Rome Fades Away

2 Emperors

DIOCLETIAN

- he rules from 284 - 303

- it's cool to persecute Christians

- Rome needs a big army (400,000 strong)

- Rome needs a big government (20,000 officials)

CONSTANTINE

- rules from 306 - 337

- it's cool to BE a Christian

- conversion to Christianity

- via a cross in the sky (conquer by this!)

- 313 - his Edict of Milan proclaims

- freedom of worship

- built a new capital in the East

- Byzantium, soon to be known as Constantinople

LIFE IN THE FOURTH CENTURY

 - country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection

 - new farming system: peasants work for elite landlords on large farms

 - peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by the landlords

 - paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land, in exchange for endless back-breaking work (such a deal!)

 - landowners hold local power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire

 foreshadowing feudalism

THE WESTERN EMPIRE CRUMBLES

- Rome's power is decreasing, while nomadic barbarians gain power

- Western Empire is too poor, begins to be neglected

- Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe

- Visigoths take over Spain, and actually capture and loot Rome itself in 410

- Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean

- other barbarian tribes:

            Ostrogoth's in Italy

            Franks in Gaul

           Angles and Saxons in Britain

END OF AN ERA

from the beginnings...

            500 BC - the monarchy is abolished

            450 BC - the Twelve Tables are established

...through the glory days...

            44 BC - end of the line for Julius Caesar

            27 BC - 180 AD - the Roman Peace (Pax Romana)

to the bitter end...

-          constant fifth century invasions by barbarian tribes left the western Roman Empire shattered and crumbling

-          the last emperor was a teenage boy installed in 475 by his father

-          barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without bothering to kill him