The Roman Empire
Today’s Goal:
• Explain the reasons for the fall of the
Roman Empire and its legacies.
Crises in Rome – the End of the Pax Romana
• Disruption of trade
– Invaders, pirates threatened travel
• Lacked gold/silver
– Rome no longer expanding
• Meager harvests
– Overworked soil, destroyed farmland
• Decline of military
– Mercenaries
– Christianity did not encourage war
• Loss of patriotism
– Lack of Roman unity, poor conditions
Effects of Crises
• Coined more $ to fight economic
downturn
– Caused inflation instead (loss in value of $
along with higher prices)
• Food shortages led to decline in
population (less soldiers)
• Diseases spread
• Gov’t raised taxes
Emperor Diocletian
• How to fix army?
– Doubled size of Roman army
• How to fix inflation?
– Set fixed prices for goods
• How to give more prestige to Emperor?
– Claimed to descend from the gods, ceremonies for
himself
• How to control the size and complexity of the
empire?
– Divided empire into east (Greek-speaking) and west
(Latin-Speaking)
Constantine
• Disorder after death of Diocletian
• Constantine (same guy who converted to Christianity &
made it approved in the Edict of Milan) unified Empire
again
– Moved capital from Rome to Byzantium in east
– Location was key for trade &
defense
– City changed name to
Constantinople
• Imperial buildings similar to
Rome
• Massive walls
After Constantine
• Empire divided into east and west again
• Invasions by Barbarians
– Germanic peoples were pushed into Roman lands
– Huns (Attila the Hun)
• Powerful chieftain, attacked and plundered Roman cities
• Could have conquered Rome, but failed due to famine &
disease
• Last emperor = Romulus Augustulus
– Ousted by German forces
• Eastern empire becomes Byzantine Empire
• Western empire crumbles & divides
Legacies of Rome
• Greco-Roman Culture
– Classical
– Mixture of Greek, Hellenistic, & Roman
– Used Greek language, architecture,
philosophy
– Adapted, combined, and created new styles
from Greek & Hellenistic
• Used Roman art & literature to convey
Roman values of strength, permanence,
solidarity (gravitas!)
Legacies of Rome
• Roman art for practical purposes
– Public education!
– Sculpture
– Bas-relief
(images project
from flat background)
– Mosaics (pictures
made from tiles)
Legacies of Rome
• Latin was key for later culture
– Official language of Roman Catholic Church
– Adopted by different peoples, became
French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian,
Romanian (Romance languages)
– More than ½ of English words have Latin
basis
Eureka!
Accio: Latin "I summon."
Legacies of Rome
• LAWS!!!
– Equal treatment
– Innocent until proven guilty
• Accuser has burden of proving guilt
– Punished only for actions, not thoughts
– No unfair, unreasonable laws
Legacies of Rome
• Technologies/advancements
– Aqueducts (clean water to
cities)
– Baths
– Coliseum (use of arches)
– Dome (i.e. Pantheon)