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C H A P T E R 9

Cross-Cultural Exchanges on the Silk Roads

In the year 139 B.C.E., the Chi-

nese emperor Han Wudi sent

an envoy named Zhang Qian on a

mission to lands west of China.

The emperor’s purpose was to

find allies who could help combat

the nomadic Xiongnu, who men-

aced the northern and western

borders of the Han empire. From

captives he had learned that other

nomadic peoples in far western

lands bore grudges against the

Xiongnu, and he reasoned that

they might ally with Han forces to

pressure their common enemy.

The problem for Zhang Qian

was that to communicate with po-

tential allies against the Xiongnu,

he had to pass directly through

lands they controlled. Soon after

Zhang Qian left Han territory,

Xiongnu forces captured him. For

ten years the Xiongnu held him in

comfortable captivity: they allowed

him to keep his personal servant,

and they provided him with a

Xiongnu wife, with whom he had a

son. When suspicions about him

subsided, however, Zhang Qian

escaped with his family and servant.

He even had the presence of mind

to keep with him the yak tail that

Han Wudi had given him as a sign

of his ambassadorial status. He fled

to the west and traveled as far as

Bactria, but he did not succeed

in lining up allies against the

Xiongnu. While returning to

China, Zhang Qian again fell into

Xiongnu hands but managed to

escape after one year’s detention

when the death of the Xiongnu

leader led to a period of turmoil.

In 126 B.C.E. Zhang Qian and his

party returned to China and a

warm welcome from Han Wudi.

Although his diplomatic

efforts did not succeed, Zhang

Qian’s mission had far-reaching

consequences. Apart from political

OPPOSITE PAGE: Tomb figure of a camel and a foreign rider. The majority of the Silk Roadtrade was handled by the nomadic peoples of central and western Asia.

LONG-DISTANCE TRADE AND THE SILK ROADS NETWORK

Trade Networks of the Hellenistic EraThe Silk Roads

CULTURAL AND BIOLOGICALEXCHANGES ALONG THE SILK ROADS

The Spread of Buddhism andHinduism

The Spread of ChristianityThe Spread of ManichaeismThe Spread of Epidemic Disease

CHINA AFTER THE HAN DYNASTYInternal Decay of the Han StateCultural Change in Post-Han China

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIREInternal Decay in the Roman EmpireGermanic Invasions and the Fall of

the Western Roman EmpireCultural Change in the

Late Roman Empire

157

ben34536.Ch09.qxd 8/14/06 2:24 PM 57

and military intelligence about western lands and theirpeoples, Zhang Qian also brought back informationof immense commercial value. While in Bactria about128 B.C.E., he noticed Chinese goods—textiles andbamboo articles—offered for sale in local markets.Upon inquiry he learned that they had come fromsouthwest China by way of Bengal. From that infor-mation he deduced the possibility of establishing traderelations between China and Bactria through India.

Han Wudi responded enthusiastically to this ideaand dreamed of trading with peoples inhabiting landswest of China. From 102 to 98 B.C.E., he mountedan ambitious campaign that broke the power of theXiongnu and pacified central Asia. His conquests sim-plified trade relations, since it became unnecessary toroute commerce through India. The intelligence thatZhang Qian gathered during his travels thus con-tributed to the opening of the silk roads—the net-work of trade routes that linked lands as distant asChina and the Roman empire—and more generallyto the establishment of relations between China andlands to the west.

China and other classical societies imposed politi-cal and military control over vast territories. They pro-moted trade and communication within their ownempires, bringing regions that had previously beenself-sufficient into a larger economy and society. Theyalso fostered the spread of cultural, religious, and po-litical traditions to distant regions, and they encour-aged the construction of institutional frameworks thatpromoted the long-term survival of those traditions.

The classical societies established a broad zone ofcommunication and exchange throughout much of theearth’s eastern hemisphere. Trade networks crossed thedeserts of central Asia and the depths of the IndianOcean. Long-distance trade passed through much ofEurasia and north Africa, from China to the Mediter-ranean basin, and to parts of sub-Saharan Africa as well.That long-distance trade profoundly influenced the ex-periences of peoples and the development of societiesthroughout the eastern hemisphere. It brought wealthand access to foreign products, and it facilitated thespread of religious traditions beyond their originalhomelands. It also facilitated the transmission of dis-ease. Indeed, the transmission of disease over the silkroads helped bring an end to the classical societies,since infectious and contagious diseases sparked devas-tating epidemics that caused political, social, and eco-nomic havoc. Long-distance trade thus had deeppolitical, social, and cultural as well as economic andcommercial implications for classical societies.

