Monday: Finished Notes On Ancient Rome
Tuesday: Ancient Rome Group Test Part 1
Wednesday: Ancinet Rome Group Test Part 2
Thursday:
Friday:
Notes
Ancient Rome
- The Fall of the Roman Empire
- Historians generally agree that the end of the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD) marked the end of two centuries of peace and prosperity
- Three Main Causes for the Fall
- 1) Internal problems and conflicts
- 2) Separation of the Roman Empire into the East and West
- 3)Outside Invasions
- Diocletian Splits the Empire-285 AD
- Diocletian-was a strong ruler that brought law and order back to the Empire
- He believed that the empire had grown too large and too complex for one ruler
- He divided the empire into two
- Greek-speaking East (Greece, Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt)-Byzantine Empire
- Latin-speaking West(Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain)
- He took the eastern half for himself and appointed a co-ruler for the West
- Constantine
- Constantine- took control of the western part of the Roman Empire in 312 AD and also took control of the eastern part in 324 AD
- United the empire during his reign and moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium(330 AD), changing the name of the city of Constantinople
- Huge walls were built around Constantinople to protect it from barbarians
- After his death, the empire was split in two again
- Today the city is known as Istanbul
- The Byzantine Empire would at until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks took the area over
- Multiple Causes
- Political
- Office seen as burden, not reward
- Civil war and unrest
- Division of empire
- Moving of capital to Byzantium
- Social
- Decline in interest in public affairs
- Low confidence in empire
- Disloyalty, lack of patriotism, corruption
- Contrast between rich and poor
- Decline in population due to disease and food shortage
- Economic
- Poor harvests
- Disruption of trade
- No more war plunder
- Gold and silver drain
- Inflation
- Crushing tax burden
- Widening gap between rich and poor and increasing impoverished Western Empire
- Military
- Threat from northern European tribes
- Low funds for defense
- Problems recruiting Roman citizens; recruiting of non-Romans
- Decline of patriotism and loyalty among soldiers
- Political
- Immediate Cause of Fall
- Germanic tribes moved into the Roman Empire due to the Huns moving into their territory around 370 AD
- The Germanic tribes attacked and took over areas all throughout the empire and eventually sacked Rome itself in 410 AD
- The Huns
- In 370 AD, the Huns moved into Europe from Central Asia and battled the Germanic tribes
- In 444 AD, under Attila, the Huns invaded both parts of the Roman Empire
- The Huns attacked over 70 cites
- Couldn't get past walls of Constantinople
- Invaded Rome in 452 AD but failed
- Attila the Hun died in 453 Ad and so did the Hun's power
- The Last Roman Emperor and the End
- The last Western Roman emperor was Romulus Augustulus, a 14 year old
- He was ousted by German forces in 476 AD and Rome fell
- The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) continued and flourished until the Ottoman Turks took them over in 1453
- After Rome fell, Europe fell into the Dark Age from around 500-1500 AD
- Legacy of Rome
- The Latin Language
- The basis of many future languages- French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian
- Many English words have their root in Latin
- Roots and aqua ducts
- Import Roman Laws
- All persons had the right to equal treatment under the law
- A person was considered innocent until proven guilty
- The burden of proof rested with the accuser rather than the accused
- A person should be punished only for actions, not thoughts
- Any law that seemed unreasonable or grossly unfair could be set aside
- Roman law served as a basis for the law of many European countries in the future as well as the United States
- The Latin Language
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