Justin II AD 565-578 AE Half Follis Byzantine Empire. NGC Certified. Large K

Description: Justin II AD 565-578 AE Half Follis Byzantine Empire. NGC Certified. Justin II(Latin:Iustinus;Greek:,translit.Ioustnos; died 5 October 578) orJustin the Younger(Latin:Iustinus minor) wasEastern Roman Emperorfrom 565 until 578. He was the nephew ofJustinian Iand the husband ofSophia, the niece of the EmpressTheodora, and was therefore a member of theJustinian dynasty.He was a son ofVigilantiaand Dulcidio (sometimes rendered as Dulcissimus),[3]respectively the sister and brother-in-law of Justinian. His siblings includedMarcellusandPraejecta. With Sophia he had a daughterArabiaand possibly a son, Justus, who died young. He also had a niece namedHelena.Gepids, from whom Justin had obtained the Danube fortress ofSirmium, Avar pressure caused the Lombards to migrate West, and in 568 they invadedItalyunder their kingAlboin. They quickly overran the Po valley, and within a few years they had made themselves masters of nearly the entire country. The Avars themselves crossed the Danube in 573 or 574, when the Empire's attention was distracted by troubles on the Persian frontier. They were only placated by the payment of a subsidy of 60,000silverpieces by Justin's successorTiberius.[11] The North and East frontiers were the main focus of Justin's attention. In 572 his refusal to pay tribute to thePersiansin combination with overtures to the Turks led toa warwith the Sassanid Empire. After two disastrous campaigns, in which the Persians underKhosrow IoverranSyriaandcapturedthe strategically important fortress ofDara, Justin lost his mind. Shortly after thesmuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine EmpirefromChinabyNestorian Christianmonks, the 6th-century Byzantine historianMenander Protectorwrites of how theSogdiansattempted to establish a direct trade ofChinese silkwith the Byzantine Empire. After forming an alliance with the Sassanid rulerKhosrow Ito defeat theHephthalite Empire,Istmi, the Gktrk ruler of theWestern Turkic Khaganate, was approached by Sogdian merchants requesting permission to seek an audience with the Sassanid king of kings for the privilege of traveling through Persian territories in order to trade with the Byzantines.[13]Istmi refused the first request, but when he sanctioned the second one and had the Sogdian embassy sent to the Sassanid king, the latter had the members of the embassy poisoned to death.[13]Maniah, a Sogdian diplomat, convinced Istmi to send an embassy directly toConstantinople, which arrived in 568 and offered not only silk as a gift to Justin, but also proposed an alliance against Sassanid Persia. Justin agreed and sent an embassy to the Turkic Khaganate, ensuring the direct silk trade desired by the Sogdians.After 572, Justin was reported to have fits of insanity.John of Ephesus, whose Monophysite sect suffered persecutions under Justin, offered a vivid description of Justin's madness, in which he behaved like a wild animal, was wheeled about on a mobile throne and required organ music to be played day and night.[16]In 574, at Sophia's suggestion, he adopted the generalTiberiusas his son and heir, and then retired in his favor.[17]On 7 December, according toTheophylact Simocatta, Justin remained sufficiently clear-minded to make an eloquent speech as he passed the crown:[18][19] You behold the ensigns of supreme power. You are about to receive them, not from my hand, but from the hand of God. Honor them, and from them you will derive honor. Respect the empress your mother: you are now her son; before, you were her servant. Delight not in blood; abstain from revenge; avoid those actions by which I have incurred the public hatred; and consult the experience, rather than the example, of your predecessor. As a man, I have sinned; as a sinner, even in this life, I have been severely punished: but these servants (and he pointed to his ministers), who have abused my confidence, and inflamed my passions, will appear with me before the tribunal of Christ. I have been dazzled by the splendor of the diadem: be thou wise and modest; remember what you have been, remember what you are. You see around us your slaves, and your children: with the authority, assume the tenderness, of a parent. Love your people like yourself; cultivate the affections, maintain the discipline, of the army; protect the fortunes of the rich, relieve the necessities of the poor. Four years later, on 26 September 578, he elevated Tiberius asAugustus. Justin died only nine days later, on 5 October 578.

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End Time: 2024-03-14T20:42:02.000Z

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