LONG-DISTANCE TRADE AND

THE SILK ROADS NETWORK

Ever since the earliest days of history, human commu-nities have traded with one another, sometimes overlong distances. Before classical times, however, long-distance trade was a risky venture. Ancient societiesoften policed their own realms effectively, but exten-sive regions lay beyond their control. Trade passingbetween societies was therefore liable to interceptionby bandits or pirates. That risk increased the costs oflong-distance transactions in ancient times.

During the classical era, two developments re-duced the risks associated with travel and stimulatedlong-distance trade. First, rulers invested heavily in theconstruction of roads and bridges. They undertookthese expensive projects primarily for military and ad-ministrative reasons, but roads also had the effect ofencouraging trade within individual societies and facil-itating exchanges between different societies. Second,classical societies pacified large stretches of Eurasia andnorth Africa. As a result, merchants did not face suchgreat risk as in previous eras, the costs of long-distancetrade dropped, and its volume rose dramatically.

Trade Networks of the Hellenistic EraThe tempo of long-distance trade increased noticeablyduring the Hellenistic era, partly because of the manycolonies established by Alexander of Macedon and theSeleucid rulers in Persia and Bactria. Though origi-nally populated by military forces and administrators,these settlements soon attracted Greek merchants andbankers who linked the recently conquered lands tothe Mediterranean basin. The Seleucid rulers con-trolled land routes linking Bactria, which offered ac-cess to Indian markets, to Mediterranean ports in Syriaand Palestine.

Like the Seleucids, the Ptolemies maintained landroutes—in their case, routes going south from Egyptto the kingdom of Nubia and Meroë in east Africa—but they also paid close attention to sea lanes and mari-time trade. They ousted pirates from sea lanes linkingthe Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.They also built several new ports, the most importantbeing Berenice on the Red Sea, while Alexandriaserved as their principal window on the Mediterranean.

Even more important, perhaps, mariners fromPtolemaic Egypt learned from Arab and Indian sea-

158 PART 2 | THE FORMATION OF CLASSICAL SOCIETIES, 500 B.C.E. TO 500 C.E.

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men about the monsoon winds that governed sailingand shipping in the Indian Ocean. During the sum-

mer the winds blow regularly from thesouthwest, whereas in the winter theycome from the northeast. Knowledge of

these winds enabled mariners to sail safely and reli-ably to all parts of the Indian Ocean basin.

Establishment and maintenance of these traderoutes was an expensive affair calling for substantial in-

vestment in military forces, construc-tion, and bureaucracies to administerthe commerce that passed over the

routes. But the investment paid handsome dividends.Long-distance trade stimulated economic developmentwithin the Hellenistic realms themselves, bringing ben-efits to local economies throughout the empires.Moreover, Hellenistic rulers closely supervised foreigntrade and levied taxes on it, thereby deriving incomeeven from foreign products. Thus with official encour-agement, a substantial trade developed throughout theHellenistic world, from Bactria and India in the east tothe Mediterranean basin in the west.

Indeed, maritime trade networks through the In-dian Ocean linked not only the large classical societiesof Eurasia and North Africa but also smaller societiesin east Africa. During the late centuries B.C.E., theport of Rhapta (located near Dar es Salaam in Tanza-nia) emerged as the principal commercial center onthe east African coast. With increasing trade, groupsof professional merchants and entrepreneurs emergedat Rhapta, and coins came into general use on the eastAfrican coast. Merchants of Rhapta imported irongoods such as spears, axes, and knives from southernArabia and the eastern Mediterranean region in ex-change for ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, andslaves obtained from interior regions.

The Silk RoadsThe establishment of classical empires greatly ex-panded the scope of long-distance trade, as much ofEurasia and north Africa fell under the sway of one

classical society or an-other. The Han empiremaintained order inChina and pacified

much of central Asia, including a sizable corridor of-fering access to Bactria and western markets. TheParthian empire displaced the Seleucids in Persia and

extended its authority to Mesopotamia. The Romanempire brought order to the Mediterranean basin.With the decline of the Mauryan dynasty, India lackeda strong imperial state, but the Kushan empire andother regional states provided stability and security,particularly in northern India, which favored long-distance trade.

As the classical empires expanded, merchants andtravelers created an extensive network of trade routesthat linked much of Eurasia and northAfrica. Historians refer to these routescollectively as the silk roads, since high-quality silk from China was one of the principal com-modities exchanged over the roads. The overland silkroads took caravan trade from China to the Romanempire, thus linking the extreme ends of the Eurasianlandmass. From the Han capital of Chang’an, themain silk road went west until it arrived at the Takla-makan desert, also known as the Tarim Basin. Thesilk road then split into two main branches thatskirted the desert proper and passed through oasistowns that ringed it to the north and south. Thebranches came together at Kashgar (now known asKashi, located in the westernmost corner of modernChina). From there the reunited road went west toBactria, where a branch forked off to offer access toTaxila and northern India, while the principal routecontinued across northern Iran. There it joined withroads to ports on the Caspian Sea and the PersianGulf and proceeded to Palmyra (in modern Syria),where it met roads coming from Arabia and ports onthe Red Sea. Continuing west, it terminated at theMediterranean ports of Antioch (in modern Turkey)and Tyre (in modern Lebanon).

