About this episode

This episode continues the story of Justinian II's misfortunes and his unexpected exile.

Part 1 of the podcast told the sad story of how some shocking misjudgements on the part of Justinian saw him dragged to the Hippodrome where a man with a pair of pliers cut off his nose, cut out his tongue. But in a misjudgement every bit as big as Justinian’s instead of putting him in a sack and throwing him in the Bosphorus his successor exiles him to the Crimea. I mean everyone knows you can't be emperor unless you are bodily intact so there is no chance he is coming back is there? Is ther...

People in this episode

Host: Russell Hogg

Topics covered

• Justinian II
• Byzantine history
• exile
• political misjudgment
• historical narrative

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Return of the Emperor (Justinian II - part 2)

Places: Crimea, Bosphorus

More episodes of Subject to Change

• Mutilated and exiled (the Emperor Justinian II - part 1) · April 20, 2026 · 47 min
• Buckingham: the most hated man in England · March 31, 2026 · 1h 18m
• YEAR ZERO: Jonathan Clements on the First Emperor of China · March 10, 2026 · 1h 20m
• The Big Hop of 1919 · February 17, 2026 · 1h 16m
• Martin Luther, serfdom and the German Peasants’ War · January 26, 2026 · 1h 5m
• World War I: The surprising victory of 1918 · January 5, 2026 · 1h 8m

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