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==Legal and military accomplishments==
Justinian achieved lasting influence for his judicial reforms, notably the summation of all Roman law, something that had never been done before. Justinian commissioned quaestor Tribonian to the task, and he issued the first draft of the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' on [[April 7]], 529, in three parts: ''Digesta'' (or ''Digest'' or ''Pandectae''), ''Institutiones'' (or ''Institutes''), and the ''Codex''. The ''Corpus'' forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including ecclesiastical [[Canons of the Orthodox Church|canon law]]: "''ecclesia vivit lege romana'',", "the Church lives under Roman law"). It ensured the survival of Roman Lawlaw, which would pass to the West in the 12th century and later to Eastern Europe, including Russia. It remains influential to this day.
[[Image:Byzantium550.png|left|thumb|The expanse of the Byzantine Empire in 550 under Justinian.]]As far as military campaigns, Justinian was generally successful; he was the last Byzantine emperor to have control over Rome and parts of the West. Like his Roman predecessors and Byzantine successors, Justinian initially engaged in war against Sassanid Persia in the Roman-Persian Wars. However, his primary military ambitions focused on the western Mediterranean, where his general Belisarius spearheaded the reconquest of parts of the territory of the old Roman Empire. Belisarius gained this task as a reward after successfully putting down the Nika riots in Constantinople, because of which Justinian considered fleeing the capital but remained in the city only on the advice of Theodora (according to Procopius). In 533 Belisarius reconquered North Africa from the Vandals, then advanced into Sicily and Italy, recapturing Rome (536) and the Ostrogothic capital at Ravenna (540) in what has become known as the Gothic War.