The silk roads also included a network of sea lanesthat sustained maritime commerce throughout muchof the eastern hemisphere. FromGuangzhou in southern China, sealanes through the South China Sealinked the east Asian seaboard to the mainland andthe islands of southeast Asia. Routes linking south-east Asia with Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) and Indiawere especially busy during classical times. FromIndia, sea lanes passed through the Arabian Sea toPersia and Arabia, and through the Persian Gulf andthe Red Sea they offered access to land routes andthe Mediterranean basin, which already possessed awell-developed network of trade routes.

A wide variety of manufactured products and agri-cultural commodities traveled over the silk roads. Silkand spices traveled west from producers in southeast

CHAPTER 9 | CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGES ON THE SILK ROADS 159

The Monsoon System

Ptolemaic (TAWL-oh-may-ihk)

Trade in theHellenistic World

Overland Trade Routes

Sea Lanes andMaritime Trade

Interactive Map

The silk roads

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Asia, China, and India to consumers in central Asia,Iran, Arabia, and the Roman empire. Silk came mostly

from China, and the fine spices—cloves,nutmeg, mace, and cardamom—all came

from southeast Asia. Ginger came from China, cinna-mon from China and southeast Asia, pepper fromIndia, and sesame oil from India, Arabia, and south-west Asia. Spices were extremely important com-

modities in classicaltimes because they hadmany more uses thanthey do in the modern

world. They served not only as condiments and fla-voring agents but also as drugs, anesthetics, aphro-disiacs, perfumes, aromatics, and magical potions. Forthe silk and spices they imported, western lands ex-changed a variety of manufactured goods and othercommodities, including horses and jade from centralAsia and glassware, jewelry, textiles, and pottery fromthe Roman empire.

Zhang Qian was only one of many individualswho made very long journeys during classical times.Indeed, records indicate that merchants and diplo-mats from central Asia, China, India, southeast Asia,and the Roman empire traveled long distances in pur-suit of trade and diplomacy. On a few occasions indi-viduals even traveled across much or all of the easternhemisphere between China and the Roman empire.A Chinese ambassador named Gang Ying embarkedon a mission to distant western lands in 97 C.E. andproceeded as far as Mesopotamia before reports of thelong and dangerous journey ahead persuaded him toreturn home. And Chinese sources reported the ar-rival in 166 C.E. of a delegation claiming to representthe Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Individual merchants did not usually travel fromone end of Eurasia to the other, either by land or bysea. Instead, they handled long-distance trade in stages.On the caravan routes between China and Bactria, forexample, Chinese and central Asian nomadic peoples


JAVA

T U R K E S TA N

I N D I A

C H I N A

A R A B I A

M O N G O L I A

E G Y P T

B A C T R I A

SUMATRA

MA

LA

Y A

H I M A L A Y A S

TAKL AMAKAN

DE SERT

I s t h m u so f K r a

Med ite rran ean

Persian

Gul f

Black Sea

Gange s River

Cas pi an

S eaTigris River

Euphrates River

Yangzi River

Ye ll o

w

River

(Huang He)

Nile

River

Strait s of Melaka

Indus

Riv

er

LuoyangChang’an

Guangzhou

Arikamedu(Pondicherry)

Muziris

Barygaza

Barbarikon

TaxilaKhotan

Dunhuang

Turpan

Bukhara

Merv

Tyre

Palmyra

Antioch

Byzantium

Berenice

K ashgar

AralSea

Sea

Indian Ocean

SouthChina

Sea

Bay of BengalArabian

Sea

Red Sea

Land route

Sea route

(Chiang Jiang)P E R S I A

Map 9.1 The silk roads from about 200 B.C.E. to 300 C.E. Note the extent of both the land and the sea routes across Eurasia. Whatconditions would have made successful travel across these routes possible?

Trade Goods

Primary Source

“Battuta in China”

ben34536.Ch09.qxd 7/26/06 9:27 AM Page 160

dominated trade. Farther west, however, the Parthianstook advantage of their power and geographic position

to control overland trade withintheir boundaries. Once merchandisereached Palmyra, it passed mostlyinto the hands of Roman subjects

such as Greeks, Jews, and Armenians, who were espe-cially active in the commercial life of the Mediterraneanbasin.

