Transcript Chapter 6 Ancient Rome and Early Christianity

Section 5
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 Political and economic causes led to the decline of the
western Roman Empire
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 Inflation—a rise in prices
corresponding to a
decrease in the value of
money
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 Diocletian
 Constantine
 Theodosius I
 Alaric
 Attila
 Odoacer
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 Constantinople
 Today, known as Instanbul
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 During A.D. 200s, Germanic tribes began to overrun
the western half of the empire
 Germanic tribes were always a threat to the Empire
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 The five good emperors
had brought peace and
prosperity
 Marcus Aurelius died in
A.D. 180 and “Pax
Romana” ended
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 Emperor Commodus, Marcus Aurelius son, spent large
sums of money on his own pleasures
 Bankrupted the treasury
 His troops killed him
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 From A.D. 192 to A.D. 284, army legions installed 28
emperors only to kill most off in rapid succession—
most couldn’t’ measure up
 Rome’s armies were busier fighting each other that
they were defending the empire’s borders; Germanic
tribes repeatedly and successfully attacked the empire
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 Political instability led to economic decline,
leading the government to mint more coins and
sparking inflation (printing too much money
devalues the money—it has much less worth)
 Also, there was less volume of precious metals in
the coins
 Merchants raised prices to get more of the coins
 Warfare disrupted production and trade, and
destroyed farmland forcing many out of business
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 To keep the army on the field, government had to keep
increasing wages
 To raise money, they taxed the farmers/landowners
 Landowners abandoned their lands because they
couldn’t meet expenses
 Result—worsening food shortage
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 During the late A.D. 200s and early A.D> 300s, the
emperors Diocletian and Constantine struggled to halt
the empire’s decline; their efforts succeeded in the east
by only briefly delayed the Germanic tribes’ invasion
of Rome in the west
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 General Diocletian came to power by slaying the
murderer of the preceding emperor
 He realized the empire was too large for one person to
oversee and divided the empire into east and west
provinces
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 Edict of Prices
 Froze wages
 Set prices for goods
 Penalty of death if defied
 Didn’t work—citizens sold goods through illegal trade
 Stopped farmers from leaving their lands
 Workers had to remain at the same job their entire
lives—couldn’t avoid taxes
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 Came to power in A.D. 312
 Reinforced Diocletian’s reforms
 Chained workers to keep them on the farms
 Sons had to follow fathers in their jobs
 IN A.D. 330 he moved the capital of the eastern empire
to the Greek town of Byzantium and re-named it
Constantinople
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 During Theodosius’s rule, the western half of the
empire suffered further internal problems; in A.D. 395,
according to a provision in Theodosius’s will, the
eastern and western parts of the empire became
separate empires—the Byzantine and Roman empires
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 Beginning in the late A.D. 300s, Germanic people
migrated into the Roman Empire in search of a
warmer climate and better grazing land, a share of
Rome’s wealth, and an escape from the Huns—
nomadic invaders from central Asia
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 Germanic warriors lived mostly by raising cattle
and farming small plots; the only unifying factor
among these Germanic groups was their language,
for which the Romans labeled them barbarians—
their language sounded like babbling to the
Romans
 They were poor, even compared to Romans
 Warrior groups were composed of warriors, their
families and a chief
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 During the late A.D. 300s and 400s, a variety of
Germanic groups extended their hold over much
Roman territory; the most important of these
groups, at first, were the Visigoths, who managed
to capture Rome in A.D. 410 before retreating into
Gaul
 Alaric, their chief, led his people into Italy, capturing
and sacking Rome
 After his death, they retreated into GAul
 Others included the Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks,
Angles, and Saxons
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 Led by their chief, Attila, the Huns raided the eastern
empire—from Central Asia
 In A.D. 451 the Romans and the Visigoths combined to
fight and stop the Huns in central Gaul
 Attila turned his attention where he plundered larger
cities. Eventually plague and famine took their toll in
the Huns who retreated after Attila died in A.D. 453
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 With Italy weakened, nothing was left to stop
Germanic tribes from taking over
 Vandals raided and thoroughly sacked Rome
 German soldier Odoacer (OH-duh-way-suhr)
seized Rome and overthrew Emperor Romulus
Augustulus and named himself king of Italy
 Because Odoacer called himself king and never
named a substitute emperor, people refer to A.D.
476 as the year in which the Roman Empire fell
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 Caused by a complex interaction of events
 The new Germanic rulers accepted the Latin language,
Roman laws, and the Christian church
 In the Byzantine Empire, aspects of Roman culture
were gradually supplanted by Hellenistic culture
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