Three Political Voices from the Age of Justinian - Research Paper Example

The Emperor Justinian’s The Justinian was a set of laws that came about because of Justinian’s strong desire to harmonize and streamline the then existing Roman law which he viewed as too ambiguous. He directed his legal minister to lead a group of reputed scholars in an effort to try to collect all the existing laws and then edit them into simple, clear and comprehensive sets of legislatures or code. The group took over a year codifying the laws, which resulted in the Justinian Code, which was effectively complete in 529 (Richard 98). The compiled laws were later expanded to include the emperor’s own laws and additional from the books. The laws became the legal binding laws of the state. The Emperor Justinian’s Code influenced government organization, views on leadership and church-and-state relationships throughout many future governments. Justinian was born 482 in the area that in modern times is called the Balkans, north of Greece. He was the nephew of the then emperor and thus had had a great deal of power even before he became the emperor. On his accession to the throne, he united the neighboring areas to become the sole emperor of the east region for thirty-seven years from 527. The then state was closely connected with the church. All emperors preceding Justinian, since the dominance of Constantine, had always incorporated religious extremism of intolerance into the legal framework and thus Justinian followed the same tradition. The past regimes had been very ruthless persecuting those who did not tow to the Christian teachings, Justinian’s reign became a very crucial era that affected future governments especially in antiquity and early epoch of the middle ages. In the Nicene religious wars, the emperor became an icon and a hero as he led successive campaigns against the classical thought, and all other people opposed to Christianity (Sarris 65). He achieved these victories against non-believers by imposing oppressive binding imperial decrees that were not to be opposed, the government of Justinian was unanimously supporting forced conversions, and the existing temples of other religions were destroyed with the government troops actively involved in the religious campaigns. Though the use of troops in the enactment of the religious agendas had been inexistence since the time of Constantine, it reached its climax during the time of Justinian. The emperor’s campaigns of using state machinery to force other people to do the bidding of the church became very formidable such that it lasted for generations until the status quo was reverted by the Renaissance and scientific revolution. The emperor, a political figure, had continued the earlier campaigns of his predecessors like Constantine. These were the activities of the powerful political figures using their influential positions in government to persecute any person opposed to Christianity. He together with the church leaders worked together and held a common notion that, for the empire to survive have stability and prosper, and then the whole empire must conform to the Nicene Creed. Nicene Creed, originating from the city of Nicaea thus the name, had been a set of religious collective beliefs aimed at uniting all Christians by having uniting common beliefs to draw from; these included the belief that there is only one supreme God who is the maker of all that there is (Richard 45). This new conviction by the emperor that the whole empire must conform to the doctrines of the Creed was the turning point from the traditional rules that had worked for years. The emperors new rules contained in the Codex had not only been fashioned to oppose other religions, but were also aimed at effectively wiping out other religious diversifications and individual choice. His laws were also made in a way that the church had the full backing of the state and the protection of the church was drawn from the state. The religious convictions of the church had thus been brought into the mainstream as the laws of the state. In the contemporary modern world, Christianity is widespread and the most diverse religion with a following from all the continents. The Nicea based Christianity emphasized by the emperor, forms a major basis of modern Christianity. However, without the emperor’s support and his using of the mighty state machinery, Christianity could not have become the influential religion, as we know it today. This is because paganism had become very popular with many people inclining towards it; other forms of diluted and misleading forms of Christianity had also emerged. The pagans were bitterly opposed to Christianity as they viewed it to offer them nothing new and in fact, the teachings of Christianity were viewed as drawn from paganism. The pagans claimed to have had their own virgin births, rivaling miracles as proposed by Christianity and even resurrection. Therefore, to them Christianity was telling them nothing out of the ordinary as they had already witnessed these events (Bell 23). With the empire having a Christian emperor in Justinian, things were to change drastically. Individual choice had been allowed for ages but, according to the emperor, it was for national interest to oppose and wipe this individual choice. Choice to him was a source of disorder and the exercise of individuality and free will would do the state no good as the resultant effect will be chaos and anarchy. The empire thus came to be regarded as the Nicene Roman Empire, which put it mandatory for all the citizens to conform. In 523 even before he had ascended to the throne, Justinian had influenced the emperor, who was his uncle, to outlaw Arianism. Arianism is the opposition to the concept of the Trinity Being, citing that the Son was created thus inferior to God the Father. Arian Christianity was banned and those found practicing it were persecuted (Evans 23). The emperor was against heresies and all forms of heresies were wiped off except Monophysitism. Monophysitism is the practice of some Christians based on the conviction that Christ has only one nature, which is divine. The state did not wipe this out because the emperor’s wife was a strong follower. This in the modern world is widespread in North Africa, Syria, Egypt and Ethiopia. All other forms of religions other than Christianity were outlawed and those caught lost their citizenship, some exiled and death for paganism. The emperor made it his duty to make sure he witnessed in person the