On the seas, the situation was similar: Malay andIndian mariners dominated trade in southeast Asianand south Chinese water, Persians and subjects of theRoman empire dominated the Arabian Sea, Parthi-ans controlled the Persian Gulf, and the Roman em-pire dominated the Red Sea. Indeed, after Roman

emperors absorbedEgypt in the first cen-tury C.E., their sub-jects carried on an

especially brisk trade between India and the Mediter-ranean. The Greek geographer Strabo reported in theearly first century C.E. that as many as 120 ships de-parted annually from the Red Sea for India. Mean-while, since the mid–first century C.E., the Romansalso had dominated both the eastern and the westernregions of mare nostrum, the Mediterranean.

It is impossible to determine the quantity or thevalue of trade that passed over the silk roads in classi-cal times, but it clearly made a deep impression oncontemporaries. By the first century C.E., pepper, cin-namon, and other spices graced the tables of thewealthy classes in the Roman empire, where silk gar-ments had become items of high fashion. Some Ro-mans fretted that see-through silk attire would leadto moral decay, and others worried that hefty expen-ditures for luxury items would ruin the imperial econ-omy. In both cases their anxieties testified to thepowerful attraction of imported silks and spices forRoman consumers.

As it happened, long-distance trade more likelystimulated rather than threatened local economies.Yet long-distance trade did not occur in a vacuum.Commercial exchanges encouraged cultural and bio-logical exchanges, some of which had large implica-tions for classical societies.

CULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL

EXCHANGES ALONG THE SILK ROADS

The silk roads served as magnificent highways for mer-chants and their commodities, but others also took ad-vantage of the opportunities they offered to travel inrelative safety over long distances. Merchants, mission-aries, and other travelers carried their beliefs, values,and religious convictions to distant lands: Buddhism,Hinduism, and Christianity all traveled the silk roads


The Organizationof Long-DistanceTrade

During the first century B.C.E. Romans developedadvanced glass-blowing techniques that enabledthem to produce wares like this jar that werepopular with wealthy consumers.

A Roman coin dated 189 C.E. depicts a merchantship near the lighthouse at Alexandria. Ships like this one regularly picked up pepper andcinnamon from India along with other cargoes.

Primary Source

“The Geography of Strabo: The Roman Empire”

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and attracted converts far from their original home-lands. Meanwhile, invisible travelers such as diseasepathogens also crossed the silk roads and touched offdevastating epidemics when they found fresh popula-tions to infect. Toward the end of the classical era, epi-demic disease that was spread over the silk roadscaused dramatic demographic decline, especially inChina and the Mediterranean basin and to a lesser ex-tent in other parts of Eurasia as well.

The Spread of Buddhism and HinduismBy the third century B.C.E., Buddhism had becomewell established in northern India, and with the spon-sorship of the emperor Ashoka the faith spread toBactria and Ceylon. Buddhism was particularly suc-cessful in attracting merchants as converts. When theytraveled, Buddhist merchants observed their faithamong themselves and explained it to others. Gradu-ally, Buddhism made its way along the silk roads toIran, central Asia, China, and southeast Asia.

Buddhism first established a presence in the oasistowns along the silk roads where merchants and their

caravans found food, rest, lodging, andmarkets. The oases depended heavily ontrade for their prosperity, and they al-

lowed merchants to build monasteries and invitemonks and scribes into their communities. Becausethey hosted travelers who came from different lands,spoke different languages, and observed different re-ligious practices, the oasis towns became cosmopoli-tan centers. As early as the second century B.C.E.,many residents of the oases themselves adopted Bud-dhism, which was the most prominent faith of silkroads merchants for almost a millennium, from about200 B.C.E. to 700 C.E.

From the oasis communities Buddhism spread tothe steppe lands of central Asia and to China via the

nomadic peoples who visited the oases totrade. In the early centuries C.E., they in-creasingly responded to the appeal of Bud-

dhism, and by the fourth century C.E., they hadsponsored the spread of Buddhism throughout muchof central Asia. Foreign merchants also brought theirfaith to China in about the first century B.C.E. Al-though the religion remained unpopular among na-tive Chinese for several centuries, the presence of

Buddhist monasteries and missionaries in China’smajor cities did attract some converts. Then, in aboutthe fifth century C.E., the Chinese began to respondenthusiastically to Buddhism. Indeed, during the post-classical era Buddhism became the most popular reli-gious faith throughout all of east Asia, including Japanand Korea as well as China.

As Buddhism spread north from India into centralAsia and China, both Buddhism and Hinduism alsobegan to attract a following in south-east Asia. Once again, merchants trav-eling the silk roads—in this case the sealanes through the Indian Ocean—played prominent roles in spreading these faiths. By the first century C.E., clear signs of Indian culturalinfluence had appeared in many parts of southeastAsia. Many rulers con-verted to Buddhism,and others promoted


Buddhism (BOO-diz'm)

Buddhism inCentral Asia

Buddhism in China

Early Buddhist sculpture in Bactria reflected theinfluence of Mediterranean and Greek artistic styles.This seated Buddha from the first or second centuryC.E. bears Caucasian features and wears Mediterranean-style dress.

