Diocletian
- he rules from 284-303
- it's cool to persecute Christians
- Rome needs a strong army (400,000 strong)
- Rome need a big government (20,000 officials)
- divides Rome into 2 parts the Byzantine empire which had more money and was too the East
- push off the part that was doing very well
- rules from 306-337
- it's cool to be a Christian
- conversion to Christianity (bc of the cross in the sky)
- 313- his Edict of Milan proclaims freedom to worship
- built a new capital in the East
- Byzantium, soon became known as Constantinople
Life in the Fourth Century
- counrty dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection
- new farming system: peasants work for elite landlords on large farms
- peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by landlords
- paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land, in exchange for endless back-breaking work
- landowners hold local power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire
- foreshadowing feudalism
- Rome's power is decreasing, while nomadic barbarians gain power
- Western Empire is too poor, begins to be neglected
- Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
- Visigoths take over Spain, and actually capture and loot Rome itself in 410
- Vandals control Carthage and the Western Mediterranean
other barbarian tribes:
- Ostrogoths in Italy
- Franks in Gaul
- Angles and Saxons in Britain
- 500BC- the monarchy is abolished
- 450BC- the Twelve Tables are established
- 44BC- end of the line for Julius Caesar
- 27BC- 108AD- the Roman Peace (Pax Romana)
- constant fifth century invasions by barbarian tribes left the western Roman Empire shattered and crumbling
- the last emperor was a teenage boy installed in 475 by his father
- barbarians deposed Romulus Augustus without bothering to kill him
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