Why Was Justinian A Good Leader

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Justinian was the Emperor of Byzantium in 527 AD and left a lasting impression on history. Justinian was the most well-known Byzantine emperor, reigning for 37 years. He was born in 482 AD and became Emperor of New Rome with his wife, Theodora when he was 44 years old. Justinian studied and performed in subjects ranging from music to architecture to politics. Justinian achieved numerous things that helped him become the incredible leader he was. Justinian, for example, had numerous construction projects, was a powerful military leader, and had a strong legal system. Justinian's building projects, for example, are one of the reasons he was an outstanding leader. Justinian, first off, was Christian. And that meant many of his people converted …show more content…

But he did more than just build churches; he also built hospitals and schools for his people. The Hippodrome was another of his construction projects. The Himmpodrome was a large stadium that could house up to 60,000 people and featured entertainment such as chariot racing and circus acts. This demonstrates that all of Justinian's construction initiatives were for his people, demonstrating that he cared about the empire and his people. Justinian was not only a great leader, but also an accomplished military leader. Within 50 years after the fall of Rome, Byzantine Emperor Justinian rose to power and began reconquering Roman territories. In 549, following the fall of Western Rome, Justinian was able to reconquer essentially the whole Western Roman Empire in an attempt to reunite the Roman Empires. He not only nearly reunited the Western Roman Empire by reconquering it, but he was also able to take over portions of Spain during this period. This demonstrates Justinian's desire to re-unite the Roman empire, as well as his strength as a military …show more content…

Justinian decided to review the old Roman laws in 582 AD. Rome had thousands of rules that were unorganized and ordered around the Romans' lifestyles, so Justinian took all of those laws and recruited ten individuals to study through 1,600 books of Roman law and create a more simple legal code that summarized and grouped all of the laws. This was known as Justinian's Code. The Justinian Code had over 5,000 rules and numerous sets of laws that restored order to the empire. This legal code that Justinian created demonstrates that he is a good leader because it shows that he cares about the law and wants the laws to be fair to everyone. Justinian additionally upheld an old Roman law that prohibited officials from marrying actresses because he loved his wife Theodora. Justinian loved Theodora so much that he allowed her to pass laws alongside him. Theodora enacted laws aimed at protecting women's rights. She worked, for example, to pass laws forbidding forced prostitution and to construct houses and shelters for former prostitutes. She also enacted laws to give women more rights in divorce cases, to let women possess and inherit property, and to introduce the death penalty for rape. Allowing his wife to pass laws demonstrates that he was a good leader, as he knew that allowing Theodora to pass laws on women's rights would considerably improve the