#CHARIOT RACES ROMAN EMPIRE CODE#
The law code was also religiously important as the Romans were believed to be "chosen by God", it being a symbol of justice. The Roman legal code had a popular image as the biggest distinguishing feature of the civilized Romans as compared to " barbarians" ( Latin: barbari). Justinian was also reducing the power of both teams, the Greens seeing this as further imperial oppression akin to the reforms in the civil service, while the Blues felt betrayed. The many nobles who had lost their power and fortune when removed from the smaller, less corrupt civil service joined the ranks of the Greens. John and Justinian had also reduced spending on the civil service and combated the corruption of the civil service. Justinian and two of his leading officials, John the Cappadocian and Tribonian, were extremely unpopular because of the high taxes they levied, the corruption of the latter two and John's cruelty against debtors. The Blues and the Greens responded by demanding that the two men be pardoned entirely. Facing this, he declared that a chariot race would be held on January 13 and commuted the sentences to imprisonment. Justinian was nervous: he was in the midst of negotiating with the Persians over peace in the east at the end of the Iberian War and now he faced a potential crisis in his city. But on January 10, 532, two of them, a Blue and a Green, escaped and were taking refuge in the sanctuary of a church surrounded by an angry mob. The murderers were to be executed, and most of them were. Relatively limited riots were not unknown at chariot races, similar to the football hooliganism that occasionally erupts after association football matches in modern times. In 531 some members of the Blues and Greens had been arrested for murder in connection with deaths that occurred during rioting after a recent chariot race. The imperial forces and guards in the city could not keep order without the cooperation of the circus factions which were in turn backed by the aristocratic families of the city these included some families who believed they had a more rightful claim to the throne than Justinian. They frequently tried to affect the policy of the emperors by shouting political demands between races. They combined aspects of street gangs and political parties, taking positions on current issues, notably theological problems or claimants to the throne. The team associations had become a focus for various social and political issues for which the general Byzantine population lacked other forms of outlet. Emperor Justinian I was a supporter of the Blues. These were the Blues ( Veneti), the Greens ( Prasini), the Reds ( Russati), and the Whites ( Albati), although by the Byzantine era the only teams with any influence were the Blues and Greens. There were initially four major factional teams of chariot racing, differentiated by the colour of the uniform in which they competed the colours were also worn by their supporters. The ancient Roman and Byzantine empires had well-developed associations, known as demes, which supported the different factions (or teams) under which competitors in certain sporting events took part this was particularly true of chariot racing.