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 a larger program of imperial renewal. From his dramatic overhaul of Roman law, to his lavish building projects, to his fierce persecution of dissenters from Orthodox Christianity, Justinian's vigorous statecraft--and his energetic efforts at self-glorification--not only set the course of Byzantium but also laid the foundations for the world of the Middle Ages.

Even as Justinian sought to recapture Rome's past greatness, he paved the way for what would follow.