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/Architecture1. 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)