Ohio Academic Content Statement #3: Germanic invasions helped to break up the Roman Empire and set the stage for the development of feudal and manorial systems. Later invasions helped establish Mongol dominance in central Asia and led to the destruction of the Byzantine Empire by the Turks.

 Because of the well-built Roman Roads, the success of the Legionnaires, and the leadership of Rome's more able Emperors and Generals, the Roman Empire grew to enormous proportions.  It was huge! It covered most of Europe, most of North Africa, and some of Asia.

 The choice for who would be the next emperor was typically up for debate between the Old Emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard (the emperor's private army), and the Army  Gradually, the Praetorian Guard gained complete authority to choose the new emperor

 Taxes were too great, many rich people stopped paying  Education: People stopped attending school  Slaves: Large number of people enslaved  Plague (disease) spread throughout Rome, killing 1 in 10  Famine: There was not enough food to feed people

 Farming: Farmers lost land, unable to grow and sell crops, out of work (and famine)  Recession: People bought fewer goods, shops closed  Inflation: Rapidly rising prices. Money lost value because fewer taxes paid.  Coins Lost Value: Less gold put in, people found out (caused inflation)  Bartering Grew: sell goods without using money  No Taxes=No Money

 Mercenaries: Soldiers who were hired to fight.  No money to pay military = weak military  Invaders: Constant threat of invaders on empire’s borders  Weak military=unable to stop border invasions

 284 A.D., Diocletian became Emperor  Reforms: Political changes  Set Price Limits: He created a law that stated if you charged more than the price limit, you could be killed. The punishment for breaking any of his laws was quite severe.

 Diocletian felt that the only way to save the empire was to divide it in half  Created two empires: Western and Eastern  Western Empire: Europe/ North Africa and city of Rome  Eastern Empire: Turkey/ Asia and city of Byzantium  Two emperors: emperor in charge of East and West

 Diocletian retired and Constantine took his place as emperor  One Empire: United the empire again under one ruler  First Christian Emperor  Reforms: Sons had to follow fathers’ trade

 Rome continued to decline  Constantine moved the capital from Rome to city of Byzantium  City name changed to Constantinople (today is Istanbul)

 Constantine died in 337 CE, replaced by Theodosius  Empire Splits: Theodosius could not rule the empire, divided in two again  Western Roman Empire with capital in Rome  Eastern Rome Empire with capital in Constantinople

 Western Empire unable to hold off German tribes on its borders  Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Saxons  German tribes wanted warmer area, Roman riches, and to flee the Huns

 Rome agreed to allow the Visigoths to live inside of Roman boundaries  Romans treated Visigoths badly  Visigoths rebelled and defeated the Romans  Visigoth leader, Alaric, captured Rome in 410 CE

 Vandals followed Visigoths and spent 12 days stripping Rome of valuables (vandalism)  Many more German invaders followed  Finally, a German general named Odoacer defeated the Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus (14 years old)

 Rome was defeated in 476 A.D.  For this reason, this date is given as the fall of the Western Roman Empire  The Western Empire was divided into many kingdoms that adopted many of the customs of Rome

 Although the Western Empire fell in 476 A.D., the Eastern Roman Empire continued to prosper for 1,000 more years  Became known as the Byzantine Empire

Ohio Academic Content Statement #3: Germanic invasions helped to break up the Roman Empire and set the stage for the development of feudal and manorial systems. Later invasions helped establish Mongol dominance in central Asia and led to the destruction of the Byzantine Empire by the Turks.

 Constantine begins rule in 306 A.D.  Constantine becomes Christian and stops persecution of Christians in Empire  Constantine decided to build a new capital city  Constantine chose Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire)  In 330 A.D. Byzantium renamed Constantinople (City of Constantine)

 By early 500’s, Constantinople had large markets, forums, paved roads, a cathedral, a palace, public baths and a hippodrome (or circus)  Although the name of their city had changed the people who lived there were still called Byzantines.

