From Africanus

For centuries children of the West have been taught that sometime in the 5th century Rome "fell" and with it, the world fell into the Dark Ages. This is only partially true. The Western Roman Empire did fade but in the East, in the old city of Byzantium on the Bosphorus, the Romans would survive for a thousand years longer. From Africanus is a work of historical fiction set in this "other" Rome during the reign of Justinian the Great, the man known as'the Last Roman'. The story follows Valentinian Constans from boyhood to manhood and from the fishing village of Volerus to Constantinople, just as the Nikka Riots explode about him. The Riots started as a street protest and turned into a civil war aimed at removing Justinian from power and ultimately, putting to death once and forever the ancient Roman Empire.