Question

Which of the following is an accurate statement about Justinian I?

He was born to noble parents.

He succeeded in conquering Gaul.

He supported the building of the Hagia Sophia.

He rarely took advice from the empress.

Answer 1

He rarely took advice from the empress

Answer 2

I still got it wrong....weird.

Answer 3

The third answer is the one I'd go with, that he supported the building of the Hagia Sophia.

Or rather, the rebuilding of it. The Hagia Sophia we see today was the third, and final, church built on the same site. Justinian wanted it be even greater and larger than the previous version that was destroyed.

The reason I'd go with that is that Justinian wasn't actually born to nobility -- he was technically born to a poor family, but he was brought into the capital by a relative who was part of the Imperial guard where he was educated.

Though the Byzantine empire expanded to its greatest extant under him, thanks to his generals, he didn't go so far as to conquer Gaul.

And he was actually quite receptive to his empress, Theodora, who has a reputation for being politically savvy in court as well as on the streets. It was also Theodora that convinced Justinian, who wanted to flee the capital with his court during the Nika Revolts, to stay. Justinian did just that and eventually crushed the Nika Revolts. Ruthlessly.

Answer 4

Actually, the empress, Theodora, was his MOST trusted advisor, because she was his wife and she was an intelligent female. (I'm taking the same course, :))