Constantinople in the Age of Justinian
by Glanville Downey
Category: Byzantine Empire

This is the period of the Great Law-Giver, for Justinian prompted and encouraged the restatement of classical law which remains today one of the monumental achievements in its field. It is one of many fruits of the civilization which combined and transformed the classical Greek and Christian traditions. Justinian was completing the process begun by Constantine the Great (who died in A.D. 337) of forming a new state, a new society, and a new culture to replace the disrupted Roman Empire. As the chief center of the new civilization, Constantinople was the place in which the government, literature, art, and architecture of the new epoch found their fullest expression. With Justinian's own creation, the magnificent church of Sancta Sophia, as its center, Christianity can here be seen transforming the whole Near Eastern world according to its principles. And not the least important part of this masterfully drawn picture is the piety, the daily working of faith, in a society at last dedicated to one God. -- Dust jacket flaps.