The Eastern Empire and the Reconquest of the West

The imperial capital of Constantinople remained intact, however, thanks to its natural location and the great Theodosian wall that surrounded it. When rebuilt after the great earthquake its walls would become a defensive marvel of the world, unpar­alleled at the time.

Of course, the great defenses of Constantinople could not protect the entire Eastern Empire, and we come to one of his­tory s most intriguing questions: why did the Western Roman Empire decline, and collapse while the East recovered and con­tinued to thrive? Or, to ask the question differently, what made it possible for the East to survive? The answer must lie in the abilities of the two economies to pass land reforms, which could generate the funds to support a citizen army willing and capable to defend the Empire. For what had been acquired by the sword had to be maintained by the sword; and if an army based on Roman citizenship could not be raised, then enough gold and silver had to be available to pay off the barbarians or to hire them as mercenary troops. The Emperors of the West were un­willing to introduce land reforms, and the unstable system en­tered into a state of chaos from which it was difficult if not im­possible to recover.

The Eastern authorities witnessed how the tribal Ger­manic Teodorate^w led by their chiefs had subverted, and then proceeded to overcome the demoralized Western Empire. The Eastern emperors began to organize a new and well-equipped army as barbarians were placed in units together with Roma­nians, and were prohibited to serve under their tribal chiefs.

The fundamental factor, however, for the collapse of the West was a lack of educated statesmen. Learning was never a priority for the Romans and less so for the Ostrogoths, most of whom remained illiterate. On the other hand, in the east, centers of higher learning such as universities at Athens, Alexan­dria, Constantinople and others continued to flourish and pro­duce statesmen who were capable of implementing necessary reforms. Education remained as one of the major virtues for the Greeks, and was essential for anyone seeking advancement. Not to be educated was viewed as a disgrace by middle and upper class families, who provided the civil service and staffed the officer corps. The principal requirements of education were a knowledge of classical culture as well as speech, literature, logic and often mathematics; there was even a very small break with the tradition of pagan Greece amongst many Christian theologians, Somethingwhichbecame denied to the West. Ed­ucation and literacy was little esteemed by Roman gentry, and knowledge of classical Greek became less and less common amongst the Latin nobility. Boetius^, ambition to translate Greek writings into Latin was never realized, and this effectively closed the door on classical learning in the West. The doors would not open again until the Renaissance of the 15th century, when Italy began to rediscover the classical past.

The Roman Empire of the East in the meantime was un­dergoing religious and social conflict. The Monophysite heresy continued to grow, to such an extent that Emperor Flavius Anas- tasius himself began to lean towards the creed.

His efforts would result in fundamental changes centered on four main pursuits: major public works, the legal system, Church unity, and the reuniting of the Empire, by conquest if need be. Any one of these ambitious projects would require major funds but all four, as the chronicler Procopius claimed with some justification, would bring the Empire to the brink ofbankruptcy, although Justinians uncle had left a full treasury. Funding would come from elevated taxes and the expropriation of private wealth, something which had not occurred in the West. As Procopius wrote somewhat critically:

WhenJustinian ascended the throne it took him a very little while to bring everything into confusion. Things hitherto forbid­den by law were one by one brought into public life....

Also tax collectors could keep a certain percentage of the taxes they collected, which created much zeal amongst them and resentment by many OthersJustinian himself was a tireless worker who suffered from insomnia, becoming known as “the emperor who never sleeps,” and there is little doubt that his draconian expropriation of the massive private wealth which existed in the Empire saved the East from collapse and conquest as had occurred in the West. A massive intervention by the state in the economy had already been set by Diocletian, and the pol­icy would be continued by his successors albeit in less drastic form.

The first project to be completed was a total overhaul of Roman law, which removed redundancies and inconsistencies, clarified confused points, and made sure that all legislation was consistent with Christian teachings. This was undertaken by a special commission of ten men headed by Tribonian,⁴⁸ which in 529 produced the “Codex” in less than 14 months. The com­mission classified the constitutions written by Roman emperors into a single code of 4,652 laws, which would become the su­preme authority in the Empire. Ayear later a second commis­sion began the collection of all Roman legal major decisions which had been handed down by authoritative jurists in the 2nd and 3rd centuries the golden age of Roman law. Consisting of 50 volumes it became known as the “Pandets” or Digest. Fi­nally in 533 a book of extracts, or the “Institutes,” was prepared to serve as a handbook for the imperial law schools.

Justinians codification was not only a repetition of old laws, but represented a complete overhaul with many new ad­ditions and changes. In civil law the code was more progressive, making it easier to free slaves and sell land.

