Constantine, Justinian, and Heraclius: Pivotal Byzantine Emperors of the 4th-9th Centuries (original) (raw)

The Byzantine Empire had a few great emperors, a few poor emperors, and many mediocre emperors during the fourth through the ninth centuries. Three of the emperors who made the most impact on the Empire were Constantine I, Justinian I, and Heraclius. Constantine restructured the government and the economy, shifted power to the East, legalized Christianity, and watched over the beginnings of the solidification of Church doctrine. Justinian reconquered much of the beleaguered West in an attempt to restore the united Roman Empire, he revamped civil law, stopped the Nika riots, beautified Constantinople, and led the Empire through a devastating plague. Heraclius ended a destructive civil war, restructured the Byzantine military and economy, recovered the True Cross from the Persians, and saved Constantinople from Muslim conquest. Each emperor struggled to overcome great challenges during their reigns, each took extraordinary action to confront these challenges, and each changed the Empire in a significant and lasting way. This is not to say, however, that these emperors were perfect or that their legacies were not tinged by mistakes or unintended consequences. Rather, the totality of their contributions to the Empire had great impact that molded the Byzantine Empire into a powerful force that kept the Roman Empire alive for nearly one thousand years after the fall of the West.