The long decline of the Western Roman Empire was caused by the accumulation of the many obstacles that stood in their way over time. At first the Roman Empire was thriving. It was the biggest empire at the time and it expanded at an incredible speed. Their military and leadership capabilities were magnificent. When confronted by the Roman military their enemies were better off giving up and not even trying; it wasn’t worth it. In time, however, the Roman Empire’s golden age expired, they stopped conquering and internal drawbacks began to appear. The once flourishing Roman Empire began to face many problems, like military incapacity, the growth of Christianity, and unemployment, all of which contributed in a different way to the decline of the Empire.…
When Justinian became emperor in 527, he wanted to build a new Rome by incorporating the ancient Roman Empire. He made Constantinople the capital of the Byzantine Empire and kept the Roman culture along with the Greek culture for more than a thousand years. Justinian helped rebuild the Roman Empire by the many contributions he gave to the empire; he was able to rule a well-structured empire.…
There were many reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Each document in this essay explains a different reason. Some causes were: political, economic, social, and military differences and problems. Basically, the problem was that the gap between the rich aristocrats and the poor serfs got bigger and bigger; the rich got richer as the poor got poorer. Also, when something grows, it always falls back down. In Document 1, an excerpt from a book was taken out. According to the authors, the basic problems facing the Western Roman Empire came from the people that gave up devotion to the old civilization and didn't believe that it was worth saving. Why should they care about their land if they weren't allowed to take part in government say, they couldn't form groups to protect themselves, and were even excluded from their own army? The practically jobless people realized that their cities were slowly falling, but no one bothered to stop their decline; it was something that had to happen. The loss of popular support to the oppressive government, increased government corruption, division of the empire, and internal power struggles were some political causes that led to the fall of Rome. In Document 2, two causes for the fall of Rome were: the large size, and the introduction to Christianity. Because the Empire grew too large, it became uneasy to control. It was inevitable for the fall to occur, no matter how much anyone tried. Jesus' introduction to Christianity also started a change. The clergy (priests) helped change the moral values of society. It no longer mattered much, and military power was buried or thrown away. The rich's wealth was taken away and given to charity (poor). In Document 3, the Muller's explanation for the decline was an economic issue. As the Empire grew stronger, so did economy. When the Empire started to decline, business ceased and there was little progress, so that also crashed along with the empire itself. Slavery caused another…
In 330 CE the Roman emperor Constantine made the city of Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire.Throughout Constantine's reign the Roman Empire was unified but soon after his death in 337 the empire was once again divided. In 476 AD the Roman Empire fell; however, Byzantine continued to survive. During 527-565 CE Justinian ruled the Byzantine Empire and was highly praised. Justinian throughout his reign attempted to reunite the Roman Empire and was greatly successful. As a result, Justinian did not develop a unique Byzantine Empire instead he recreated Rome through following Roman laws, leading similarly to previous emperors, and by continuing to have Christianity as an official religion.…
Walter Goffart is a historian of the later Roman Empire and early Middle Ages. He specializes in research on the barbarian kingdoms of those periods. He is currently a senior researcher and lecturer at Yale University. The article by Walter Goffart is about Rome, Constantinople, and the Barbarians. However, Constantinople isn’t mentioned as often throughout the article as Rome and the Barbarians are. The article is trying to prove that the barbarians and Christianity had a major role in the fall of Rome (Goffart 275).…
How did the Byzantine empire differ from the Western Roman Empire? The Byzantine Empire was different in many ways from the Western Roman Empire, in that the leader of the Byzantine Empire has more power, not only does he rule the kingdom, he also was head of the church. Another difference between the two empires is, wile the western empire still spoke Latin, the peoples of the Byzantine Empire spoke Greek. There were many differences between the religious practices of both empires but the largest few being that they preached in Greek, the priests in the churches could also marry unlike the Western Empire. The churches in the Byzantine Empire additionally, created large mosaics that they used to convey their image of God.…
Recently a man named John Cohn from T.E.C. (Time Exploration and Co.) took a trip in time back to the Black Sea in 335 CE, home of the Byzantine Empire. He had a lot to say about his trip and about the time period he was lucky enough to witness. Cohn states that the Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the Roman Empire, and began around 330 CE. Here is some more of what he said during our interview: “The Empire was generally concentrated around the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The time when the Byzantine Empire started was soon after Emperor Constantine took over. Constantine was a very important man in the history of the Empire, and reigned from around 306 CE to 337 CE. In 330 Constantine found the city of Byzantium, which was later renamed…
