Justinian

The definitive new biography of the Byzantine emperor Justinian  
 
Justinian is a radical reassessment of an emperor and his times. In the sixth century CE, the emperor Justinian presided over nearly four decades of remarkable change, in an era of geopolitical threats, climate change, and plague. From the eastern Roman—or Byzantine—capital of Constantinople, Justinian’s armies reconquered lost territory in Africa, Italy, and Spain. But these military exploits, historian Peter Sarris shows, were just one part of Justinian’s larger program of imperial renewal, which also included a dramatic overhaul of Roman law and lavish new building projects. Even as Justinian sought to recapture Rome’s past greatness, his vigorous statecraft—and his energetic efforts at self-glorification—not only set the course of Byzantium but also laid the foundations of the Middle Ages.