Foremost in Justinians mind was Church unity. He was already responsible for ending the schism by bringing a Papal delegation to Constantinople, where on 25 March 519 Patriarch John declared the churches of old and new Rome to be one and indivisible. A declaration of anathema and persecution was then passed on all heretics, including the Gothic Arians of northern Italy. As recorded by Procopius: “to achieve his aim he engi­neered an incredible number of murders. His ambition being to force everybody into one form of Christian belief, he wan­tonly destroyed everyone who would not conform... he did not regard it as murder so long as those who died did not happen to share his beliefs.”⁴⁹

The Imperial couple s single mindedness and ruthlessness in reforming and rebuilding the Empire began to lose them popular support. Earlyin his reign, on 13 January 532, Justinian took his seat in the Hippodrome for the customary chariot races when both the Blues and the Greens unexpectedly turned on him.

With the disturbance over Justinian began to rebuild Con­stantinople, much of which lay in ruins. This included the re­markable Church of the HolyWisdom, the “Hagia Sophia” (St. Sophia) Cathedral, which replaced the burned-out original structure. Built on a rectangular plan, it was 180 feet high and was topped by the largest dome in the world, over 100 feet across. The bricks were made from a material brought from the Isle of Rhodes, probably volcanic in nature, and were so light they could float. The concrete was also made from the same material as the bricks, mixed with sand and lime, and provided a strong bond. Because the city was prone to earthquakes the bases of the marble columns were made of lead to provide shock absorbency. When the next earthquake struck, the architecture stood up to the shocks but the dome collapsed and was replaced by one which proved to stand up to the earthquakes. For many centuries the Cathedral of St. Sophia was the tallest and most architecturally advanced building in the world, its size domi­nating the city, and visible to ships far out to sea.⁵¹ The interior of the dome was covered in mosaic tiles with the galleries sup­ported by different colored marble columns, which were brought from different parts of Europe. The center nave was steeped in light pouring down through stained glass windows in the dome and the half-domes, giving the impression the dome was suspended in mid-air. At night the main cathedral was illuminated by lamps and candles hung from chains from the ceiling turning the whole church into a beacon of light. As described by a contemporary poet Paul the Silentiary:

Thus through the space of the great church came rays of light, ex­pelling clouds of care, and filling the mind with joy. The sacred light cheers all, even the sailor guiding his bark on the waves... yet not only does it guide the merchant at night like the rays of Pharos on the coast of Africa, but it also shows the way to the liv­ing God.

It was a wonder of the world and seldom failed to impress vis­itors who were awestruck by the beauty of the sung liturgy. The whole city itself was impressive, with wealth appearing in the buildings both public and private. It remained outstanding amongst European cities for centuries to come for another rea­son—it did not develop chaotically as did Rome but was planned in a purposeful way.

With a full treasuryjustinian now turned to the main task for which he had been preparing for many years—the recon­quest of the Western Roman Empire. His first target was the western part of North Africa still held by the Vandals. With a young Romanized Thracian by the name OfBelisarius in com­mand, the army set out with a fleet of some 500 transport ships, loaded with infantry and 5,000 cavalry. The force was met out­side of Carthage by the Vandal king Gelimer, and after a day of hard fighting the battle was resolved by a fierce Roman cavalry charge, which put the Vandals to flight. Gelimer continued the struggle but after a year of fighting he surrendered in March 534 and was generously retired by Justinian to a rich estate in Galatia, Asia Minor. The remaining Vandal prisoners were pa­raded in a triumphant procession through Constantinople, to­gether with wagons loaded with spoils of war.⁵² Next, Justinian turned his attention to the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy. Shortly before his death in 526, Theodoric had named his fl­year-old grandson Athalaric as King, the son of his only off­spring, the daughter Amalasuntha. She was an exceptional in­dividual for the 6th CenturyItaly, particularly for a Goth. Fluent in Latin and Greek, and possessing a classical Greek education, she tried to give her son a similar schooling. This, however, was not to be. Her plans were met with violent opposition from the traditional Gothic chieftains and she was imprisoned in a castle on Lake Bolsano. The young Athalaric was removed from her custody, and at the age of 17 died from excesses of alcohol and loose living. Amalasuntha herself was strangled while she was taking a bath in the castle.

