Rome Fades Away

Rome Fades Away
What a difference a few centuries make 

• Diocletian 
• He rules from 284-303
• It is cool to persecute Christians 
• Rome needs a big army (400,000 strong)
• Rome needs a big government (20,000 officials) 
• His solution was to divide the Roman Empire in half (Diocletian and Divide)
• 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

The Struggle of the Peasants 

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
• Rich people living on the land and having surfs who will work from them. Matters more who your lord is... 

The Western Empire Crumbles

• Rome's power is decreasing, while nomadic barbarians gain power
• Western Empire is too poor and begins to be neglected 
• Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
• Visigoths take Spain, and actually capture and loot Rome itself in 410 
• Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean 
• Other barbarian tribes:
• Ostrogoths 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 - 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