After 450 years as a republic, Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar’s fall and the rise of its first emperor, Augustus. Initially, Rome was a prosperous, united empire. However, after becoming emperor in 284 AD, Diocletian soon realized that the Empire had grown too large for one to govern effectively. His solution was to divide power into a tetrarchy and share his title of emperor with Maximian, a military officer. Diocletian ruled the eastern half, which was greatly influenced by Greek culture, while Maximian ruled the western half of the Empire, which was mainly Latin. In addition, a pair of generals, Galerius and Constantius, was chosen as assistants and successors of Diocletian and Maximian (Ancient Rome). This system, however, …show more content…
He moved the capital from Rome to the eastern city of Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople. Yet 30 years after Constantine’s death, the Empire was once again divided. And in 476 AD, the Western Roman Empire ultimately collapsed and ended after a nearly 500-year run as the world’s greatest superpower (Andrews). On the other hand, the Eastern Empire, later known as the Byzantine Empire, further lasted and thrived for a thousand more years. Many military, economical, and political differences and factors contributed to the fall of only the Western Empire. The shortage of its military, the invasion and migration of barbarians, the over extension of its resources and boundaries, its unstable economy and infrastructure, great inflation and crippling taxation, corruption of its ruling class, and the lack of competent leaders all played a part in the Empire’s decline and fall that made a great mark in the history of human …show more content…
Generally, the East was more densely populated and urbanized for it consisted of older civilizations and the once-independent Greek city-states. It was also wealthier as it had more established trade routes, and valuable agricultural land that yielded high taxes. The East was also more developed and advanced. Its culture was rich and affluent, while science and technology also prospered (Lendering). The West, on the other hand, had its population spread out over a larger area and was less economically developed and urbanized. Moreover, the West had a large trade deficit with the East. The West purchased luxury goods from the East, but had no money to pay for in exchange. To make up for this shortage of money, the West’s government began producing more coins with less silver content, and this led to great inflation (The Fall of the Roman Empire). Constant wars and overspending also resulted in oppressive taxation that brought a large gap between the rich and the poor (Andrews). In addition, many of the wealthy even fled to the countryside to seek refuge from the taxmen. Moreover, the end of expansion of Rome in the second century eventually led to the shortage of the Empire’s supply of slaves and war treasures. And because Rome’s economy heavily depended on slaves, a labor deficit developed and the production of goods decreased. Barbarians also brought many problems to the Western Empire. These foreign tribes
Did Justinian impact life as we know it because he is such a great ruler, or is he just a follower who keeps trying to hold on to the loose threads of a fallen empire? Some might say that without Justinian, humanity is a step further back. Others may argue evermore that Justinian is a two-faced liar who you cannot trust (Doc. 2). Contrary to many beliefs, Justinian creates a new Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome that is influential to many different cultures, more advanced and educated than Rome, and more economically thriving than the Roman Empire.
While Rome was being ramp sacked from Germanic and other barbaric groups, the imperial power shifted to the eastern part of the Roman Empire, where the center city was Byzantium (Craig/Graham/Kagan/Ozment /Turner, 354, 2009). Between 324 and 330 BCE, Constantine the Great became emperor and rebuilt the city and renamed it after himself (Craig/Graham/Kagan/Ozment /Turner, 354, 2009). After Constantine died, power shifted to Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora in 527 BCE (Craig/Graham/Kagan/Ozment /Turner, 354, 2009).
Roman Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE as a continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. The characteristics of the empire led to the modern definition of “Byzantine,” which means “strangely complicated.” This was true, as in the Byzantine Empire was very chaotic, complex, and strange at times, but it was very massive and influential worldwide. The empire heavily influenced modern religion, laws, and engineering making it worthwhile learning about the empire.
Without these two empires, much of the Greek knowledge known today would not have existed. These two empires brought back into popularity much of Greek culture and philosophy. There are many similarities that should be compared between the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliphates.
In the year 330 Constantine founded a new imperial city in the east, which became known as Constantinople. Accompanying Diocletian's system of tetrarchy, the creation of this new city affirmed the separation of the Roman Empire into the east and the west. The Eastern Roman Empire held a series of advantages over the west both socially and economically. The Western Roman Empire was the weaker empire and a bad leadership and government along with attacks from barbarians led to the demise of the Western Roman Empire.