Great response! I agree with your point in regards to Justinian wanted to gain power by building a beautiful church. He was very careful as to want he did in order to gain dominance over the Empire's religious affairs. You stated that " By building this new church, Justinian strengthened his dominance over the Empire’s religious affairs". I agree with this statement, Justinian wanted to gain control over the Empire and what better way then by gain the favor of the Empire's religious affairs. Again, great…
conclusion. Use evidence from at least four documents in your essay. Support your response with relevant facts, examples, and details. Include outside information.…
The decline of China and Rome both shared similar economic strife in that they were both subject to barbarian and nomadic invasions, therefore having to spend large amounts of money on frontier defense; however, they differed in that the Han Empire collapsed in part due to the high taxes imposed on the peasant class resulting in a large peasant rebellion, such as the Yellow Turbans, while in Rome tax collections was in danger of abandonment as residents of the empire were few in number and in financial difficulty. In addition, the two empires were similar socially because of large epidemics, diseases, and plagues that caused a population decrease. Also, both experienced a cultural decay in intellectual creativity and innovations. Differences appear in that China shared common culture, such as the Chinese script, while Rome was more fragmented causing a less severe fall in China than Rome. Politically, the falls of both…
Between 500 BCE and 500 CE, the Roman civilization experienced changes both politically and culturally. Firstly, Rome’s government transitioned from a Republic to an Empire. Later, that empire was split into two parts; east and west. In terms of changes in culture, it was impacted by the shift in religion, as the Romans shifted from polytheism to monotheism. Despite all the changes, Rome still remained culturally diverse.…
From C.A. 300 CE to 476 CE Rome began a steady decline to its collapse. Some historians disagree with this and have other theories. One of the other theories is that the Roman Empire did not collapse as the Eastern Empire did not collapse until “Fall of Rome at Constantinople in 1453.” The base of this theory is that the Eastern Empire became the Byzantium Empire, however it was no longer the Roman Empire as there were no longer any Roman Emperors. Another theory by Peter Wells is “The Roman Empire “fell” only in the minds of people who had a particular and limited view of what the Roman Empire was and who understood events such as Alaric’s capture of Rome in A.D. 410 as marking its end.” Wells argues that the change was extremely gradual and continued well past 476 CE. While Wells theory is more valid, the empire still did not exist after 476 CE.…
After Basil II died, “it was followed by a period of decline during which in its foreign policy Byzantium lived on the prestige won in the previous age and at home gave free play to all the forces making for disintegration.” According to Ostrogorsky, the “breathing space was not spent in conservation and consolidation,” but it was a nice break time, although the empire had some “heroic achievements” and had a peace time. According to Ostrogorsky, “the ineffective successors of Basil II were not capable of carrying on the struggle against the feudal magnets.” “The economic and social structure of the Empire underwent a radical change.” “The landed aristocracy had won the game and the only question which remained was which particular section…
Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian the Great, was one of the most powerful women ever known to Byzantine history. She rose from the humblest of beginnings to become one of the most influential and great of individuals. As Justinian wrote in one of his laws, she was “our most pious consort given us by God.” As a result of her reverence for God, she understood how to rule the empire in such a way that reflected who she had been given authority from. She sought to shape the reforms of Justinian and to defend the rights of women, as well as to back Justinian up in every way possible, which is evident in the role she played in saving Justinian’s empire during the Nika Revolt. Because of the way she handled political affairs in Justinian’s empire, it can be said that she, being a very powerful and influential individual, ruled the Empire rather than Justinian.…
Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the transitional period during which the Roman Empire 's east and west divided. In 285, the emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305) partitioned the Roman Empire 's administration into eastern and western halves. The borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Justinian I (r. 527–565), the Empire reached its greatest extent after reconquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean coast, including north Africa, Italy, and Rome itself, which it held for two more centuries. During the reign of Maurice (r. 582–602), the Empire 's eastern frontier was expanded and the north stabilized. However, his assassination caused a two-decade-long war with Sassanid Persia which exhausted the Empire 's resources and contributed to major territorial losses during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. In a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs.…