CH. 2 – ANCIENT
GREECE AND ROME
The Parthenon, Athens
The Coliseum, Rome
Text pgs. 48-77
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE (PGS. 51–65)
Civilization in Greece developed
along a different pattern than
other ancient contexts. Greece is
made up of mountains and narrow
valleys, so communities and citystates were isolated from one
another.
 The long, convoluted sea coast and
innumerable islands in the Aegean
Sea influenced ancient Greeks to
focus on trade and fishing rather
than large-scale agriculture.
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Greek triera
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
A. MYCENAE
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“Agamemnon” Mask
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Reconstruction of Mycenae
Indo-European peoples entered the
Greek mainland around 1900 BC. By
1600, they had established fortified
cities and centralized kingships.
The most powerful of these cities was
Mycenae, which managed to rule the
others from 1400 to 1200 BC.
Mycenaean culture may have spread
to the island of Crete and its capital at
Knossos.
The Mycenaean city-states waged a
long, destructive war against the
Greek city of Troy in Asia Minor (see
slide 2.1.J).
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
B. THE DARK AGE
For unknown reasons, the
Mycenaean culture began to
collapse, and by 1100 BC,
population and food
production had dropped to
unsustainable levels. What
followed was a Dark Age,
from 1100 to 750 BC.
 Near the end of the Dark Age,
the poet Homer wrote the
Iliad and the Odyssey, epic
poems about the Trojan War
(see slide 2.1.J).
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Achilles and Ajax
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
C. THE POLIS
Greek social and political life centered around the
polis, their word for a city-state. A polis featured an
acropolis, or fortress, situated on top of a hill, and
an agora or open market.
 The polis represented the community, however large
or small. Citizens of the polis (adult males only) had
rights, but also responsibilities. The philosopher
Aristotle suggested that citizens were owned by the
state.
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Acropolis at Athens
Aristotle
Agora and theatre
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
PREVIEW
Sparta
 Athens
 Pgs. 54 - 55
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2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
D. SPARTA
The polis of Sparta was near the southern tip of the
Greek mainland (the Peloponnesus).
 The state was an oligarchy, ruled by two kings, who
served as military leaders, in conjunction with 28
elected elders.
 A committee of five other men (the ephors)
managed education and other domestic issues.
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2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
D. SPARTA
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The Spartan military was justly famous in the ancient
world. Spartan boys trained from the age of 6 to 20, and
fought in the army until they turned 60. They gained the
right to vote as veterans, at 30.
Because men spent nearly all their time training or
fighting, Spartan women had a large degree of freedom
and opportunity.
The oligarchy was fearful of new ideas, so they
discouraged visitors and forbade their citizens from
travelling.
Battle of Thermopylae
King Leonidas
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
E. ATHENS
Athens is the largest city in Greece.
It is situated in an area of
productive farmland on the Attica
peninsula, and overlooks key straits
in the western Aegean Sea.
 In its earliest era (around 700 BC),
Athens had a king. By the beginning
of the 600s, he had been replaced
by an oligarchy of the wealthiest
landowners. Adult male citizens had
a vote, but it didn’t count for much.
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Athenian Acropolis
Archon Megacles
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
E. ATHENS
In 594 BC, the Athenian people
threatened civil war over debtslavery and political inequality. The
oligarchs appointed Solon to reform
the governmental system. He
cancelled debts and freed those
who had been enslaved.
 Still unhappy with their position in
508 BC, the Athenians turned to
Cleisthenes. He created a council
of 500 citizens to propose laws.
The general assembly of all adult
male citizens would then vote. This
was the first direct democracy.
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Solon
Cleisthenes
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
PREVIEW
Classical Greece
 Greek Culture
 Pgs. 54 - 59
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2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
F. CLASSICAL GREECE
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The Classical period of Greek history lasted from 499 to 338
BC. It began with a war, and ended with another.
In 499, the Greek states were threatened with invasion by the
Persian empire under Xerxes. The various cities and islands
united under the leadership of Athens and Sparta.
