Callinicus [pl], the praepositus sacri cubiculi, seems to have been the only witness to his dying moments, and claimed that Justinian had designated Justin, his nephew, as his heir in a deathbed decision.

Justin accepted after the traditional token show of reluctance, and with his wife Sophia, he was escorted to the Great Palace of Constantinople.

[11] The Excubitors blocked the palace entrances during the night, and early in the morning, John Scholasticus, Patriarch of Constantinople, crowned the new Augustus.

[16] Under the pretext of not understanding the fragile human nature: Mankind has nothing more admirable than marriage: from it stem children and successive generations, the peopling of villages and cities, and society’s best bond.

But as it is difficult for this to be maintained for all mankind – in such a large population, it is outside the realms of possibility that some unreasonable enmities should not supervene – we have thought it appropriate to devise some remedy for this, in particular where the consequences of pettiness have escalated so far as to engender real, irreconcilable hatred between the partners.

[18] The contemporary John of Ephesus notes a rumour that his successor Tiberius II discovered piles of money Justin and Sophia gathered, possibly meaning that his reign generated a surplus.

In 569, he allowed them to nominate their own governors, and if the nominees pleased the court, eliminated their appointment fees, resulting in less imperial oversight of the provinces.

This move upset the delicate balance of power in the Pannonian Basin, since the Avar elites were forced to seek new sources of wealth to maintain their position and client networks.

Justin began to cement an alliance with the Turks, the new Central Asian power that threatened both the Avars and Persia from the mid 6th century.

After two disastrous campaigns, in which the Persians under Khosrow I overran Syria and captured the strategically important fortress of Dara, Justin became inflicted with a severe mental illness.

After forming an alliance with the Sassanid ruler Khosrow I to defeat the Hephthalite Empire, Istämi, the Göktürk ruler of the Western Turkic Khaganate, was approached by Sogdian merchants requesting permission to seek an audience with the Sassanid king of kings for the privilege of traveling through Persian territories in order to trade with the Byzantines.

[24] Maniah, a Sogdian diplomat, convinced Istämi to send an embassy directly to Constantinople, which arrived in 568 and offered not only silk as a gift to Justin, but also proposed an alliance against Sassanid Persia.

[29] On 7 December, according to Theophylact Simocatta, Justin remained sufficiently clear-minded to make an eloquent speech as he passed the crown:[30][31] You behold the ensigns of supreme power.

As a man, I have sinned; as a sinner, even in this life, I have been severely punished: but these servants (and he pointed to his ministers), who have abused my confidence, and inflamed my passions, will appear with me before the tribunal of Christ.

Love your people like yourself; cultivate the affections, maintain the discipline, of the army; protect the fortunes of the rich, relieve the necessities of the poor.