Eunuchs were prominent figures in T&J era Byzantium, and the most notable by far was the general, Narses. But for those whose only touchstone for eunuch representation has been the character, Varys, from the HBO hit series Game of Thrones, ...

In a total antique PR disaster, the Justinianic Plague a.k.a. the bubonic plague a.k.a. the world's very first pandemic reduces the Roman Empire's population by about half and reverses some pretty ossified norms — sound familiar? We meet three ...

A huge swath of the world goes dim for a year and a half after a mysterious haze covers Eurasia's skies. The abrupt dip in climate creates some pretty ideal conditions for the bubonic plague. Meanwhile, T&J set out to restore the Roman Empi...

The Nika Riots leave Constantinople a tabula rasa for Justinian's masterpiece cathedral, the Hagia Sophia. Although, not without petty rivalries, starchitects and a shrewd Hebrew king's influence along the way. 

To move forward, we must first look back ... to the early days of T&J's being crowned empress and emperor, where a confluence of unfortunate policies — plus, a flawed hanging — cause the couple to come scarily close to losing everything. Th...