle of Taginae, though it would be almost a decade before the peninsula was completely pacified.

To top it off, an expedition to the far west had retaken the Balearic Islands and Southern Spain for the Empire, making it once more master of the Mediterranean.

By the last decade or so of his life however, Justinian was primarily focused on theological issues, allowing the army to decline and the economy to suffer. A barbarian incursion into the Empire was defeated by the now aged Belisarius, and in 565 A.D. both the General and then his Emperor died in the span of a few months.

In the end Justinian, instead of inaugurating a new era of Imperial glory, proved to be the last truly 'Roman' Emperor. While he left the Empire poorer in funds with his passing, he had enriched it incalculably in works, utilities, and beauty, while also greatly expanding the frontiers of the Empire.

However, perhaps Justinian's greatest triumph was his overseeing the re-codification of Roman law: the Corpus Juris Civilis (the Body of Civil Law) known popularly as the Code of Justinian. Besides being a scholastic triumph, this would later form the basis of the entire Western legal tradition down to the modern age.

The Code can be broken down into four main parts:

Codex: This consisted of all the valid imperial edicts since the time of Hadrian.

Digest: Collected the writings of the classical Roman jurists, and together with the imperial edicts formed the main body of the law.

Institutes: Served as a legal textbook and consisted of extracts from the two main works.

Novels: Consisted of the recent edicts of Justinian.

The Codex, Digest, and Institutes came into existence in Latin (many of the Novels would have already been in Greek) but translations of the most relevant sections soon appeared. This was part of the process during which the Empire transitioned from being Latin-speaking (though in reality bilingual) to Greek-speaking. Indeed, in the coming centuries Latin would become all but extinct in the Byzantine Empire with the exception of the legal system.

Justinian (ably assisted in the military field by the unwaveringly loyal Belisarius) had left a stamp on the Empire that would last for centuries.