Nika Riots (532): The Revolt That Nearly Toppled Justinian

The Nika riots were a violent uprising in Constantinople in January 532 that nearly overthrew the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Starting at the chariot races in the Hippodrome, the normally hostile Blue and Green factions united, burned much of the city centre, demanded the dismissal of hated ministers and proclaimed a rival emperor. The revolt ended when imperial troops trapped and killed tens of thousands in the Hippodrome, and from the ashes Justinian built the new Hagia Sophia.

Background: the circus factions

Chariot racing was the most popular entertainment in the late Roman world, and in Constantinople the Hippodrome, beside the imperial palace, held tens of thousands of spectators, perhaps as many as 100,000. Races were organised by factions named after their team colours. By the sixth century two dominated: the Blues and the Greens.

The factions were more than sports clubs. They employed performers, staged ceremonies, and had young, often unruly supporters who wore distinctive hairstyles and clothes and sometimes fought in the streets. Emperors watched the races from the kathisma, a royal box connected to the palace, and the Hippodrome was one of the few places where crowds could shout demands directly to their ruler.

Justinian had long favoured the Blues, while his empress Theodora, whose family had been rescued by the Blues as a child, shared that loyalty. But as emperor he tried to curb faction violence from both sides. Earlier emperors had faced serious faction riots too, notably Anastasius I, who in 512 had to face a hostile crowd in the Hippodrome after rioters tried to proclaim a rival emperor.

Causes of the revolt

Several grievances fed the explosion. Justinian’s wars with Persia and his ambitious government were expensive. His praetorian prefect, John the Cappadocian, collected taxes ruthlessly and was widely hated, as was the jurist Tribonian, accused of selling justice. Many members of the old senatorial aristocracy resented the low-born emperor and his ex-actress wife.

The immediate trigger was an act of judicial severity. After a riot, the city prefect Eudaemon had several faction members convicted of murder. On 10 January 532 seven were sentenced to death, but at the hanging the scaffold broke and two men, one Blue and one Green, survived. Monks carried them to sanctuary in the church of St Laurentius, where soldiers kept guard.

What happened

On 13 January, at the races, both factions repeatedly called on Justinian to pardon the two men. He did not answer. Towards the end of the day the Blues and Greens joined in a single cry, “Nika!”, meaning “Win!” or “Conquer!”, the shout normally used to cheer charioteers. That evening the crowd attacked the city prefect’s headquarters, freed prisoners and started fires.

On 14 January the rioters demanded the dismissal of John the Cappadocian, Tribonian and Eudaemon. Justinian gave way and replaced all three, but the concession did not calm the city. Belisarius, recently returned from the Persian front, led troops against the crowd but failed to restore order.

Over the following days, fires raged through the ceremonial centre. They destroyed the cathedral of Hagia Sophia, the church of Hagia Irene, the Chalke gate of the Great Palace, the Senate house, the Baths of Zeuxippus and the Hospice of Samson, killing patients inside. Fighting continued in the streets, and Justinian, unsure of the palace guard, remained inside the palace.

The rioters were already looking for a new emperor. A crowd went to the house of Probus, another nephew of Anastasius I, intending to proclaim him, but he had left the city; in their anger they set fire to his house. Justinian, suspicious of the senators sheltering in the palace, sent several of them home, among them Hypatius and his brother Pompeius.

On Sunday 18 January Justinian appeared in the Hippodrome holding the Gospels and offered an amnesty. Some of the crowd jeered him. The rioters then seized Hypatius, a nephew of the former emperor Anastasius I, carried him to the Forum of Constantine and acclaimed him emperor, before taking him to the imperial box in the Hippodrome.

Theodora’s speech and the massacre

Inside the palace, Justinian and his council debated flight. According to Procopius, Empress Theodora intervened, arguing that a ruler should not live as a fugitive and quoting an old saying that royalty is a good burial shroud. Historians debate whether the speech is authentic, but the decision to stay and fight is not in doubt.

Justinian’s chamberlain Narses went into the Hippodrome with money to win back the Blues, reminding them of Justinian’s past favour and pointing out that Hypatius was linked to the Greens. Some Blues left. Then Belisarius and Mundus, a general commanding Herul troops, entered the Hippodrome from different gates with their soldiers and attacked the crowd trapped inside.

