The Nika Riots

"The Nika Riots" ranks 4th in the list of shocking facts about the Byzantine Empire. Chariot races were a significant issue in Byzantium, but you can't fully understand how serious people took them unless you talk about the Nika riots. The riots lasted a full week in the year 532 AD. We've seen riots on television and the potential chaos that occurs when ordinary people interact with police authorities or groups of others with different ideas, but nothing in contemporary history compares to what happened to spark riots. or, to put it another way, 30,000 people perished and half of the city was burned down in that one week.

By the time they had divided the Chariot teams into two groups, the Greens and the Blues, commitment to one faction or the other was terrifying. The Emperor would frequently choose a side not because he preferred one side over the other, but to ensure that one team supported him so that the two could not combine forces and topple the empire. Unfortunately for Emperor Justinian, he saw no need to favor one side over another. He was attempting to remove party politics from the functioning of society, but the general public did not view it that way. Everything combined to create a state of instability, including public upheaval caused by his unpopular policies and a war in Persia.

Members of the Blues and Greens beg Justinian to spare the lives of several of their colleagues who were sentenced to death for a prior riot. When Justinian declined, the crowd sang 'Nika,' which indicated triumph and was normally directed at charioteers. When the fuse was lit, the riot erupted. Rioters set fire to the city after releasing all of the convicts from a nearby jail. They imprisoned Justinian inside his palace, and both sides worked together to appoint a new emperor. Only by the cunning intrigues of three of Justinian's generals, all of whom were barbarians with no allegiance to either group, were they able to create strife between the Greens and Blues and slay everyone who disagreed.