At the Battle of Thermopylae, a small force of perhaps 11,000
Greeks, including the 300 Spartans, confronted a Persian
army at least ten times its size. The Greeks were able to hold
the invaders long enough for the Athenian fleet to destroy the
Persian supply ships.
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
F. CLASSICAL GREECE
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Following the defeat of the Persians,
Athens asserted leadership over the other
Greek states. The politician Pericles (in
power from 461 to 429 BC) asserted
Athenian cultural dominance and
attempted to establish direct democracy
all over Greece.
Resentment of Athenian control led to a
split with Sparta and a series of conflicts
called the Peloponnesian Wars (431-405
BC).
Athens lost the contest for leadership, but
all the Greek states were weakened by the
fighting, leaving them open for invasion.
Pericles
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
G. GREEK CULTURE
The Classical period saw a
tremendous elaboration of the
arts, including sculpture, drama
and philosophy. Greek art of this
period is still the standard of
beauty and creativity today.
 Classical Greek sculpture and
architecture stress balance and
harmony. Statues depict the
human form as a thing of
graceful beauty. Buildings
express perfect geometry and
harmony of lines.
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2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
G. GREEK CULTURE
The Classical Greeks invented
Drama as we know it. The early
works, such as Aeschylus’s
Oresteia trilogy, are tragedies
based on myths. They were
meant to show that a noble, but
flawed hero must strive to do
good, even if he is doomed to fail.
 Later, comedy and satire were
added to the theatrical
repertoire, and the art form
evolved to include multiple
characters with dialogue.
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Amphitheater at Davros
Oedipus Rex
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
G. GREEK CULTURE
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Plato
Aristotle
The great thinkers of the Classical
period examined the world through
reason and logic.
Socrates believed that all
knowledge was already present in
the mind, it only needed to be
brought to the surface by
questioning (the Socratic method).
Plato, a student of Socrates, came
to distrust democracy. He theorized
a perfect society in his book, The
Republic.
Aristotle, a student of Plato, was
interested in classifying everything.
He observed that a constitutional
form of government is best.
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
HOMEWORK
Answer each question in a half-page response with
complete sentences. Be accurate, be specific, be
complete. Due tomorrow.
 1. Describe what Pericles means by democracy. How
is Athenian democracy similar to our system of
government? How is it different? (pg. 50)
 2. Give a brief summary of the Iliad. What was it
about? Who are the main characters? Who wrote it?
(pg. 53)
 3. Describe the life of a Spartan boy. How was it
different from the life of an Athenian boy? (pgs. 5657)
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2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
PREVIEW
Alexander the Great
 The Hellenistic Era
 Pgs. 59 - 60
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2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
H. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
The Greek states were exhausted
after the Peloponnesian Wars,
and in no condition to defend
themselves. So when Philip II of
Macedon invaded in 338 BC,
there was nobody to stop him
from conquering all of Greece.
 Philip was assassinated not long
after his triumph at the battle of
Chaeronea, and the throne of his
Macedonian empire passed to his
twenty-year-old son Alexander.
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Philip II of Macedon
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
H. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
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Alexander carried on his father’s ambition for conquest. In
seven years (331 BC), he had conquered the Persian
empire and Egypt. In four more years (326 BC), he had
crossed the Indus river into India.
After more than a decade of fighting, Alexander’s men
refused to go any further. He returned to Babylon to plan
another campaign.
Having conquered the known world by the age of 32,
Alexander died from a combination of exhaustion, old
wounds and alcohol consumption. Or possibly poisoning.
Alexander at the battle of Issus
Bucephalus
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
I. THE HELLENISTIC ERA
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Ptolemy I of Egypt
Within 25 years of Alexander’s death, his
empire had split into four separate
kingdoms, each headed by an ex-general:
Macedonia under Antigonus, Egypt under
Ptolemy, Syria under Seleucus and
Pergamum under Atalus.
Each of the Hellenistic rulers brought
Greek and Macedonian immigrants into
his new kingdom as administrators,
artisans and soldiers.
