"Quid possit antiquitas nostris legibus abrogare?" - Political propaganda and practical politics according to Justinian I in light of imperial legislation and antique historiography

Justinian's relation of political propaganda and practical politics will be treated on the basis of four questions: 1. What is Justinian's relationshi p with the tradition of the Roman Empire like in his legislation? 2. Which consequences does he take in his laws? 3. How effective are these measures according to his own opinion? 4. What do his contemporaries and later histo rians think of his legislation and politics in view of "renovatio"? The ide a of Justinian as a great restorer that many scholars have is highly proble matic. In his legislation Justinian is rather ambiguous what Roman traditio n is concerned: on the one hand he recommends a revival, on the other hand he not only carries out a revision but reorganizes it completely. In his ow n opinion he is an innovator. And he thinks it goes without saying that hum an nature demands touching up or even changing laws completely all the time . Thus his legal measures reflect his split comprehension of tradition: imp rovements and innovations, but the attempt to restore, too. It is a reflect ion of his own judgement that especially some of those steps modelled on th e past proved inadequate and had to be cancelled after some time. His conte mporaries as well as later historians accept Justinian's view of himself as an innovator. In that there is no difference between "intention" and "real ity", between imperial purpose and impact on those concerned. However these authors assess Justinian's measures as more or less disastrous.