Justinian I

Justinian I (Latin: Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus; 11 May 482 – 14 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565.

His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized "renovatio imperii" — the restoration of the Empire. This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the then-fallen West, including Rome. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Subsequently, Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, and Italy to the empire after more than half a century of barbarian rule. The Praetorian prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania, and helping reestablish Roman control over the western Mediterranean.

After his death — despite his campaigns — the Eastern Romans would enter a period of decline and near-collapse until the Empire's further restoration almost a millennia later under the Roman Empress Zoe, where it's borders would reach a similar size.

A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law in many Roman provinces and modern states. His reign also marked a blossoming of Roman-Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded works such as the Hagia Sophia, earning him the name "Saint Justinian the Emperor" in the Eastern Orthodox Church.