The Age of Justinian I (527–565)

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Portrait Bust of a Woman with a Scroll [Byzantine]

Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis [Byzantine]

Flask with Adoration of the Magi [Byzantine]

Two Panels of an Ivory Diptych Announcing the Consulship of Justinian [Byzantine]

Pectoral with Coins and Pseudo-Medallion [Byzantine]

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Thematic Essays (13)

• Art for the Christian Liturgy in the Middle Ages
• Barbarians and Romans
• Byzantine Ivories
• Byzantium (ca. 330–1453)
• Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages
• Constantinople after 1261
• The Crusades (1095–1291)
• The Face in Medieval Sculpture
• Hagia Sophia, 532–37
• Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium
• List of Rulers: Byzantium
• Monasticism in Medieval Christianity
• Provinces of the Late Roman Empire (1–500)

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• World Map, 500–1000 A.D.

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Art Movement/Style

Geography/Place

Subject Matter/Theme

• Warfare

The Byzantine State under Justinian
The nearly forty-year reign of Emperor Justinian I (527–65) heralded extensive territorial expansion and military success for the Byzantine state. Seeking to recover regions lost to foreign invaders, particularly Germanic tribes in Italy and North Africa, Justinian launched one of the most aggressive military programs in medieval history. As a result of his reconquest of the western territories, he restored Ravenna's status as a capital in Italy. Mosaic portraits of Justinian and his empress Theodora appear there at the church of San Vitale. By his death in 565, the empire bordered nearly the entire Mediterranean Sea, a size unrivalled in Byzantine history from that point onward. Conquest and territorial reorganization were paralleled by reforms in state taxation and legislation, the latter codified in the Corpus Juris Civilis (Corpus of Civil Law), a text that today forms part of the foundation of the Western legal system.

Justinianic Art and Architecture
Justinian's reign is further distinguished by an exceptional record of architectural and artistic production. The rebuilding of Hagia Sophia (Church of Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople from 532 to 537 was the paramount achievement of Justinian's building campaigns. As the most important church during the empire's long history, Hagia Sophia set a standard in monumental building and domed architecture that would have a lasting effect on the history of Byzantine architecture. In addition to the cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Justinian patronized over thirty churches in the capital of Constantinople and both ecclesiastical and secular building throughout the empire's territories, even as far as Mount Sinai in Egypt. During his reign, silk production was introduced from China, an art form for which Byzantium would soon become famous throughout the medieval world.

Sarah Brooks
Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation for this page

Brooks, Sarah. "The Age of Justinian I (527–565)". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/just/hd_just.htm (October 2001)