This was precisely the pretext Justinian needed. He was, after all, the Emperor of the Goths as well, and he now dis­patched a 7,500-man strong army led by Belisarius to punish Amalasunthas murder. Delayed by a mutiny in North Africa, Belisarius landed in Italy in 536 and sacked Naples, forcing the main Gothic forces to retreat to Ravena, and in a symbolic in­vitation by Pope Silverius on 9 December 536 Belisarius entered Rome. He was soon besieged by the Goths who began to destroy the main aqueducts to force a surrender, but in April a reinforcement of some 1,600 Huns and Slavs broke through the Gothic lines and entered the city. The siege was finally lifted by a 5,00Î-strong force arriving from the East.

During the next two years there was a stalemate in the fighting, with neither side gaining the upper hand. The Goths were joined by a force OfBurgundians arriving from southern Gaul, and in the winter of539 the weakly defended city of Milan surrendered to the Aryan allies, with the military garrison spared but all male inhabitants put to the sword. The women were enslaved and handed over to the Burgundians as payment for their effort. By the following year, however, using the rein­forcements he had received, Belisarius was in control of all of Italy. Only Ravena was still in Gothic hands, and after a brief siege KingVitiges resigned on condition that Belisarius declare himself Emperor. Whether this was a ruse to put a wedge be­tween Justinian and his commander, OrwhetherVitiges thought that he would be better off under Belisarius is not clear. Pre­tending to agree to the condition, Belisarius was allowed to enter the Citywhere the inhabitants were spared but Vitiges and his nobles were led into captivity. The struggle for supremacy, however, was not yet over. Pockets of Gothic resistance per­sisted and by 541 their new King Hildebad had built a strong force of Goths and Roman deserters, controlling all territory north of the River Po. Afterwards Hildebad was soon assassi­nated together with his appointed successors and his nephew Totila was elected King, a young man barely in his mid-twenties but with a broad revolutionary vision. He now turned to the Roman citizens, calling for an end to the excessive taxation, freedom for all slaves and the breaking up of the great estates with the land to be distributed amongst the landless. Within months Totila s force grew to an impressive size, enabling him to drive back a 12,000-strong Imperial army from the gates of Verona and to annihilate another force in a pitched battle outside of Faenza. A Romanian army at Florence was also routed, and in 543 Naples surrendered to Totila s forces. Almost all ofltalywas now under his control with Totila apparently en­joying the support of a large part of the population. The war was not only one of West against East, or Goth against “Roman/ but had also become a civil conflict that left much of Italy in ruins, contributing further to the collapse of Western society.

Totila s victories were not only due to the fact he had much of Italy behind him, but the able Belisarius had been recalled to Constantinople. Following the defeat of the imperial forces Justinian was informed that Totila could not be overcome, and in 544 Belisarius was sent back to Italy. He was not entirely trusted by Justinian and he soon discovered he was given in­sufficient forces to achieve his first objective, to capture Rome and safeguard the Pope who in fact had been rescued by a com­mando oflmperial guards and brought to Constantinople for safe keeping. Justinian now sent 35,000 men to reinforce Belis­arius under the command of Narses, an aging eunuch com­mander of his bodyguard. InJune, 552 the two opposing armies met on the Via Flaminia in a final great battle. Totila was mor­tally wounded in the fighting and at the end of the day his army fled in disarray, outflanked by the Imperial forces in a series of disciplined, well-executed maneuvers. Narses continued his march south, opposed desperately by what remained of Totilas men under the command of General Teia. Rome soon fell to the Imperial forces and in October 552 Teia was defeated in the valley of the river Sarno near Pompeii, where he was killed by a javelin. In the treaty which followed, the Goths were com­pelled to abandon Italy, and for all time were to remain at peace with the Empire.

The reconquest of much of the Empire was complete but a large part of Italy lay in ruins. Justinian died on 14 November 565, the last of the Roman Emperors to rule over most of the old empire. Following his death the Imperial army shrank to 150,000 men, down from its former strength of 645,000, and most frontier fortresses were abandoned. In 568 the Goths were replaced by another Germanic tribe, the Lombards who invaded Italy and settled in what is today Tuscany, Spolito and Benevento. Newbarbarian tribes also appeared on the eastern Danubian frontier and the Empire became divided once more, but this time on a permanent basis. For the next 1,000 years Western Europe would sink into the Dark Ages, ruled by the Germanic tribes which had Settledwithin its borders. Progress in science, technology, the arts, and cultured life came to an end until the Renaissance centuries later. However,

... between the Old Roman Empire and the Renaissance lay the great age OfByzantium (that is, the Eastern Roman Empire). It endured some eleven centuries and formed a strategic bridge be­tween antiquity and the modern world. It not only preserved the two unifying elements of the Roman Empire—Roman law and state organization, and the inherited tradition of Hellenic cul­ture—it added a third... force: Christianity.⁵³