Transcript Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Getting Back to Glory
• Any small school item may be use as your game
piece
• Use coin as dice
– Heads move forward 2 spaces
– Tails move forward 4 spaces
• Each time a player lands on circle draw a “Glory
Game Card” and follow the instructions
• Complete “What Really Happened” WS as you are
playing the game
– Worksheet is due at the end of class
Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire
The End of the Pax Romana
• In 180 Marcus Aurelius died his death marked
the end of the Pax Romana
– Over the next 300 years the empire slowly
declined
• The peace of Roman depended on one
emperor following another without violence
– Military commanders began to challenged
emperors
– Civil wars broke out more frequently
The Imperial Crisis
• The years 235-248 are called the Imperial
Crisis
– Rome was torn apart and split into pieces
• Economic problems
– Civil wars created massive economic problems
– Emperors tried to get the money they needed for
war by making coins with less gold
– War make trade dangerous
• Foreign invasions
– During this period
Rome’s foreign enemies
were also becoming
more dangerous
– The empire’s size made
it difficult to defend the
borders
• Germanic tribes (people who lived across the
empire’s northern borders)
– Made up of Franks, Vandals, and Goths
– Germans raided Roman territory more often
during the imperial Crisis
• Romans called the Germans barbarians (people who
did not share their culture)
– Many Germans adopted parts of Greco-Roman
culture
The Late Empire
• When Diocletian became leader in 284 the
empire recovered from the crisis
• Diocletian
– Ruled the whole empire
– Sent troops to restore peace to frontier regions
– Persecuted Christians
– Divided the empire into two halves
• West ruled by Maximian
• East ruled by Diocletian
• Constantine
– Converted to Christianity
– Edict of Milan permanently
established religious
toleration for Christianity
in 313
– In 324 he began work on a
new capital for the eastern
half in what is now Turkey
• Old Greek city called
Byzantium
• When Constantine died is
was called Constantinople