Fall Of Rome

The Fall of Rome and the beginning of the Middle

Ages.

The Greatness of the Roman Empire

Rome was the most powerful empire Europe had ever seen.

Roman Empire at its height 117 C.E.

The Contribution of Rome

Roman legal accomplishmentsRome had a republican democracy- sometimes

Had a senate where patricians (upper class) could represent people

Nobody is above the law, not the emperor, not the senate, not the people, not the police.Laws are written down and must be respected

Great RulersJulius Caesar – “et tu Brute?”Augustus Caesar – increased Caesar's empireDiocletian – Split the empire into two partsHadrian – Hadrian's wall in EnglandTrajen – The forum, rebuilt RomeMarcus Aurelius= last good emperor

Among others – of course there were some terrible ones too!

• Nero

Art/Architecture

Art/Architecture

Roman Arch

The Pantheon – first dome

The Coliseum

Its architecture was Hellenistic (meaning

“Greek inspired”)

TechnologyRoman Roads, Concrete

“All roads lead to Rome”

City planning

Technology:Aqueducts

Science

Ptolemy – hypothesized about the makeup of the universe.

Geocentric (earth centered universe)

(Will later be proven wrong)

Language

Latin (the language of Rome) evolves into the Romance Languages

French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese

Latin is still the official language of the Roman Catholic Church

Military MightSpread of the Pax Romana (Peace of Rome)

The empire is peaceful because if you mess with it, they kill you.

Decline of RomeLong period of decline

Example: at one point they had 22 emperors over a 50 year period, 20 died violently

Persians and Germans move into empireCivil war and plague hurt empireMoney Troubles

Trade /industry declined.Labor shortage due to diseaseFarm production declinedMoney became short and soldiers were scarce

• Had to hire Germanic soldiers = who had no loyalty to Rome and did not understand tradition

Overall decline in society, morals, education, businessRemember what we said about civilizations needs

Roman Coliseum

Gladiators

Decline in morals

Ever see the movie? Think about its central theme – decline of morals

A New ReligionRise of Christianity

Christianity spreads through Roman EmpirePreaches monotheistic (one god) religion grew because it was more appealing to the poor because it viewed everyone as equal

Romans paid little attention to Christianity at first then began to see it as a threat to society

Persecuted Christians Persecution strengthened Christianity forcing it to become more organized

Eventually, Romans give in“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”Constantine =first Christian Emperor of Rome

Archbishop / CardinalIn charge of an Archdiocese in big city

Bishop/DioceseIn each big town / small city

Priest/ParishIn each town / village

PopeIn charge of whole Church

Christian Church moves headquarters to Rome

Church very organized – hierarchical system

Fall of Rome

Rome was besieged by various tribes from modern day Germany and France.

Huns from Russia / central Asia invaded

eastern Europe and forced the German Visigoths into

Roman territory.

Fall of Rome

Eventually Visigoths destroyed Rome and took control

Vandals invaded southern Spain and Africa/ eventually crossed over into Italy from Northern Africa and sacked Rome also

Fall of Rome

In 476 Western Roman Empire FallsThe “Dark Ages” falls upon Western Europe

Eastern Roman empire became known as the Byzantine Empire and thrived around Constantinople.

Constantinople: The “New Rome”Built by Roman Emperor Constantine

Today it is called Istanbul

Although the fall of the Roman Empire did not happen overnight, many consider its fall the beginning of the Middle Ages or Dark Ages.

Summary

SummaryThe Roman Empire fell due to outside attacks and disease (brought on by trade)

The Middle Ages began as the Christian Church replaced governments as the central authority.

Bibliographical informationhttp://www.worldofteaching.com