These colonists remade their new homes
in the image of Athens, with Greek-style
architecture, sculpture and other arts.
This is how the culture of Greece came to
be spread across the Mediterranean and
western Asia.
2.1 ANCIENT GREECE:
PREVIEW
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
 Pg. 60
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2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
J. HOMER’S ILIAD AND ODYSSEY
 The most important written
works of Greek civilization are
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
They are epic poems that relate
the history of the Trojan War.
 The Iliad follows the war itself,
focusing on the heroic (and
sometimes childish) exploits of
Achilles, the semi-divine Greek
warrior. The tale ends with the
Trojan Horse and the
destruction of the city.
Achilles defeats Hector
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
2.1: ANCIENT GREECE:
J. HOMER’S ILIAD AND ODYSSEY
The Odyssey is a sequel, which
covers Odysseus’s ten-year trip
home across the Aegean Sea.
He meets the Cyclops, the
sirens, and Circe the witch, and
he outwits them all.
 Homer wrote his poems at the
end of the Dark Age, around
750 BC. They are two of the
most influential written works in
all human history. References
to events of the Trojan War can
be found throughout nearly
3000 years’ worth of world
literature.
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
PREVIEW
Rome and the Rise of Christianity
 Early Conquests
 First Punic War
 Pgs. 66 - 67
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY
(PGS. 66-76)
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As early as 1500 BC, Indo-European
peoples began colonizing the Italian
peninsula. One of these groups, the
Latins, established a village among the
seven hills of Rome around 753 BC.
Early Rome (753-509 BC) was ruled by
a series of kings, some of whom were Romulus and Remus
Etruscan invaders rather than Latins. In
509, the Roman people overthrew the
last king and established a republic.
A republic is a form of limited
democracy where citizens elect
representatives to manage the affairs
of state. In Rome, the elected group
was known as the Senate.
Tarquin
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
B. EARLY CONQUESTS
The early Roman republic only
controlled the city of Rome. The rest of
the peninsula was populated by other
Latin tribes, Etruscans, and Greek
colonists.
 From 508 to 261 BC, the Romans
systematically conquered all the other
groups in Italy through aggressive
warfare and lopsided treaties.
 The Romans set up a confederation in
which only Latins had full citizenship,
but other groups were allowed to
govern their own territories.
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Rape of the Sabines
An Etruscan Lady
2.2 ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
B. EARLY CONQUESTS
Though Rome now controlled all of Italy, there was
an even more powerful nation in the Mediterranean
area: The Carthaginians.
 Centered in the north African city of Carthage, the
Carthaginians were originally Phoenicians (Latin:
Punic). They were expert sailors and traders who
controlled an empire that included the north coast
of Africa, Spain, Sardinia, Corsica, and half of Sicily.
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
B. EARLY CONQUESTS
Rome fought three wars
against Carthage for
dominance of the western
Mediterranean. These are the
Punic Wars.
 First Punic War (264-241 BC):
At first a local conflict in Sicily.
The Romans were defeated at
sea in 260 BC, but radically
remade their navy and beat
Carthage repeatedly. Rome
took control of Sicily, Sardinia
and Corsica.
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Roman victory at Mylae
The Roman “Corvus”
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
HOMEWORK
 Answer each question in a half-page response
with complete sentences. Be accurate, be
specific, be complete. Due tomorrow.
 1. Read the “Special Report” section on pgs. 6265. Was there really a Trojan War? If so, how was
it different from the events described by Homer?
 2. How did Rome go from a city-state in central
Italy to controlling the entire Mediterranean
region? Who did they conquer and how? (pg. 67)
 3. How did the split between plebeians and
patricians prevent Rome from becoming a true
democracy? (pg. 68)
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
PREVIEW
Second and Third Punic Wars
 The Roman State
 Struggle for Equality
 Pgs. 67 - 68
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
B. EARLY CONQUESTS
Second Punic War (218-201 BC):
Carthaginian general Hannibal
invaded Italy through the Alps
mountains and defeated the
Romans in battle. He failed to
break up the confederation.
