Preserving Roman Culture: Justinian's Code
Justinian's code written in Latin.
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Emperor Justinian appointed a committee to create a uniform code of law based on Roman Law. These experts dropped outdated laws and rewrote others to make them clearer. The new code was the Justinian Code. But although they spoke Greek, Byzantines thought of themselves as part of the Roman cultural tradition. Byzantine students studied Latin and Greek ,and Roman literature and history. In this way, the east preserved Greek and Roman cultural traditions. In the former Western Empire, the Germanic peoples blended Roman culture with their own.However, they lost much of the scientific and philosophical knowledge of the Greeks and Romans.
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Religion and government.
The pope claimed authority over Christian emperors and kings. This authority allowed the Roman Catholic Church to influence government