Buddhism andHinduism in

Southeast Asia

Image

The Diamond Sutra

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the Hindu cults of Shiva and Vishnu. They builtwalled cities around lavish temples constructed in theIndian style, they adopted Sanskrit as a means of writ-ten communication, and they appointed Buddhist orHindu advisors.

The Spread of ChristianityEarly Christians faced intermittent persecution fromRoman officials. During the early centuries C.E., Romanauthorities launched a series of campaigns to stamp outChristianity, because most Christians refused to ob-serve the state cults that honored emperors as divinebeings. Imperial officials also considered Christianity amenace to society because zealous missionaries at-tacked other religions and generated sometimes vio-lent conflict. Nevertheless, Christian missionaries tookfull advantage of the Romans’ magnificent network ofroads and sea lanes, which enabled them to carry theirmessage throughout the Roman empire and the Medi-terranean basin.

During the second and third centuries C.E., count-less missionaries worked zealously to attract converts.

One of the more famous was Gregory the Wonder-worker, a tireless missionary with a reputation for per-forming miracles, who popularizedChristianity in central Anatolia duringthe mid–third century C.E. Contem-poraries reported that Gregory notonly preached Christian doctrine butalso had access to impressive supernatural powers.Gregory and his fellow missionaries helped to makeChristianity an enormously popular religion of salva-tion in the Roman empire. By the late third centuryC.E., in spite of continuing imperial opposition, de-vout Christian communities flourished throughoutthe Mediterranean basin in Anatolia, Syria, Palestine,Egypt, and north Africa as well as in Greece, Italy,Spain, and Gaul.

The young faith also traveled the trade routes andfound followers beyond the Mediterranean basin. Bythe second century C.E., sizable Chris-tian communities flourished through-out Mesopotamia and Iran, and a fewChristian churches had appeared as far away as India.Christians also attracted large numbers of converts in


H I N D UK U S H

an ean S ea

Black Sea

AralSea

PersianGulf

Red Sea

Indian OceanAtlanticOcean

ArabianSea

SouthChina

Sea

S A H A R A D E S E RT

Buddhism

Hinduism

Christianity

Caspian

Sea

(Cha

ng Jiang)

Ya

ngzi River

Yellow

River

Indu

s Riv

erN

ileR

iver

Euphrates

Tigris

Rhine River

(HuangHe)

Carthage

Rome

AthensAntioch

Tyre

Merv

BukharaKuqa Turpan

Dunhuang

Khotan

SamarkandKashgar

Chang’an Luoyang

Guangzhou

Corinth

G A U L

S PA I N

A F R I C AE G Y P T

A N AT O L I A

A R A B I A

I N D I A

C H I N A

S O U T H E A S TA S I A

P E R S I A

Bayof

Bengal

Ganges River

M ed ite rr

Strait s ofMelaka

TA K L A M A K A N

D E S E RT

HI M A L A Y A S

Map 9.2 Major routes through which Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity spread between 200 B.C.E. and 400 C.E. Comparethis map with Map 9.1. What similarities do you notice between the silk roads and the spread of religion?

Christianity in the

MediterraneanBasin

Christianity inSouthwest Asia

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southwest Asia and came to constitute—along withJews and Zoroastrians—one of the major religiouscommunities in the region.

Christian communities in Mesopotamia and Irandeeply influenced Christian practices in the Roman em-pire. To demonstrate utter loyalty to their faith, Chris-tians in southwest Asia often followed strict asceticregimes and sometimes even withdrew from family lifeand society. By the third century C.E., some Mediter-ranean Christians were so impressed by these practicesthat they began to live as hermits in isolated locations,or to live exclusively among like-minded individualswho devoted their efforts to prayer and praise of God.Thus ascetic practices of Christians living in lands eastof the Roman empire helped to inspire the formationof Christian monastic communities in the Mediter-ranean basin.

After the fifth century C.E., Christian communi-ties in southwest Asia and the Mediterranean basinincreasingly went separate ways. Most of the faithfulin southwest Asia became Nestorians—followers ofthe Greek theologian Nestorius, who lived during

the early fifth centuryand emphasized thehuman as opposed to

the divine nature of Jesus. Mediterranean church authorities rejected Nestorius’s views, and many ofhis disciples departed for Mesopotamia and Iran. Al-though they had limited dealings with MediterraneanChristians, the Nestorians spread their faith eastacross the silk roads, and by the early seventh cen-tury they had established communities in centralAsia, India, and China.

The Spread of ManichaeismThe explosive spread of Manichaeism dramatically il-lustrated how missionary religions made effective useof the silk roads trading network. Manichaeism was

the faith derived from the prophet Mani(216–272 C.E.), a devout Zoroastrianfrom Babylon in Mesopotamia who also

drew deep inspiration from Christianity and Bud-dhism. Because of the intense interaction betweenpeoples of different societies, Mani promoted a syn-cretic blend of Zoroastrian, Christian, and Buddhist

elements as a religious faith that would serve theneeds of a cosmopolitan world.

