I don't know much Byzantine history, but I would like to know if people think Justinian deserves to be remembered as "Great." My limited knowledge suggests maybe not. True his generals achieved limited reconquest of the Western Empire, but Justinian did not give his sucessful generals a chance to do their best (understandably, considering the possibility of a coup). The territorial gains did not last, and at Justinian's death the treasury was pretty empty and the armed forces overstretched. Sounds like his military policy was short sighted and actually harmed the empire, or am I wrong?
Of course Justinian was a famous codifier of laws, and that was an important contribution. But if I'm not mistaken he wasn't a great law giver, just a great collector and systematizer of laws other people had made. Must have been a huge job but still . . . does shuffling around other peoples' ideas count as great?
I don't need to go into his cowardice in the face of the Nike plot do I? However, it says something about his tax policies that he provoked a rebellion in the heart of his empire when he himself was present at the capital. Full points to Narses for sheer guts. Walked right into a hippodrome full of rebels with a big bag of gold, reminded some of the rebel leaders of where their loyalty should lie, and bought them off. By contrast, Justinian's wife had to had to shame him into staying around, and even then he let others do all the work.
So is Justinian overrated?
