Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

70 3. justin i and justinian
been taught for a thousand years. Fifty years later, Agathias told a romantic
story of the flight of seven Athenian philosophers, including Damascius,
the head of the school, to seek a philosopher king in Persia; disappointed
in the young Khusro I, they nevertheless secured special treatment under
the terms of the treaty of 531 between Byzantium and Persia and were able
to return to Byzantine territory. Simplicius, at least, continued to write
important commentaries on Aristotle, possibly establishing himself at
Harran (Carrhae) in Mesopotamia; but organized philosophical teaching at
Athens had come to an end. 45
At the same time as initiating these measures against non-orthodox
minorities, Justinian built churches and secular buildings 46 and involved
himself in religious affairs. The rededication between 524 and 527 of the
massive and ostentatious church of St Polyeuktos by the patrician Anicia
Juliana, daughter of the western emperor Olybrius (Anth. Pal. i.10), had
clearly rankled with him, and, while on a far smaller scale, the domed
octagon-in-square church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus (a.d. 527–36), built
alongside Justinian’s basilica of Sts Peter and Paul in the palace of
Hormisdas, and with a long inscription honouring himself and Theodora,
pointed forward to the innovative masterpiece which St Sophia was soon
to represent. 47 In 532–3 public disputations were held under imperial auspices
between Chalcedonians and Monophysites in the palace of
Hormisdas, and it was also here that Theodora sheltered Monophysite
monks and clergy until her death in 548.
As in religious matters, so in matters of foreign policy and external relations,
Justinian was faced with the need to perform a balancing act.
Mundo achieved a success against Goths and Bulgars already threatening
Thrace in 529–30 and claimed a victory procession. 48 In the east, Justinian
continued to attempt by a mixture of diplomacy and mission to create a
strategic buffer between the rival states of Byzantium and Persia, extending
from Transcaucasia and the Caucasus in the north to Ethiopia/Axum
in the south – a task complicated by the religious divide between
Constantinople and some of the churches in this large area. 49 In the war
against Persia which occupied the years 528–31 the Byzantines had considerable
difficulty in holding their own, despite the favourable light in
which the activities of Belisarius are presented by Procopius, who was
45 Malal. Chron. 451; Agathias, Hist. ii.23–31. On Simplicius and Harran see Tardieu (1990); on the
closing of the Academy: Chuvin, Chronicle 135–41.
46 For the latter, see, besides Procopius’ Buildings, Chron. Pasch. 618.
47 The basilical church of St Polyeuktos (Saraçhane), with its elaborately carved capitals, was one of
the most lavish and influential of early Byzantine churches: see Harrison (1989); Sts Sergius and
Bacchus: Mango (1972), (1975); Rodley (1994) 69–71. 48 Marcell. Chron. s.a.
49 Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth ch. 5; Stein, Bas-Empire ii.296–305; the range of Justinian’s policies
in the east is shown clearly in Malal. 427–36. For a good statement of some of these problems see
Brock (1995), and see p. 79 below, n. 100.
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