Download Fall of the Roman Empire - Yeshiva of Greater Washington

Fall of the Roman Empire
Big Questions
• Why do great Empires fall?
• Did the Roman Empire actually fall?
– If so when?
• How could the Romans have better solved the
problems they faced?
Historians of Rome
• One of the first great history books was
written by Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) called
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
– Gibbon argued that the Roman Empire collapsed
due to Christianity
– Main argument: Roman’s lost their state religion,
which caused them to lose faith in the state it
upheld
• Decline of the pursuit of virtue, replaced with concern
for afterlife
Other arguments for why Rome fell
• Slavery: Romans became lazy due to overreliance on slaves. Could not handle new
challenges
• Invasion: Rome was destroyed by better
organized and more powerful barbarian tribes
• Corruption: Rome fell because its government
was too corrupt
• Insanity: Lead in Roman pipes led to mental
illness
Was there one reason why Rome fell?
• No:
– Rome fell due to a congruence of various
problems that all affected it together and were
often related
– These various problems became insurmountable
when taken altogether
Continuing questions
• Now historians wonder if Rome ever truly
collapsed completely
• There is no question that Rome faced a series
of crises that destroyed its political power
• Its cultural power, remained for centuries to
come
Problems facing the Empire
• Commodus (reign: 180-192) wastes Roman
money on gladiator games, antagonizes
Senate
• Killed when Senators hire wrestling coach to
strangle him
• After the short reign of Commodus the Empire
began facing several major problems
Civil War
• After Commodus’ death, Rome ruled by a
series of barracks emperors
– Roman generals who invade Rome, take the
throne, declare themselves emperor, then are
killed by the next general
– Rome experiences 20 Emperors in a 40 year
period
– Left large gaps in the defense of the Roman
borders
Example
• From 260-262 Rome had 12 separate
“emperors” vying for the throne, each briefly
holding it at one time or another
– Gallinus, Ingennus, Regalianus, Macrianus Senior,
Macrianus Iunior, Quietus, Piso, Valenus, Ballista,
Mussius Aemilianus, Aureolus, Celsus, Saturninus
Size
• Roman Empire had become too large to rule
from one city
– Problems of corrupt or rebellions Factors
– Unable to respond to threats in far corners
– Civil wars left Rome with few active legions
Example: The Reign of Septimus
Severus (193-211)
• Brought brief stability to Roman Empire during
the civil wars that followed Commodus’ death
– Used this to annex the Parthian Empire (Northern
Iran)
• While he captured it, he could never fully control it
• Rome would end up spending millions attempting to
pacify a region it did not need
Famine
• Throughout the 5th Century, Europe
undergoes a mini-ice age
– Temperatures drop significantly
– Summer and spring shorten leading to less time
for planting and growing
– Europe experiences widespread famine
Famine
• Ironically, it is the famine that saves Europe
from total destruction at the hands of the
Huns
– One of the motivating factors of Attila ceasing his
invasion of Italy was that there would be no food
to sustain his army
The Money
• Too much of the coinage was being
adulterated
– Mixed with lesser metals to create more coins
– Allowed Rome to make more money but
drastically lowered value of money
– Quick solution allowing barracks emperors to hire
more troops
Invasion
• Germanic and Eastern European tribes
invading and raiding Roman territory
– Roman army too busy fighting itself to stop it
Emperor Diocletian
• Diocletian assumed control after defeating the
former emperor’s son Carinus, who attempted
to unite barbarian tribes underneath him
– Diocletian played on the disunity of Carinus’ men
to separate and destroy them
– Stabilized northern border
• Tried to solve two problems: the stability and
size of the Empire
Emperor Diocletian
• Made his assistant Maximilian into a coemperor
• Gave Maximilian control of Rome, moved to
the city of Byzantium in Asia Minor
• Divided military into a tetrarchy
– Four military commanders including himself and
Maximilian which would control quadrants of
Empire
Great Persecution
• Diocletian targeted Christians to be imprisoned or
killed
–
–
–
–
Feared Christian efforts to convert Romans
Blamed fire in Imperial palace on Christians
Burned churches and scriptures
Punishments so harsh other Tetrarchs refused to carry
them out
• Diocletian becomes too wrapped up in rebellions
in Northern Africa to punish the rebels
Emperor Constantine
• Constantine takes over after Diocletian
abdicates
– When a King or Emperor voluntarily gives up his
throne
• Oldest of Diocletian’s sons
Constantine’s Reforms
• Finalizes Diocletian’s reforms by officially
splitting the Empire in half
– Made the Roman Empire two completely separate
entities instead of one Empire ruled by two
emperors
– Takes control of Byzantium, renames it
Constantinople
– Gives his brother control of Rome
• Was this the fall of the Empire?
Why Constantinople?