For a long period of time, Rome seemed like an unstoppable empire. It conquered the majority of the land surrounding it, including Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and many of its other neighboring countries. It seemed as though Rome would conquer the entire world, as it was the center of it, until it began to decline in 476 C.E. The very aspects that made it so successful were the ones that caused its collapse. Various political, religious, and economic reasons caused its downfall. The fact that the entire economy of Rome collapsed and money became worthless was a major reason for the empire’s collapse. In addition, the loss of a common religion and lack of efficient ruling in relation to its vast territory affected the empire. The Roman Empire did not become so successful in a short period of time, and so its decline did not just happen overnight. Over several years all of these different aspects together caused the fall of the Roman Empire.
During the Middle Ages, the politics and religious systems of the former western Roman Empire changed in many ways due to a number of events and interactions. One of the most important and defining events of this period was the rise of both Latin Christendom and the rise of the Islamic Caliphates. More specifically, is was the ensuing interactions between the two as both faiths struggled to establish their dominance. The rise of the heirs to the Roman Empire, Byzantium, the Caliphates and Latin Christendom, led to conflict and a more clearly defined and structured western world. This “new” western world was no longer simply divided along geographical and political lines, but was now demarcated by an additional principal characteristic:
Justinian was one of the most influential rulers of Byzantium. When he came into power in 527 AD, he inherited a civilization in disarray. Justinian had a positive impact on the Byzantine Empire. Most notably, he introduced an improved set of laws and conquered many surrounding nations, nearly restoring the former glory of the Roman Empire. In addition to these contributions, Justinian also made advances with the Christian Church and Byzantine architecture.
The Ottoman Empire were Muslims and included Hungary, Syria, Egypt, Bulgaria, and Albania, and they marched on land. The Ottoman Empire is said to have first appeared somewhere around the 1300’s, and can be related to the decline of the Byzantine Empire. They began conquering Christian lands and by the late 1600’s all Christians were afraid of the “terrible Turk”. It is no wonder that many other people were afraid of the Ottoman Empire since they seem to be really rather powerful and they conquered a lot of land. It was in the 1330’s when the Morroccan Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta passed through Constantinople and became impressed with the Ottomans who seemed to be gaining power rather quickly, he noticed that they had close to 100 forts and
What do Plato, Aristotle, mosaics, and icons have in common? They are all important parts of Byzantine culture, which spans the course of over 1,000 years, from the fall of Rome to the decline of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines were important facilitators of the Renaissance. The Byzantines preserved Greek and Roman traditions and created many of their own, which would have a great impact during the Renaissance.
Rome was massive. It is known to be the first city that held one million citizens. It was also strong. The army was huge, and Rome seemed invincible, but unfortunately, Rome started to molder. Political aspects, economical issues, deadly diseases, and ruthless foreign invaders all eventually lead to the fall of the seemingly undefeatable Western Roman Empire.
Within the last 200 years of the Western Roman Empire, the empire weakened and led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. By the end of Nero’s rule of emperor, revolts against the Praetorian Guard – the force of loyalists and guards of the emperor – was one of the first of many uprisings in Rome. These revolts led to civil wars between Eastern and Western Roman Empires. Although the Western Empire collapsed in 476 A.D., the Eastern Roman Empire survived until 1453 A.D.
Decrease in population made it more difficult to have a strong military. The army that was already intact was demanding payment which greatly weakened the budget of Rome. Collecting taxes became harder thus causes the economy to decline. This inevitably made it easy for the Germanic tribes to invade the Mediterranean. Constantine and Diocletian slowed down the rate of decline in Rome by allowing Christianity, trying to improve tax collection, and the creation of a second capitol in Constantinople. This only sped up the rate of decline in the western half of the empire, but strengthening the eastern half. The only surviving portion of the empire was now known as the Byzantine Empire with its capitol Constantinople.
The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history. At its height in 117 A.D.,it spanned from Iberia all the way to the Caspian Sea, covering over 5 million square kilometers. The Roman Empire left behind a vast legacy, consisting of art, architecture, and religion. However, like all empires, the Roman empire fell. Usually, when people think of the fall of the Roman Empire, they think of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, formed after Diocletian split the Roman Empire in 284 A.D. The three main reasons that the Western Roman Empire fell were economic problems, flaws in the military, and barbarian invasions.
As the Roman Empire shifted its center of power to the East, Rome lost much of the prestige and protection it had previously enjoyed. With Constantinople as the new seat of the empire, the West was left to stand alone, often defenseless.4 Barbarians attacked Rome in AD 410, and Rome found little help from Constantinople. With the Western Empire essentially abandoned, disease, poverty and instability were rampant. Many structures had fallen into disrepair, and famine ravaged the land. Most government officials had left Rome, leaving the churc...