Justin I

So legend goes, the Emperor Anastasius, shortly before he died, was curious to know which of his three nephews would be his successor. He invited them to dinner and arranged for there to be three couches, with a note saying "REGNUM" under a pillow of one of them. Two of the nephews decided to occupy one couch and the one with the note remained unoccupied. After much praying, it was revealed that his successor would be the man who first entered his bedchamber the next day. That man turned out to be Justin, Commander of the Excubitors.

Justin was an illiterate Thracian peasant and his wife Lupicina had been a slave. He had been a supporter of Anastasius, championed the 'Blues' faction (see Anastasius biography) and leant towards the Monophysites. His nephew, Justinian probably engineered his elevation. It was Justinian who, during Justin's reign, negotiated a reconciliation with the Papacy after 35 years and who celebrated his own Consulship in 521 with the most lavish games in the Hippodrome that Constantinople had ever seen.