JUSTINIAN AND RECONQUESTFigure 5.3 The fortress at Zenobia (Halabiye) on the Euphratesa dramatic way, it does seem that one can recognize in the real Justinian the
untiring and sleepless emperor portrayed in the Secret History.
As the reign drew on, with the death of the Empress Theodora in 548, the
spectacular imperial initiatives of the early years gave way to other concerns,
such as religious unity and the building of a longer-lasting peace with Persia.
The 540s were dominated in Constantinople by the emperor’s religious poli-
cies, but, as we have seen, the Fifth Council, which met in Constantinople and
spent much time and effort in trying to get the support of the unfortunate
Vigilius, was received negatively in both east and west. Justinian’s later years
were gloomy by comparison with the early part of the reign, with new barbar-
ian threats and the emperor himself turning more and more to theological
speculation. In his last years he made yet another unsuccessful attempt at con-
ciliation by adopting the Julianist formula according to which Christ’s body
(being divine) was incorruptible, an old subject of controversy relating to the
deeper question of the relation of God to matter in the Incarnation which was
to go on to be a central issue throughout the seventh century (Chapter 9). Jus-
tinian’s edict on the subject (564) resulted in the deposition of the patriarch of
Antioch, who stood up to the emperor, and the exile of Eutychius, the patri-
arch of Constantinople, whose appointment the emperor had himself con-
trived in order to have an amenable patriarch in place at the Fifth Ecumenical
Council. Eutychius was replaced by the ultra-orthodox John Scholasticus, a
great supporter of Justinian’s orthodox nephew and successor, Justin II, but
Justinian’s action and Eutychius’ deposition left many loose ends, and the lat-
ter was briefl y reinstated after the death of John Scholasticus in 575.^78
Events and policies during the reign, and their effects, were thus deeply
contradictory, as were the verdicts of contemporaries; we have unusually