The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, 395-700 AD

THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITY

of reunifi cation; and third, the backdrop of urban and rural change which can
be perceived in all areas throughout the period (Chapter 7). As for the east-
ern provinces, here too, Justinian failed to conciliate eastern religious feeling

• indeed, it was his unsuccessful attempts to do so which led to the alienation
  in the western church and part of the east after the Fifth Council. In the 540s,
  even as non-Chalcedonian exiles were housed in the palace at Constantinople,
  Jacob Bar’adai was made bishop of Edessa and began ordaining Miaphysite
  clergy in the east, a fateful step which thus created a dual hierarchy in the east,
  especially Syria and Mesopotamia, and allowed the development of the Syrian
  orthodox or Jacobite church, so named after Jacob himself (Chapter 8).

Justinian as emperor

Justinian’s reign was extraordinary. Not only did it last for thirty-eight years
(527–65), but it was also commonly agreed that he had been the effective ruler
during the reign of his uncle Justin I (518– 27).^75 Justinian’s own reign opened
with a grand imperial gesture, the idea of codifying the whole of previous
Roman law; amazingly, the work was completed in record time; the situa-
tion on the eastern frontier looked hopeful and the trauma of the Nika revolt
seemed to have been overcome by the building of St Sophia and Belisarius’
astonishingly successful expedition against the Vandals. Italy followed as the
next imperialist objective, and a high point was reached with Belisarius’ entry
into Rome in AD 540. Whatever the mortality rate of the plague of 541–2,
which even struck the emperor, the epidemic came as a severe blow. The
population of Constantinople certainly suffered a sudden drop, and the losses
among the rural population in the eastern provinces must have been serious,
with adverse short-term consequences for the imperial tax revenues. Proco-
pius says of the effects that when pestilence swept through the whole known
world and notably the Roman empire, wiping out most of the agricultural
community and of necessity leaving a trail of desolation in its wake, Justinian
showed no mercy towards the ruined free-holders. Even then, according to
Procopius, he did not refrain from demanding the annual payment of tax, not
only the amount at which he assessed each individual, but also the amount for
which his deceased neighbours were liable.^76
The ensuing phases of both the Italian and the Persian campaigns were dif-
fi cult, and command problems were added to those of supply and manpower.
However, it is necessary to correct for the fact that Procopius, with his tradi-
tional mentality, tends to ascribe all diffi culties to personal or class motives.
Such criticisms show themselves most sharply in the Secret History, but they
also permeate the Wars.^77 The fall of John the Cappadocian came in 541, but
Procopius also accuses Peter Barsymes, who became praetorian prefect early
in 543 and thus had major fi nancial responsibility for provincial taxation and
army supply and maintenance. At a deeper level lies the question of Justinian’s
own responsibility for the policies adopted during his reign. In this case while
Procopius and other contemporary sources certainly personalize the reign in