Download rise of church, fall..

Impact of the Church in the late
Roman Empire
A. Church became the Moral authority
–
1. As the Roman republic started to
decline, many Romans turned to the
Roman church (became the Roman
Catholic) for guidance on moral
issues—right and wrong
2. At
this point the church started to
decree what people were
allowed and not allowed to do
according tro Christianity.
3. Since the church was followed in
almost every part of the Roman
empire, in a way the church “laws”
became more powerful than Roman
law.
B. Loyalty of the People
1. The Roman empire starts to
decline and fall apart, mainly due to
poor emperors and decisions that
those emperors made (wasting
money, losing wars, etc.)
2. So many people started to become
more loyal towards the church than
even to the Roman emperor.
3. This was because even though
the empire (with the emperor) was
losing power and presitge, the church
was going strong and stable.
C. Church as a unifying Force
1. during the decline and eventual
end of the Roman empire, Europe
and the Mediterranean world was
plunged into chaos and destruction as
barbarian tribes attacked from all
sides.
2. at this point the only stable
thing that all former Romans had
in common was the church,
making it one of the most
important things in most Roman
peoples lives.
Decline and Division of the Roman
Empire
A. Causes for the decline of the Roman
Empire.
1. Economic:
a.) the cost of defending such a
big empire became too great and
the Roman economy could no
longer support such a feat.
b.) Roman currency, which
was in wide use, became debased
(cheaper metals were mixed in) and
lost it’s value causing massive
economic problems
B. Military
1. Army membership started to
include invaders, resulting in decline
in discipline.
2. Basically the Romans made
deals with the people trying to invade
them, so the people would join the
Roman ranks which caused conflict.
C. Societal Problems
1. Moral Decay
2. People eventually lost faith in
Roman and the government
because they were unable to fix the
problems.
3. Political Problems: eventually
leaders in Rome all started fighting to
be emperor, causing civil conflict and
weak administrations.
4. Invasions—attacks on almost
all borders of the Roman empire
by different groups finally causes
the Empire to end, the city of
Rome actually fell to the
Lombard’s officially ending Rome.
B. Division of the Roman Empire
1. The leader, Constantine, knows
that the western part of the Roman
empire is done and gone, so he
moves the capital of what is left of the
Empire (eastern part) to the city of
Byzantium—renaming it
Constantinople (located in modern
Turkey)
2. The western Roman Empire (Italy)
tries to survive but, eventually (in 476
A.D.) ceases to have an emperor &
so the empire officially ends.
3. The Eastern Roman empire, with
its new capitol, survives and actually
thrives, becoming the most powerful
empireof the time, it eventually is
known as the Byzantine Empire.
Contributions of Rome
A. Art/Architecture
1. Built the Pantheon as a temple to their gods.
2. Built the Circus Maximus for chariot
races
3. Built the forum (which you see in
the background), in which the Senate
met to make laws.
B. Technology
1. Long lasting, well constructed roads that
could be traveled year round.
2. Aqueducts which allowed them to have
running water in cities.
3. Arches which allowed them to build
larger more stable buildings.
4. Invented cement, which allowed them to
easily build large structures.
C. Science
1. a man named Ptolemy charted and
plotted most of the stars and planets
in the sky.—his research will later be
used to prove that the sun is the
center of the universe.
D. Medicine – Romans put an
emphasis on public health (public
bathes, public water systems, and
medical schools.)
E. Language – they spoke Latin, which
is the foundation of the Romance
languages; Spanish, French,
Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian.
F. Literature – author named Virgil
wrote the epic poem The Aeneid.
F. Religion – adoption and creation of
modern Christianity.
H. Law – gave us the principle
of “Innocent until proven
guilty” (from the twelve
tables)