Transcript The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

History of the Ancient and
Medieval World
“The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”
Edward Gibbon (1776*)
Walsingham Academy
Ms. Shaver
Room 104
*"Another damned, thick, square, book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?"
(William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, upon receiving the second volume from the author, 1781)
Assignment 2
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Read text, pp. 175-177.
Define: mercenaries, Huns, 378 and 476 C.E.
Summarize the multiple causes of Rome’s
decline in the West by completing the graphic
organizer on the next slide.
Reminders:
1. Draft 1: Multimedia Project due 1/12
2. Final Multimedia Project due 1/19
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Electronic and hardcopy (covers)
1-page letter, hardcopy
Political Causes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Economic Causes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Decline of Rome
(in the West)
Social Causes
1.
2.
3.
Military Causes
1.
2.
3.
In-Class Activities
The Exhausted Empire
1. According to Salvian, how did Romans living in areas
overrun by the barbarians feel about the barbarian
conquests? Surprising?
2. What are 4 problems mentioned?
3. What does the image at top of text, pp. 173 suggest about
Roman power?
Historians have offered many theories for Rome’s demise in the West.
Consider some of the views offered on your sheet.
1. Which ones may be added to your graphic organizer?
2. Which ones need additional “arrow(s)”? Create and complete.
“The Decline”: Problems of Success
(and the theories)
•Decadence and Disease
•Size and complexity
•Role of the “Other” (barbarians everywhere)
•Christianity: Being Number One
•Imperial Overstretch
Decadence and Disease
•The problems of wealth: luxury, escapism,
pleasure seeking
•Fewer Romans: Falling birth rate
•Ill Romans: e.g. lead poisoning, epidemics.
Size and Complexity
•Maintaining far-flung infra-structure (roads,
aqueducts)
•Problems of communication and
coordination
Imperfect Solution = Division (Diocletian)
late 3rd century AD
“The Other”: Barbarians in our midst
•Were all barbarians the same?
•What impact did they have?
•Can we manage without them?
Attila
“Rome did not fall, it was transformed.”
Barbarian Invaders
Christianity: Being Number One
•4th Century: Triumph of Christianity
(from 5 to 30 million believers)
•The Price of Success: Controversies and
Heresies
Imperial Overstretch
•Can cultures become exhausted? What
happens when many are “bored?”
•When things come unstuck: retreat and
division
•Retreat from Britain (407 A.D.)
•Portions of empire lost to Roman control
•What happens when there seems to be a
loss: of will, of confidence, of shared vision?
“The Fall”: Defining Moments
(in the West!*)
•410 A.D. Barbarian, Alaric, sacks Rome
•476 A.D. Barbarian (Odoacer) deposes last
“Roman” Emperor
*The Roman Empire lives on for another 1000 years in the East!
It is known as the Byzantine Empire.
Conclusion: Did Rome “fall?”
By the 5th century, something big and
centralized had indeed broken up in the West.
But Rome’s culture and many of its images
lived on-in religion, languages, customs, law.
Rome did not “fall;”
it morphed into a new world
order in western Europe.
Assignment 3
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Study the map, pp. 178-9 along with PP
slides 9-10. (Good Audio Summary : Follow interactive link.)
Answer the 3questions, Thinking
Critically.
What is the purpose of the timeline on
pp. 179? According to the timeline, what
do the dates 410, 455 and 476 tell us
about Rome?
How does Jerome describe the Huns?
Assignments 4-5
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Project Preparations
Book Club Sign-up
Check your knowledge. Follow link.
Reminders:
1. Draft 1: Multimedia Project due 1/12
2. Final Multimedia Project due 1/19
–
–
Electronic and hardcopy (covers)
1-page letter, hardcopy