The slaughter was enormous. Procopius says more than 30,000 people were killed; John Malalas and the Chronicon Paschale give figures of about 35,000. The numbers cannot be verified and may be inflated, but they indicate a massacre on a scale unusual even in the violent politics of the period.

Aftermath

Hypatius and his brother Pompeius were arrested. Procopius suggests that Hypatius had been an unwilling candidate, forced by the crowd. Both were executed on 19 January and their bodies thrown into the sea. Senators thought to have supported them were exiled and their property confiscated, although Justinian later restored some of it to the families.

Within weeks Justinian began rebuilding. On 23 February 532, work started on a new Hagia Sophia, designed by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, which was dedicated in December 537 (see Hagia Sophia). The Chalke gate, the Senate house and other public buildings were also rebuilt on a grander scale.

The dismissed ministers soon returned. John the Cappadocian was back in office by late 532 and Tribonian a little later. Justinian’s authority was now unchallenged at home, and in 532 he also concluded the Eternal Peace with Persia. That freed him to launch the expedition against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa in 533 (see Vandalic War).

Key people

• Justinian I: emperor since 527; his indecision early in the revolt nearly cost him the throne.
• Theodora: empress, credited by Procopius with persuading him not to flee (see Empress Theodora).
• Belisarius: general who led the troops in the Hippodrome massacre.
• Mundus: general of Gepid origin who led a second force into the Hippodrome.
• Narses: palace eunuch who used gold and persuasion to divide the factions.
• Hypatius: nephew of Anastasius I, proclaimed emperor by the crowd and executed afterwards.
• John the Cappadocian and Tribonian: unpopular ministers whose dismissal the rioters demanded.

Sources and legacy

The Nika riots are unusually well documented. Procopius of Caesarea, secretary to Belisarius, was probably in Constantinople at the time and gives the fullest narrative in his History of the Wars. The chronicler John Malalas, a contemporary, and the seventh-century Chronicon Paschale add a day-by-day account with dates and places. The Chronicon Paschale also preserves acclamations exchanged between the crowd and the emperor, and the ninth-century chronicler Theophanes records a remarkable dialogue between the Greens and an imperial herald in the Hippodrome, although historians disagree about whether it belongs to 532 or an earlier clash.

The sources differ on details, such as who first proposed Hypatius and how far the senators plotted the revolt. The historian Geoffrey Greatrex has argued that Justinian’s own early concessions and wavering helped turn a riot into a revolution.

Much of the setting survives in outline. The site of the Hippodrome is now Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul, where the Egyptian obelisk erected by Theodosius I and the bronze Serpent Column from Delphi still stand along the line of the old racetrack. The revolt has also attracted novelists, including Robert Graves in Count Belisarius (1938).

Myths and facts

Myth: the Blues and Greens were political parties. Older historians sometimes linked the factions to rival classes or religious groups. Most modern scholars see them as entertainment organisations whose supporters could be mobilised by politics but had no fixed programme.

Myth: the riots were purely a spontaneous sports riot. The revolt began with a popular grievance, but senators opposed to Justinian seem to have tried to exploit it, which helps explain how quickly a rival emperor was found.

Fact: the death toll is uncertain. Ancient figures of 30,000 to 35,000 should be treated as round estimates rather than counts.

Timeline

• 10 January 532: Faction members hanged; two survive when the scaffold breaks.
• 13 January 532: At the races Blues and Greens unite under the cry “Nika”; fires begin.
• 14 January 532: Justinian dismisses John the Cappadocian, Tribonian and Eudaemon.
• 14–17 January 532: Street fighting; Hagia Sophia and much of the city centre burn.
• 18 January 532: Justinian’s amnesty offer fails; Hypatius proclaimed emperor; massacre in the Hippodrome.
• 19 January 532: Hypatius and Pompeius executed.
• 23 February 532: Rebuilding of Hagia Sophia begins.

Why it matters

The Nika riots were the gravest threat Justinian ever faced at home. Their violent suppression secured his throne, cleared the ground for Hagia Sophia and allowed him to launch the reconquest of the West, making January 532 a turning point of his reign.