In 450 AD, in the Skopje region of Macedonia, a baby boy named Justin was born in a poor peasant family with no property or prominent family background, and the couple raised their children by farming. On the European continent at the time, the absence of property and aristocratic blood meant that he would spend the rest of his life like his parents, and the baby boy, who later became emperor of the Byzantine Empire, ruled the Eastern Roman Empire for nearly a century.
Skopje
The poor living environment made Justin very precocious, he began to help his parents farm in childhood, in his teens, in order to subsidize the family, Justin began to help the rich people herd sheep and pigs to obtain a small income. However, during this period, a change changed Justin's fate, and when Justin was fourteen years old, his hometown was invaded by barbarians, and the war soon reached the village where Justin lived, and in order to escape the war, Justin fled his hometown with two partners and took refuge in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
When Justin and his two friends arrived in Constantinople, they were amazed by the living environment in the big city, and the tall walls and ornate buildings stunned them. When Justin took refuge in Constantinople,
His only possessions were a tattered dress and a bag of bread that had long since hardened and could not be chewed.
Constantinople
When the bread was eaten, Justin began to worry about his future life, during which time in the Eastern Roman Empire, the children of poor families wanted to establish themselves in Constantinople and could only become soldiers, so Justin went to join the army of the Eastern Roman Empire with his two friends. But what Justin did not expect was that the god of luck took care of him, and the Eastern Roman Empire at that time was expanding a royal guard army dedicated to serving the emperor, and Justin was lucky to join this army.
After becoming a member of the Janissaries, Justin, who was physically strong and brave in battle, was quickly recognized by his superiors, and he held many positions, and was later appointed by Emperor Anastasius I as the commander of the Guards. After Justin soared in Constantinople, he did not forget his relatives in his hometown.
One of Justin's nephews, upon learning that his uncle had become the commander of the Guards, came to his uncle, and Justin's nephew was justinian I, who would later become famous.
Eastern Roman Guards
Since he had no heirs, Justin was very fond of his nephew, and he was deeply illiterate, and after his nephew Justinian arrived in Constantinople, he arranged for him to go to receive an aristocratic education, and Justinian did not live up to his uncle's trust and tirelessly received various educations in Constantinople. By 518 AD, Emperor Anastasia I of the Eastern Roman Empire had died without appointing an heir.
When Justinian heard the news, he immediately went to persuade his uncle Justin to seize power. At that time, Justin had a group of Guards soldiers who were very loyal to him, assisted by these soldiers and nephew Justinian
At the age of sixty-eight, Justin successfully became the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, known as Justin I.
Statue of Justinian
In this way, Justin, who was born as a shepherd, became the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, but Justin did not know how to govern the country at that time, and could only entrust his nephew Justinian to govern this huge empire, and he himself was only responsible for the issuance of some formal signatures and orders. However, when Justin first signed, there was a ridiculous problem, and when the ministers handed the documents to Justin for signature, Justin whispered to the ministers:
"I wasn't educated when I was a kid, and I didn't know how to write my name."
An emperor who could not even write his own name was very rare in the history of the world. Prokobi, a historian of the Eastern Roman Empire, also recorded this, writing in his book "War Record":
"Justin I was born poor and illiterate, could not even write his own name, and every time he encountered a document that required a signature, Justin I could only print his name on the document through a seal."