LATE ANTIQUE CULTURE AND PRIVATE LIFEbarian settlement and the subsequent development of barbarian kingdoms also
disturbed existing norms, though whether they brought any greater freedom
is a different matter. In the eastern empire the sixth century, and especially the
reign of Justinian, marked an apogee in the history of early Byzantium, with a
strong emperor, powerful ministers and centralized government. At the same
time, however, urban violence reached unprecedented levels (see Chapter 7),
and there was much questioning of the relations of centre and periphery. The
ambitious policies of Justinian brought the empire, and Justinian’s successors,
into diffi culties which are clearly perceptible in their relations with the strong
neighbouring power of Sasanian Persia in the late sixth century. Justinian was
a codifi er of the law and a legislator of unparalleled energy. But he did not
succeed in achieving long-term security or internal harmony for the empire.
The end of the sixth century brought the Persian occupation of the Byzantine
Near East and renewed war with Persia on a major scale, followed immedi-
ately by the Arab conquests which seriously threatened Constantinople itself
and led to the loss of huge amounts of territory. The urban structures of late
antiquity, on which its educational system depended, underwent fundamental
change. This is the subject of the next chapter, while Chapters 8 and 9 focus
on the east, its prosperity in the sixth century and later, its religious ferment
and the momentous events it experienced during the seventh century.