This was a pretty lousy year at the onset of the Dark Ages, but I don’t know I could call a year during Justinian’s reign the worst ever. Hagia Sophia opened the next year.
If he'd have banned chariot racing *before* the Nika Riots, his reigh would look a lot better to me. He had very able generals and a good army, and managed to reconquer a good bit of the lost portions of the Roman Empire, but he overtaxed and overspent and didn't come up with any innovations to revolutionize the economy. And as Sean Connery might say to Trebec, his wife was a whore.