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Compare And Contrast Justinian And Byzantine Empire

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Compare And Contrast Justinian And Byzantine Empire
In 330 CE the Roman emperor Constantine made the city of Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire.Throughout Constantine's reign the Roman Empire was unified but soon after his death in 337 the empire was once again divided. In 476 AD the Roman Empire fell; however, Byzantine continued to survive. During 527-565 CE Justinian ruled the Byzantine Empire and was highly praised. Justinian throughout his reign attempted to reunite the Roman Empire and was greatly successful. As a result, Justinian did not develop a unique Byzantine Empire instead he recreated Rome through following Roman laws, leading similarly to previous emperors, and by continuing to have Christianity as an official religion.
The Byzantine emperor known as Justinian kept and adjusted the old Roman laws. The laws of the Byzantine Empire were almost identical to the Roman laws because “the emperor chose ten men to review 1,600 books full of Roman Law and create a simpler legal
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Justinian’s accomplishments were like those of Trajan and his personality was like Neros’. Trajan was a clever man who created programs for public work and child welfare. Trajan also built multiple new bridges, harbors, and aqueducts. However, Nero was the opposite he was a selfish liar who did not care how his decisions affected his people and “Justinian was…crafty, hypocritical, secretive by temperament, two-faced: a clever fellow who created countless cities which did not exist before with marvelous ability to conceal his real opinion… lying all the time…”(Documents 1&2). Justinian was an emperor with flaws like Nero he was a selfish liar who spent countless amounts of money building the Hagia Sophia without considering the consequences, but at the same time like Trajan he was clever, crafty and was able to build multiple new cities that benefited the

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