After finishing a mammoth project to codify all Roman law and legal precedent (the Corpus Juris Civilis, still used as the basis for most European law codes) and rebuilding Constantinople with the most splendid structures of Late Antiquity (the Hagia Sophia), Justinian set about on his main project: restoring the Western half of the Roman Empire. During his 38-year reign, Justinian succeeded in reconquering much of the West, including North Africa, Italy, and Spain. The war to reclaim Italy from the Ostrogoths was particularly difficult, lasting two decades and laying waste to much of the Italian peninsula.

Above: the Hagia Sophia (Church of Holy Wisdom), built by Justinian in the 530s after the destruction and fires caused by the 532 Nika riots in Constantinople. The church still stands and is one of the most important symbols of Orthodox Christianity.

The Ostrogothic Kingdom became the most powerful and sophisticated of the post-Roman Germanic states, reaching its peak under Theoderic the Great (r. 493-526), a great soldier and generous patron of the arts and education. But Italy was naturally central to Justinian’s vision of a restored empire, and his forces invaded Sicily in 535. Led by the great general Belisarius, who had recently conquered Africa from the Vandals with little difficulty, the Romans fought their way up the peninsula, capturing Rome in 536 and the capital of Ravenna in 540. However, at the height of his success, Belisarius was recalled, and this coincided with a devastating plague and a Gothic military revival; nearly all the Roman gains in Italy were reversed as the Goths under Totila re-captured cities from Milan to Naples. The war dragged on for over a decade until the decisive Eastern Roman victory came at Taginae in July 552. After seventeen years of fighting, much of Italy lay in ruins.

Perhaps no city suffered more than Rome. After its conquest by Belisarius in 536, the Romans successfully held off the Goths during a year-long siege (March 537-March 538). But the Goths then succeeded in recapturing the city in 546, only to lose it again in 547. The Romans then held the city for two years (547-549), during which probably the largest number of Justinian’s solidi were struck, before it was again recaptured by the Goths. After the decisive Eastern Roman victory at Taginae in 552, the city again fell under imperial control, having changed hands five times in 16 years.

Above: Gold solidus of Justinian from Rome struck during the height of the Gothic Wars and Totila’s revival, ca. 542-546. The flans are typically larger, and the style is a bit more advanced than the highly generic issues of Constantinople.

The coins of Rome from this period are scarce. Justinian struck bronze, silver, and gold coinage during the periodic Byzantine control of the city, but interestingly, after Byzantine rule was permanently established in 552 with the final Gothic defeat, there seems to have been a sharp reduction in the number of gold coins minted in the city. This can most likely be attributed to the withdrawal of the armies fighting the Goths, which would have been paid in gold solidi that were no longer needed. Most Rome mint solidi of Justinian usually sell for around double the value of a comparable condition issue of Constantinople.