 At the same time, Rome invaded
north Africa. Roman general Scipio
Africanus won at the Battle of
Zama, forcing the enemy within the
walls of Carthage. Rome seized
most of the African coast and all of
Spain.
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Hannibal crosses the Alps
Scipio Africanus
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
B. EARLY CONQUESTS
Third Punic War (149-146 BC):
Carthage, reduced to a city-state,
started a war with its neighbor
Numidia. Rome, allied to the
Numidians, took the excuse to
destroy Carthage completely.
 During the Punic Wars, Rome also
fought wars of conquest against the
Hellenistic states of Macedonia,
Greece and Pergamum. By 129 BC,
Rome was the only major power in
the Mediterranean.
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Rome burns Carthage
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
C. THE ROMAN STATE
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Roman citizens were divided into two
orders. The patricians were wealthy
landowners who could hold public
office. The plebeians were small
farmers or craftspeople who could
vote but not hold office.
The government was headed by two
consuls who served one-year terms
and led the Roman army. The consuls
were advised by the Senate,
composed of about 300 patricians.
Praetors were elected judges who
heard cases between citizens. Later,
praetors were chosen to hear cases
between non-citizens.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
D. STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY
The plebeian order resented the
privileged position of the patricians.
Uprisings and riots were common.
In 471 BC, the council of the plebs
was created, as was the office of
tribune, to protect the rights of
plebeians.
 In 287 BC, the council of plebs was
given the right to make legislation
for all Romans. In theory, the orders
were equal, but in practice, a group
of patricians and a few plebeian
families still dominated the Senate.
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The Gracchus brothers
Tribune hears plebeians
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
PREVIEW
End of the Republic
 Imperial Rule
 Pgs. 68 - 70
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
E. END OF THE REPUBLIC
Powerful senators struggled with
one another to control the Roman
government. Generals raised
private armies and fought for
domination of the countryside.
 In 82 BC, General Lucius Cornelius
Sulla Felix declared himself
dictator of Rome. He resigned
shortly after, but for the next 50
years, conspiracies and coups
threatened to destroy the Republic.
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Sulla: Dictator of Rome
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
E. END OF THE REPUBLIC
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Gaius Julius Caesar
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Cleopatra VII
In 49 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar defeated fellow
consul Pompey the Great in the Battle of
Pharsalus. He marched his army into Rome and
took control of the state as dictator. Upon his
assassination in 44 BC, a civil war broke out
between Caesar’s stepson Octavian and his
lieutenant Marc Antony.
Marc Antony secured the support of Egypt by
marrying their queen Cleopatra, but their forces
were defeated by Octavian at the Battle of
Actium in 31 BC. Antony and Cleopatra
committed suicide rather than be captured.
Octavian established himself as the permanent
dictator of Rome. The senate gave him the title
“imperator” (emperor) and the official nickname
“Augustus” (revered one). He ruled from 31 BC
until AD 14. The age of the Republic was over.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
F. IMPERIAL RULE
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After Augustus, the other emperors of his
dynasty (the Julio-Claudian line) were
increasingly unstable and self-destructive.
Tiberius (AD 14-37) was an old man when he
came to the throne. Spent most of his time at
his pleasure resort on Capri.
Caligula (AD 37-41) was completely insane.
He made his horse a consul and declared war
on the sea.
Claudius (AD 41-54) avoided assassination by
pretending to be mentally handicapped.
Paranoid and secretive.
Nero (AD 54-68) attempted to assassinate his
mother several times. May have burned Rome
so he could build a mansion in the wreckage.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
F. IMPERIAL RULE
After a period of conflict and conquest (the Year of
Four Emperors and the Flavians), a family of
effective rulers took the throne of Rome. Nerva,
Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus
Aurelius, collectively called the “five good emperors,”
inaugurated the era of Pax Romana (AD 96-180).
 The good emperors created programs to help the
poor and built some of Rome’s greatest monuments.
