Justinian the Douche Crazy Emperor

     Justinian's wife was a woman named Theodora, who was a burlesque dancer, which involved bare-dancing. She was also a prostitute and had a very active sex life. In order to cover up this resume of hers, he promoted her to co-empress, and they ruled together. However, despite her actions, she was highly intelligent and wily.
     Justinian tightened his grip on the people in Constantinople, controlling and stamping out pagan celebrations, such as gambling, prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, rebellious Christians, and Jews. He was unpopular with people, but that didn't matter to him since he was emperor. But soon, annoyance and frustration turned to outright fury, and the Byzantines went to express their outrage in the hippodrome, a stadium for chariot racing. It had every known building technique in its construction, and it was wider than a modern-day football field. It was a sports stadium, public spectacle stadium, and imperial propaganda, with huge bets placed by fans. The hippodrome was Constantinople's architectural glory.
     In early January of 532 AD, Justinian, who was completely disliked by all of his people because of his harsh policies and heavy taxes, was overwhelmed by all of his people in the hippodrome. Theodora influenced his choice to dispatch a bunch of soldiers to the hippodrome. Then, Justinian calls all the rebels to the hippodrome, suggesting that he might offer a compromise. The gates are closed, and all the rebels are massacred by the emperor's soldiers in the hippodrome. 30,000 PEOPLE DIED OHMYGODWATWATWAT NO STAHP JUSTINIAN.
     Justinian, however, spotted an opportunity in the ashes of death. In the ruins of the heart of Constantinople, Justinian rebuilt the capital in the name of God and himself. He built a huge, impressive church called the Hagia Sophia. It had a gigantic dome that looked like it was floating, built by pendentives, and there were many elaborate monograms of the emperor and his empress. This construction solidified Constantinople as the capital of the Christian world. However, the dome collapsed, and the empire went bankrupt due to Justinian's enthusiasm to rebuild Constantinople. This ultimately caused the downfall of the empire, as emperors after Justinian ruled over a shrinking empire.