 Emperors who followed Constantine continued to rule the Eastern half from Constantinople  The Eastern half was far stronger than the Western half  The Byzantine Army was the strongest in the world  Byzantines also had a strong trade network.

 As Rome was falling to invaders, strong fortifications and an excellent army protected Constantinople.  With the Western Empire now gone the Eastern Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire

 The early Byzantine Empire had many excellent rulers who were wise as well as popular.  They encouraged education and made reforms to laws and government.  This also helped strengthen the Empire.

 One of the greatest Byzantine Emperors was Justinian  Justinian was a energetic ruler who rarely gave up on a task until it was completed  He had been born into a poor family and was known to listen to all his subjects (rich and poor)

 One of Justinian’s most lasting contributions was a system of laws  When Justinian became emperor, the empire was using a disorganized system of old Roman laws.  Justinian appointed a team to collect and summarize centuries of Roman laws.

 Justinian’s Code became a organized collection and explanation of Roman laws for use by the Byzantine Empire  Eventually this code became the basis for the legal systems of most modern European countries

 Justinian also wanted to reunite the entire “Roman Empire”  He re-conquered all of Italy and began to make his way into Northern and Western Europe  A lack of Money and Disease stopped Justinian's conquests

 Theodora, wife to Justinian, came from humble beginnings.  Her father was a barkeeper in Constantinople's Hippodrome  Theodora's marriage to Justinian gave her great power.  Many of Justinian's decisions were made with her advice  Theodora worked to improve women's rights and helped change divorce laws to protect women.

 Commissioned by Emperor Justinian  It took 10,000 workers five years to build the Hagia Sophia cathedral.  Hagia Sophia means Holy Wisdom.

 In addition to preserving the principals of Roman law, Byzantine scholars also kept and copied the works of the ancient Greeks.  At its peak, Byzantine civilization blended Greek, Roman, and Christian influences.  Later Byzantine culture will heavily influence the Italian Renaissance.

 After the death of Justinian the Byzantine Empire began to decline  Later emperors had to fight wars against many neighboring enemies  Persians and Turks to the East, Arabs to the South and Germanic peoples to the North and West.  The Byzantine Empire was shrinking in both size and power

 Although most Byzantines were Christians, they did not practice Christianity the same way as people from Western Europe  The Byzantines rejected the authority of the Pope (leader of the church in Rome)  They Byzantine Emperor had to approve church officials in Constantinople  Greek was the language of the Byzantine Church, while Latin was the language of the Roman church

 At this time many Christians prayed to saints or holy people, represented by Icons  In the 700’s a Byzantine Emperor outlawed the use of Icons, saying they violated Gods commandments  The Pope disagreed, and banished the emperor from the Church.

 Byzantines felt the Pope did not have the authority to banish the emperor  This led to a schism, or split, in the Christian church in 1054  Now there were two distinct forms of Christianity: the Roman Catholic Church in the west and the Eastern (Greek) Orthodox in the east.

 Lasted from about 900 until the mid-1000’s  Trade increased and merchants came from all over  This caused the population, economy and government to grow.  The long reign of Emperor Basil II ( ) was the most exceptional rule since Justinian.  The Empire regained some of its land it had lost and there was a burst of creativity in the arts.

 During the 1000’s Muslim peoples to the East were gaining power  By 1100’s, Turks had taken the inland areas of Asia Minor  Byzantines were also threatened by the Europeans  In 1171, disagreements over trade led to war and Constantinople was attacked by Christian Crusaders  Western Christians ruled the city for 50 years.  In 1261, the Byzantines regained their capital, but little was left of their empire.

 In 1453, a force of about 70,000 Turks surrounded Constantinople.  They came by both sea and land and brought cannons to attack the city’s walls  The defending force, which numbered 7,000 held out for two months.  Then the Byzantine capital finally fell.

 Like Constantine before them, the new rulers would rebuild the city and make it an imperial capital.  Renamed Istanbul, the city became a great center of Muslim culture and the capital of the Ottoman Empire.