 Under their rule, the power of the Senate was
weakened in favor of the emperor and appointed
officials.
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
PREVIEW
The Economy
 Slavery
 The Immortal City
 Roman Culture
 Pgs. 70 - 72
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
G. THE ECONOMY
At its height under the good
emperors, the Roman Empire covered
more than 3.5 million square miles
and governed over 50 million people.
 While the nation was at peace, the
people were prosperous. The Appian
Way allowed for safe trade within the
empire. Silks and rare spices were
imported from China and India.
 The majority of the population lived by
farming, either on small plots or as
workers on huge patrician estates.
City dwellers practiced a trade or
joined the army.
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The Appian Way
A Roman villa
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
H. SLAVERY
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The Roman economy was dependent on slavery. Foreign slaves
were brought into Italy to fill virtually every kind of job. Slaves
worked as artists, servants, builders, craftsmen, tutors and
secretaries.
Some slaves had relatively comfortable lives. The more
specialized a slave’s skills were, the better they were treated.
Most earned wages, and often bought their own freedom.
The worst jobs for slaves were on agricultural estates or in the
salt mines of north Africa. Conditions were extremely poor and
the death rate was high.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
I. THE IMMORTAL CITY
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The city of Rome was an enormous urban
sprawl with a population over one million.
It was crowded, hot and dirty.
http://romereborn.frischerconsulting.com
/gallery-current.php
While patricians lived outside the city walls
in villas, the poor and middle class lived in
six-story tenements. These buildings often
caught fire or collapsed due to poor
construction.
The government provided the poor of
Rome with free food, spectacular public
buildings, and entertainment in the form
of gladiatorial games.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
J. ROMAN CULTURE
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From early on, the Romans were in love
with Greek art, literature and fashion.
Roman religion was a slight modification
of the Greek myths, and the patricians
preferred to speak Greek.
The greatest exponent of Roman culture
was the poet Virgil (70-19 BC), who wrote
his masterpiece the Aeneid as a sequel
to Homer’s Iliad.
The Romans contributed to the arts,
especially architecture, through technical
advancement. They used concrete and
precision design to create some of the
world’s most beautiful buildings and
monuments.
Trajan’s Column
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
PREVIEW
Early Christianity
 Christianity Spreads
 Pgs. 72 - 74
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
K. EARLY CHRISTIANITY
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The Second Temple
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In AD 6, Rome took the province of
Judaea from Syria. The Jews of Judaea
were used to being semi-independent,
and often rebelled against Roman rule. In
AD 66, civil war broke out. The Romans
crushed Jewish resistance and destroyed
the Second Temple.
During this time, several messianic
movements arose among the Jews. One
was focused on a young rabbi and
preacher called Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus’s message of peace and love was
very different from the militant preaching
of other self-styled messiahs. He
gathered a following and began to attract
attention from the Roman procurator.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
K. EARLY CHRISTIANITY
The Pharisees, a Jewish sect
intent on maintaining peace
with the Romans, thought that
Jesus might be another
troublemaker. They brought
him before the procurator
Pontius Pilate, who sentenced
him to crucifixion.
 Days later, followers of Jesus
claimed that he had risen from
the dead as the true messiah
of the Jewish (and later
Christian) people.
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
L. CHRISTIANITY SPREADS
At first, Christianity was an
exclusively Jewish movement.
The convert-apostle Paul was
the first to extend the new
religion to gentiles in the
Middle East and Asia Minor.
 The teachings of Jesus were
passed on orally to begin with.
Then, the letters of the
apostles were copied and
distributed to early churches.
Finally, by AD 100, the Gospels
were written down and
collected as the New
Testament.
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
L. CHRISTIANITY SPREADS
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Christian churches spread to all corners
of the Roman empire. The apostle Peter
visited Rome to spread Jesus’s
teachings.
The Roman authorities grew suspicious
of Christians because they refused to
worship the emperor as a living god.
Nero used the Great Fire (AD 64) as an
excuse to begin persecuting Christians
and executing them as traitors.