Mani was a dualist: he viewed the world as the siteof a cosmic struggle between the forces of light anddarkness, good and evil. He urged hisfollowers to reject worldly pleasures andto observe high ethical standards. De-vout Manichaeans, known as “the elect,” abstainedfrom marriage, sexual relations, and personal com-forts, dedicating themselves instead to prayer, fasting,and ritual observances. Less zealous Manichaeans,known as “hearers,” led more conventional lives, butthey followed a strict moral code and provided foodand gifts to sustain the elect. Mani’s doctrine hadstrong appeal because it offered a rational explanation


Zoroastrian (zohr-oh-ASS-tree-ahn)Nestorian (neh-STOHR-eeuhn)Manichaeism (man-ih-KEE-iz'm)

Mani andManichaeism

A cave painting from about the seventh century C.E. depicts agroup of devout Manichaean faithful, whose austere regimencalled for them to dress in plain white garments and keep theirhair uncut and untrimmed.

Manichaean Ethics

Image

Nestorian stele

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for the presence of good and evil in the world whilealso providing a means for individuals to achieve per-sonal salvation.

Mani was a fervent missionary and traveled widelyto promote his faith. He also created a Manichaeanchurch with its own services, rituals, hymns, and litur-gies. His doctrine attracted converts first in Mesopota-mia, and before Mani’s death it had spread throughoutthe Sasanid empire and into the eastern Mediterra-nean region. In spite of its asceticism, Manichaeismappealed especially strongly to merchants, who adoptedthe faith as hearers and supported the Manichaeanchurch. By the end of the third century C.E., Mani-chaean communities had appeared in all the largecities and trading centers of the Roman empire.

Manichaeism soon came under tremendous pres-sure in both the Zoroastrian Sasanid state and the

Roman empire. Mani himself died inchains as a prisoner of the Sasanid em-peror, who saw Manichaeism as a threat

to the public order. Authorities in the Roman empirealso persecuted Manichaeans and largely exterminatedthe faith in the Mediterranean basin over the courseof the fifth and sixth centuries. Yet Manichaeism sur-vived in central Asia, where it attracted convertsamong nomadic Turkish peoples who traded withmerchants from China, India, and southwest Asia.Like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity, then,Manichaeism relied on the trade routes of classicaltimes to extend its influence to new lands and peoples.

The Spread of Epidemic DiseaseLike religious faiths, infectious and contagious dis-eases also spread along the trade routes of the classi-cal world. Aided by long-distance travelers, pathogenshad opportunities to spread beyond their original en-vironments and attack populations with no inheritedor acquired immunities to the diseases they caused.The resulting epidemics took a ferocious toll in hu-man lives.

During the second and third centuries C.E., theHan and Roman empires suffered large-scale outbreaks

of epidemic disease. The most destructive ofthese diseases were probably smallpox andmeasles, and epidemics of bubonic plague

may also have erupted. All three diseases are devastat-ing when they break out in populations without resis-

tance, immunities, or medicines to combat them. Asdisease ravaged the two empires, Chinese and Romanpopulations declined sharply.

During the reign of Augustus, the population ofthe Roman empire stood at about sixty million peo-ple. During the second century C.E., epidemics re-duced Roman population to forty-five million. Mostdevastating was an outbreak of smallpox that spreadthroughout the Mediterranean basin during the years165 to 180 C.E. In combination with war and inva-sions, by 400 C.E. continuing outbreaks caused thepopulation to decline even further, to about forty mil-lion. Whereas population in the eastern Mediterraneanprobably stabilized by the sixth century C.E., westernMediterranean lands experienced demographic stag-nation until the tenth century.

Epidemics appeared slightly later in China thanin the Mediterranean region. From fifty million peo-ple at the beginning of the millennium, Chinese pop-ulation rose to sixty million in 200 C.E. As diseasesfound their way east, however, Chinese numbers fellback to fifty million by 400 C.E. and to forty-five mil-lion by 600 C.E. Thus by 600 C.E. both Mediter-ranean and Chinese populations had fallen by aquarter to a third from their high points during clas-sical times.

Demographic decline in turn brought economicand social change. Trade within the empires declined,and both the Chinese and the Ro-man economies contracted. Botheconomies also moved toward re-gional self-sufficiency: whereas previously the Chineseand Roman states had integrated the various regionsof their empires into a larger network of trade and exchange, after about 200 C.E. they increasingly em-braced several smaller regional economies that con-centrated on their own needs instead of the largerimperial market. Indeed, epidemic disease contributedto serious instability in China after the collapse of theHan dynasty, and in weakening Mediterranean soci-ety, it helped bring about the decline and fall of thewestern Roman empire.