burning or drowning of the pagans. The emperor also ordered the total destruction of Hellenism. Hellenic Age was one of the most important eras of critical thinking. In this epoch, there arose the appreciation of arts and poetry. It was also during this era that some of the greatest thinkers existed. These include Plato, Socrates, and Pythagoras the father of mathematics. The Olympic Games and great athleticism emerged during this period with the unification of Greek city-states taking place. In fact this age is considered the first in human history to have a humanist culture with main focus an emphasis on knowledge and excellence. Competitions and democratic reforms were also widespread. Justinian was opposed to the cultures developed in this era and went ahead to ban the Olympic Games. The Christian Emperor endeavored to make sure all other forms of religions were wiped off with non-believers not being tolerated. To enforce his religious convictions, he barred those that did not follow the orthodox doctrines from holding public office. Orthodox conversion thus became a civil service requirement. These requirements had far-reaching effects even in years to come. It lasted till the 18th century where in the Americas most colonies followed the rules, and discriminated against any other form of religion except the Protestants. Others like Catholics and Muslims could not be given jobs as the constitution required public office holders to take the oath of office, which could only be done in orthodox. Only Protestants had the right to religious liberty, other people were also barred from running for elective posts in public offices or perform civil duties. Justinian using his formulated laws turned on the gentiles. He tortured them and took their belongings. Pagans under Justinian laws cold not partake any political or administrative service. Property ownership right was also taken from them. He went further and interfered with domestic issues. He stated that no father would have authority over his son should the son by any chance be converted to Christianity while the father did not (Halsall 2). A non-Christian son was also disowned and lost his privileges, should his father convert. Justinian’s laws were very harsh on pagans confiscating all their property. The social class was created, with non Christians denied human dignity, official positions, not expected to be successful in life and those that succeeded, their property was taken (Evans 32). Before the eighteenth century American Enlightenment, Justinian laws had been borrowed heavily to oppress others. In the then Americas, people who had not converted to orthodox Christianity could not become office holders or serve the public trust. The Hitler’s government responsible for igniting World War 2 had banned Jews from aspiring to become lawyers. The Church Council in France also had done the same. Germany under Hitler used the format of the Justinian Codes to ban intermarriages of races, also prohibiting the social and sexual relations with the Jews, sharing a meal with a Jew was also banned. The state and the church during the reign of Justinian had totally restricted the liberty of individuals crashing the concept of human dignity. Some of the government that assumed such a tyrannical form of government includes that of Hitler, Pinochet, Mao, and Stalin. These governments were brutal to anything that opposed them and had no respect for human dignity. The emperor brutally quelled dissent, and intellectuals against his laws instantly jailed. He confiscated the properties of the acclaimed Plato’s Academy of intellectual excellence closing it down then turning it to a Christian school (Bell 55). Following the Justinian’s codes, there erupted religious intolerance and tyranny, which had the full backing of the church-state alliances. Temples and shrines were destroyed with the worshippers and pagans being executed. Jews were oppressed and discriminated from public offices. The state- church alliance thrived throughout the middle ages. Religious leaders and political leaders were closely related with the church having an army of its own to enforce its orders. During the church-state relation, intellectual space was limited and individuals were supposed to tow in line with the teaching of the church. The church also acted as the source of knowledge. The church for a long time misled the world by stating that the earth was at the center of the solar system with the sun revolving around the earth. Copernicus on his observation that it was actually the sun at the center of the solar system and the earth revolves around the sun kept quite and did not publish his works immediately for the fear of persecution (Richard 43). When Galileo used a stronger telescope to affirm Copernicus findings, he crashed with church. He was ordered to withdraw his findings, which he reluctantly did, yet he had presented evidence beyond reasonable doubt that his findings were factual. The renaissance and the scientific revolutions changed much of the church’s dominance but not fully. In the U.S., religious neutrality is emphasized, but the dominance of the state-church relationship cultivated by the Justinian codes still exists. This is more of a psychological dominance on the citizens who are responsible for electing their governments. The Christian dominated country is wary of Muslim people with those perceived to incline towards Islam losing credit. Obama’s religion was a hot topic during the campaigns with his rivals citing he is Muslim and terrorists. The Western countries have never had an elected Muslim leader and many of the leaders in power are Christians, this shows religion is a factor for any individual to be voted to lead any western country. The oath of office of many western countries, including that of the U.S. requires the president to swear preferably using the holy book of which the Bible has been the predominantly used. Works Cited Bell, Peter. Three Political Voices from the Age of Justinian. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2009. Print Evans A.S. James. The Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire. Westport: Greenwich Publishing Group, 2005. Print Halsall Paul. ‘‘Internet Medieval Sourcebook’’. Fordham University Center for medieval sources, 2006. 03 Apr 2011. Richard, Atwater. Precopius Secret History. New York: Covicii Friedal, 1927. print Sarris, Peter. Economy and Society in the Age of Justinian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print Read More