How Emperor Justinian Changed the World—Robin Pierson from The History of Byzantium Podcast
History Unplugged Podcast
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The Influence of Justinian on World History
The Hagia Sophia was the largest Christian church in the world and would stay that way for 1000 years. It took 35 years to build some Paul's Cathedral in London with obviously much better near modern engineering methods whereas Justinians workforce put it together in only five years. The crews of about 10,000 workers were hard at it for five years and there were some genuine engineering breakthroughs during this construction. And I think one of the reasons it's remembered is basically the last great monument of the Roman Empire as a superpower. Only only someone with the immense wealth Justinian had could afford all the materials and all the crews it took to build.
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