Restoration of The Byzantine Empire Under The Influence of Christianity

Justinian of Byzantine era

According to Lawler (7), the Byzantine Empire was one the periods after the fall of the Roman Empire. During this time many emperors tried to restore the previous glory. Thus, the end saw the success and the failure of many dynasties, Justinian being one of them. Justinian was one of the emperors of Byzantine Empire in the sixth-century who was married to Theodora. The influences of the Islam and Christianity spread saw the division and fall of the Byzantine Empire. Justinian tasked himself with the role of restoring the previous glory. In this paper, it shall be demonstrated how he used the influence of Christianity and architecture to restore Byzantine. Furthermore, the article will describe how he played a role in the change in architectural designs of holy shrines.

Justinian accomplished so many other things other than being a sovereign ruler. The manner in which he governed impacted the general population of Byzantine, some of which can even be observed today. The culture of the Byzantine Empire was a newly found Greco-Roman approach from the Greeks and the West Roman Empire which had nurtured differently. Christianity, additionally, was also a substantial social element during the Justinian's rule. Amid Justinian's rule, his focal issue was portrayed by the significant push to fortify the realm and restore its previous glory. Rodgers (N.p) argues that Justinian needed to reclaim, what had once been the Roman Empire. However, he ended up noticeably associating with the Christian culture.

One of the infrastructures that Justinian rebuilt was urban development. His focus on the development of structures to help revamp the city of Constantinople. One of the significant accomplishments of Justinian's construction efforts was the rebuilding of the Hagia Sophia, the designating of Byzantine architects taught in the art of basic construction, material science, and arithmetic’s that was fundamental to the progressive plan of joining the Roman basilica and including an arch bolstered by wharfs. Rodgers (N.p) postulates that the basilica was viewed as the most important church in the Roman history. Furthermore, Justinian set a standard in the magnificent building of the domed design. Accordingly, he used beautiful interior models that included the creation of decorated columns (Jarzombek and Prakash N.p).

The motivation behind the Byzantine craftsmanship was to celebrate the Christian religion and to express its fellowship. All of Byzantine artistry is loaded with a sort of profound imagery that depicted items on earth that were intended to remain at the conquest of paradise. During this period, there is a widespread use of mosaic to represent the image of the colossal ruler in the congregation of San Vitale at Ravenna. The mosaic configurations were made of thousands of little glass or marble shapes, brimming with beautiful hues, and is some cases canvassed in gold. Other mosaics were used to represent the image of Christ as the great shepherd. It was at this moment that we begin to see the brilliant age for Christian artistry. Through his continued quest in architecture, he borrowed plans from the ancient Roman construction. He further continued to add more shapes and structures forming the Greek cross plans for churches.

One essential quandary that Justinian confronted during his rule was the popular uprising towards his architectural progression that shaped into what is known as the “Nika Riots.” At this time general distress, few religious and majestic structures were destroyed. Individuals were not upbeat about the tyrant approach to deal with the government, undermining the groups’ prompt defiance. According to Rodgers (27), the decisions the ancient people made to express their perspectives on social and social issues were through expression. In their viewpoints, they believed they were engaging in a “great" fight against the rule of Justinian. However, in the capacity to express the social and social perspectives that influenced subjects in any given era, they lacked the respect for the changes that he had made in restoring the fallen cities. Thus, this is the reason Justinian had issues toward the beginning of his term, his perspective of the law and how he was running the empire was not favored upon by the general population. In light of this, he pushed the limits of the law until prompting the disturbance and pulverization in his empire (Rodgers 27).

In conclusion, the Justinian's choice of recuperating the fallen Western piece of the Roman empire, he propelled a standout amongst the most potent military projects in medieval history.Because of his reconquest of the realm's western regions; he reestablished Ravenna's status as a capital in Italy paralleled by changes in state tax assessment and enactment. Justinian was a crucial piece of the historical backdrop of the Byzantine Empire, and why it is known for the significant structural places of worship and Christian craftsmanship. And also confronting numerous impediments that helped him settle on the choices to reestablish the significance of the Byzantine Empire once Roman. "Justinian's legitimate work and the brilliant Great Church have won him unending acclaim, and the writing, verse, and philosophical accomplishments of his counterparts take the stand concerning the extraordinary nature of sixth-century human progress in the Eastern Roman Empire.