• Strategic: Strategically placed between
Europe and Asia
• Wealthy: Major stop on trade route
• Safe: Easy to defend, unlike Rome which has
been weakened by civil war
Constantine’s Conversion
• 313: Edict of Milan: Constantine declares that
Christians can follow their faith without fear of
persecution
• 375-380: Constantine converts to Christianity
– Claims he saw a vision before a battle
– More likely convinced by his mother who
converted first
Converting the Empire to Christianity
• Closes all temples and dismisses all oracles
• Replaces office of Pontifex Maximus with
Bishop of Rome (directly appointed by him)
– Gives Constantine greater control over religion
• Ends wasteful practice of sacrifice in the
middle of a famine
• Constantine takes a direct hand in the shaping
of the religion
Converting
• While Constantine did not make it a legal
requirement to convert for citizens ANYONE
serving the Imperial government had to be
Christian
– Meant that advancement in Roman society relied
on you converting to the new religion
– By 400 it DOES become required that all Roman
citizens become Christians
Holidays
• Replaces most popular Roman holidays with
Christian holidays on the same day
– Allows Romans to continue celebrating as they
always have
Council of Nicea
• Problem: Christianity has multiple branches, none
can agree on a single truth
– Brought about by the Marian Heresy
• Argued that all traces of Judaism including the Torah should
be excluded from Christianity
– Constantine calls a council of Church leaders
• Settles on a single Christian Bible
• Declares all other writings heretical
• Officially Breaks Christianity with Jewish traditions, including
keeping kosher
• Declares Bishop of Rome to be leader of Church named Pope
Council of Nicea
Religious Conflict
• Not all Romans gladly accepted the transition to
monotheism
• Julian the Apostate (361-363)
– Attempted to retake Persian territory lost to a
“barbarian” tribe known as the Sassanids
– Moved the capital from Constantinople to Antioch
– Reinstated all temples and oracles
• Ignored the very signs he reinstated when attacking Persia,
was killed (quite possibly by one of his own Christian
soldiers)
• Christianity restored by his successor Jovian
Military collapse
• Much of the Roman military moved to
Constantinople
• Rome left to hire mercenaries to defend itself
– Hired soldiers who fight for money
The Threat of Barbarians
• What is a barbarian?
Threat of Barbarians
• Barbarian originally comes from Greek
– It originally meant: Those who do not speak our
language
• Barbarian to the Romans meant those outside
the Roman Empire
The Huns
• Originally came from Northern China
• United by a war chief called a Kahn
– Greatest of these Kahns was Attila
• The Huns were masters of the Horse
– Developed stirrups which allowed them to ride
and shoot arrows at the same time
– Typically Hun would ride into battle with 6 horses
• Would switch when he ran out of arrows or spears
Attila the Hun
Attila the Hun
• Called “The Scourge of God” by the Romans
• Inherited various tribes of Scythia (central
Europe and Asia) from his father
– Organized them into a single army
The Huns
• By 451BCE the Huns had devastated Russia and
were raiding the Roman Empire
• Threatened Empire because they pushed many
other barbarian tribes to flee ahead of them into
Imperial territory
– Eventually would attempt to attack Italy itself
– Destroyed the Italian city of Aquileia so completely its
original foundation site could not be recognized
– Dissuaded only when the Pope (Bishop of Rome)
offered Attila a large bribe
Attila in Europe
• Did not invade into France only after Lombard
King offered his daughter to Attila and half of
his kingdom in exchange for peace
• Defeated Eastern Roman Armies at
Thermopylae and Utus
– Stopped only at the gates of Constantinople
Treaty of Margus
• The Romans, fully admitting that they could
not defeat the Huns in battle agreed to pay
tribute
– Offered 700 pounds of gold annually to the Huns
to keep them out of their territory
– Huns ultimately ignored this treaty, destroying
several Roman garrisons and spreading chaos
across the borderlands
Attila’s death
• On Attila’s wedding night to his Lombard
princess he got so drunk that he collapsed
• His nose bled profusely
– Left face down on his wedding bed, he suffocated
on his own blood
• Huns collapse into civil war between Attila’s
sons
The Goths
• Germanic speaking tribes from Northern
Europe
– Several different tribes including Vandals,
Ostrogoths and Visigoths
• Pushed out of territory by Huns
• Invaded Roman territory
– Took control of Hispania, and Northern Africa
The Goths
• Ostrogoths
– Eastern tribe that would be absorbed into Attila’s
horde
• After his death they struck out westward on their own
• Visigoths
– Rebels who escaped both Roman and Hun rule to
challenge the Empire
– Defeated and killed the Roman Emperor Valens at the
Battle of Adrianople
• Seen as the final defeat of the Roman Military in the West
The Vandals
• Oringally from Southern Poland
– Fled the Hun invasion southward all the way to
Northern Africa
– Resisted all Roman attempts to retake the
territory
• Took revenge by sacking Rome in 455CE
– Often portrayed as savages by Roman historians,
but were in fact master metal workers
Vandal Gold Foil Jewelry
The Franks
• Group of Germanic tribes that invade Gaul
• Take territory from Romans without a fight
• Rome acknowledges Frankish Kingdom in
357BCE
Goth Territory
Franks
• Franks begin building fortified castles to
protect their territory
The Sack of Rome
• Last Roman Emperor in the western Empire was
Romulus Augustulus
– In his teens when placed on throne by family
– Had very little power even in Rome
– Empire no longer had any effective control over its
former provinces
• Rome invaded by Visigoths led by Odoacer in 410.
– Last Emperor killed replaced by Odoacer as a King
• Pope endorses Odoacer (rather than be killed)
– Marked as the official end of the Empire in the West
The Last Roman Emperor
Was this the End of Rome?
• The Eastern Empire based around
Constantinople would survive for generations
more
• People in Western Europe continued using
Roman language and customs for another
hundred years
• Roman Church remains dominant religion
Last Question
• Can the fall of Rome teach us anything about
our own society?