CHINA AFTER THE HAN DYNASTY

By the time epidemic diseases struck China, internalpolitical problems had already begun to weaken theHan dynasty. By the late second century C.E., Han au-thorities had largely lost their ability to maintainorder. Early in the third century C.E., the central


Sasanid (suh-SAH-nid)

Decline ofManichaeism

Epidemic Diseases

Effects of Epidemic Diseases

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government dissolved, and a series of autonomous re-gional kingdoms took the place of the Han state.With the disappearance of the Han dynasty, China ex-perienced significant cultural change, most notablyan increasing interest in Buddhism.

Internal Decay of the Han State

The Han dynasty collapsed largely because of inter-nal problems that its rulers could not solve. Oneproblem involved the development of factions within


S O U R C E S F R O M T H E P A S T

St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was an outspoken proponent of Christianity during the early and middle decades of thethird century C.E. When epidemic disease struck the Roman empire in 251 C.E., imperial authorities blamed the outbreakon Christians who refused to honor pagan gods. Cyprian refuted this charge in his treatise On Mortality, which describedthe symptoms of epidemic disease and reflected on its significance for the Christian community.

St. Cyprian on Epidemic Disease in the Roman Empire

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It serves as validation of the [Christian] faith whenthe bowels loosen and drain the body’s strength,when fever generated in bone marrow causes soresto break out in the throat, when continuous vomit-ing roils the intestines, when blood-shot eyes burn,when the feet or other bodily parts are amputatedbecause of infection by putrefying disease, whenthrough weakness caused by injuries to the body ei-ther mobility is impeded, or hearing is impaired, orsight is obscured. It requires enormous greatnessof heart to struggle with resolute mind against somany onslaughts of destruction and death. It re-quires great loftiness to stand firm amidst the ruinsof the human race, not to concede defeat withthose who have no hope in God, but rather to re-joice and embrace the gift of the times. With Christas our judge, we should receive this gift as the re-ward of his faith, as we vigorously affirm our faithand, having suffered, advance toward Christ byChrist’s narrow path. . . .

Many of us [Christians] are dying in this epi-demic—that is, many of us are being liberated fromthe world. The epidemic is a pestilence for the Jewsand the pagans and the enemies of Christ, but forthe servants of God it is a welcome event. True,

without any discrimination, the just are dyingalongside the unjust, but you should not imaginethat the evil and the good face a common destruc-tion. The just are called to refreshment, while theunjust are herded off to punishment: the faithfulreceive protection, while the faithless receive retri-bution. We are unseeing and ungrateful for divinefavors, beloved brethren, and we do not recognizewhat is granted to us. . . .

How suitable and essential it is that this plagueand pestilence, which seems so terrible and fero-cious, probes the justice of every individual and ex-amines the minds of the human race to determinewhether the healthy care for the ill, whether rela-tives diligently love their kin, whether masters showmercy to their languishing slaves, whether physi-cians do not abandon those seeking their aid,whether the ferocious diminish their violence,whether the greedy in the fear of death extinguishthe raging flames of their insatiable avarice, whetherthe proud bend their necks, whether the shamelessmitigate their audacity, whether the rich will loosentheir purse strings and give something to others astheir loved ones perish all around them and as theyare about to die without heirs.

• To what extent do you think St. Cyprian was effective in his efforts to bring inherited Christian teachings to bear onthe unprecedented conditions he and his followers faced?

SOURCE: Wilhelm von Hartel, ed. S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani opera omnia in Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum. Vienna,1868, vol. 3, pp. 305–6. (Translation by Jerry H. Bentley.)

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the ranks of the ruling elites. The desire of someelites to advance their own prospects in the imperialgovernment at the cost of others led to constant in-fighting and backstabbing among the ruling elites,which reduced the effectiveness of the central gov-ernment. An even more difficult problem had to dowith the perennial issue of land and its equitable dis-tribution. In the last two centuries of the Han dy-nasty, large landowners gained new influence in thegovernment. They reduced their share of taxes andshifted the burden onto peasants. They even formedprivate armies to advance the interests of their class.

These developments provoked widespread unrestamong peasants, who found themselves under in-

creasing economic pressure with nomeans to influence the government.

Pressures became particularly acute during the latesecond and third centuries when epidemics began totake their toll. In 184 C.E. peasant discontent fueled alarge-scale uprising known as the Yellow Turban re-bellion, so called because the rebels wore yellow head-bands that represented the color of the Chinese earthand symbolized their peasant origins. Althoughquickly suppressed, the rebellion proved to be onlythe first in a series of insurrections that plagued thelate Han dynasty.