The emperors who followed Nero did not
harass the Christians nearly as much. By
the time of the good emperors,
persecutions had all but stopped.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
HOMEWORK
 Answer each question in a half-page response
with complete sentences. Be accurate, be
specific, be complete. Due tomorrow.
 1. Describe the stages of development of Roman
law. What features does Roman law share with
our legal system? (pgs. 70-71)
 2. What is Virgil’s Aeneid about? How did it
reflect Roman values? (pg. 72)
 3. What did the apostle Paul say about Jesus’s
death? How did this expand Christianity to all
people instead of only Jews? (pg. 73)
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
PREVIEW
Christianity Prevails
 Rome’s Long Decline
 Pgs. 74 - 75
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
M. CHRISTIANITY PREVAILS
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St. Augustine of Hippo
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Theodosius the Great
Persecution caused the early Christian
movement to band together and
organize themselves. Communities
were lead by their bishops, who also
oversaw the formation of the clergy.
In AD 313, Emperor Constantine
issued the Edict of Milan, which gave
Christianity legal protection from
persecution. At the end of his life,
Constantine was even baptized as a
Christian.
Under protection, the Church
expanded rapidly. Emperor
Theodosius the Great (AD 378-395)
declared Christianity to be the official
religion of Rome.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
M. CHRISTIANITY PREVAILS
Christianity’s emphasis on
compassion, love and peace
appealed to all levels of Roman
society, but it was especially
popular with the poor. The Church
taught that all people were
spiritually equal and everyone had
a chance to get into heaven.
 The patronage of the Roman
Empire helped spread the Gospel
to every corner of the
Mediterranean world. When the
empire eventually collapsed,
Christianity remained to preserve
civilization.
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Betgiorgis in Ethiopia
Missionary in pagan lands
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
N. ROME'S LONG DECLINE
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From the death of the last of the good
emperors (Marcus Aurelius in AD
180) until the ascension of Diocletian
in AD 284, the empire was torn apart
by civil wars and social unrest.
Diocletian proposed to solve Rome’s
problems by splitting the empire into
two states. One would have its capital
in Rome, the other in Byzantium.
Diocletian (AD 284-305) and one of
his successors, Constantine (AD 306337) sought to reform the empire by
adding to the state bureaucracy and
increasing the size of the military with
German mercenaries.
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
N. ROME'S LONG DECLINE
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While Diocletian and Constantine’s
reforms were successful, they were
extremely expensive. The tax base was
not increasing, so the economy
stagnated.
Constantine spent a huge sum of money
building his new eastern capital at
Byzantium. He created public
monuments, palaces and an
amphitheater. Eventually, the city would
be renamed Constantinople.
Following Constantine, there was a series
of short-lived and disastrous emperors
who drove the empire further into debt.
Hagia Sofia
Constantine the Great
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
PREVIEW
The Fall
 Pg. 76
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2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
O. THE FALL
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Not long after Constantine’s death in AD 337, a series of
events outside of the empire began that would eventually
destroy Rome.
The Huns of central Asia invaded west into Europe around
AD 370. They in turn put pressure on the Goths, a German
tribe in eastern Europe.
The Goths migrated into Roman-controlled territory in the
Balkans. In AD 378, they rebelled against Roman authority
and defeated the legions at the Battle of Adrianople.
Huns
Ostrogoths
Visigoths
2.2: ROME AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:
O. THE FALL
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The Romans were no longer to defend their
borders. The farthest outposts of the
empire were too difficult to protect. The
German troops Diocletian and Constantine
had added to the army turned traitor.
In AD 410, the Visigoths attacked and
looted the city of Rome. In AD 455, the
Vandals of Spain and north Africa sacked
the capital as well.
The final blow came in AD 476. The
Ostrogoth commander of the Roman army,
Theodoric, forced Emperor Romulus
Augustulus to surrender to him. Theodoric
declared himself king of Italy. The western
Empire was no more, though the eastern
half continued to exist as the Byzantine
Empire until 1453.
Ostrogoths loot Rome
Gothic coin