Meanwhile, Han generals increasingly usurped po-litical authority. By 190 C.E. the Han emperor had be-come a mere puppet, and the generalseffectively ruled the regions controlledby their armies. They allied with wealthylandowners of their regions and established themselvesas warlords who maintained a kind of rough orderbased on force of arms. In 220 C.E. they abolished theHan dynasty altogether and divided the empire intothree large kingdoms.

Once the dynasty had disappeared, large numbersof nomadic peoples migrated into China, especiallythe northern regions, and they helped to keep Chinadisunited for more than 350 years. Between thefourth and sixth centuries C.E., nomadic peoples es-tablished large kingdoms that dominated much ofnorthern China as well as the steppe lands.

Cultural Change in Post-Han ChinaIn some ways the centuries following the fall of theHan dynasty present a spectacle of chaos and disor-der. One kingdom toppled another, only to fall in itsturn to a temporary successor. War and nomadic in-vasions led to population decline in much of north-ern China. By the mid–fifth century, contemporaries


Luoyang

Chengdu

Jianye(Nanjing)

EastChina

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Yel lowSea

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G O B I D E S E R T

Yangzi River

(Huang He)

(Chang Jiang)

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River

Wei Wu Shu

Map 9.3 China after theHan dynasty. Note thedivision of China into threelarge kingdoms. Whatwould have been theadvantages to such adivision? Would there alsohave been disadvantages?

Peasant Rebellion

Collapse of the Han Dynasty

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reported, the Former Han capital of Chang’an hadno more than one hundred households and the LaterHan capital of Luoyang resembled a trash heap morethan a city.

Beneath the disorderly surface of political events,however, several important social and cultural changes

were taking place. First, nomadicpeoples increasingly adapted to theChinese environment and culture,

and as the generations passed, distinctions betweenpeoples of nomadic and Chinese ancestry became lessand less obvious. Partly because of that development,a new imperial dynasty was eventually able to reconsti-tute a centralized imperial state in north China.

Second, with the disintegration of political order,the Confucian tradition lost much of its credibility.The original goal of Confucius and his early follow-ers was to find some means to move from chaos tostability during the Period of the Warring States.When the Han dynasty collapsed, Confucianismseemed both ineffective and irrelevant.

Individuals who in earlier centuries might havecommitted themselves to Confucian values turnedinstead to Daoism and Buddhism. Daoism, from itsorigins in the Period of the Warring States, had orig-inally appealed mostly to an educated elite. After thefall of the Han, however, Daoist sages widened its ap-peal by promising salvation to those who observedtheir doctrines and rituals and by offering the use ofelixirs made of spices, herbs, and drugs that suppos-edly conferred health and immortality. Daoism at-tracted widespread interest among a populationafflicted by war and disease and became much morepopular than before, especially because it faced lesscompetition from the Confucian tradition.

Even more important than Daoism for Chinesecultural history was Buddhism. After the fall of the

Han empire, Buddhism received strongsupport from nomadic peoples who mi-grated into northern China and who in

many cases had long been familiar with Buddhism incentral Asia. Meanwhile, as a result of missionary ef-forts, the Indian faith began to attract a followingamong native Chinese as well. Indeed, between thefourth and sixth centuries C.E., Buddhism becamewell established in China. When a centralized impe-rial state took shape in the late sixth century C.E.,

Buddhism provided an important cultural founda-tion for the restoration of a unified political order.

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

A combination of internal problems and external pres-sures weakened the Roman empire and brought an endto its authority in the western portion of the empire,whereas in the eastern Mediterranean imperial rulecontinued until the fifteenth century C.E. In theMediterranean basin as in China, imperial weaknessand collapse coincided with significant cultural change,notably the increasing popularity of Christianity.

Internal Decay in the Roman EmpireAs in the case of the Han dynasty, internal politicalproblems go a long way toward explaining the fall ofthe Roman empire. Like their Han counterparts, theRoman emperors faced internal opposi-tion. During the half century from 235to 284 C.E., there were no fewer thantwenty-six claimants to the imperial throne. Knownas the “barracks emperors,” most of them were gen-erals who seized power, held it briefly, and then sud-denly lost it when they were displaced by rivals ortheir own mutinous troops. Not surprisingly, most ofthe barracks emperors died violently. Only one isknown for sure to have succumbed to natural causes.

The Roman empire also faced problems becauseof its sheer size. Even during the best of times, whenthe emperors could count on abundant revenues anddisciplined armed forces, the sprawling empire poseda challenge for central governors. After the third cen-tury, as epidemics spread throughout the empire andits various regions moved toward local, self-sufficienteconomies, the empire as a whole became increas-ingly unmanageable.

The emperor Diocletian (reigned 284–305 C.E.)attempted to deal with this problem by dividing theempire into two administrative districts:one in the east and one in the west. A co-emperor ruled each district with the aidof a powerful lieutenant, and the four officials, knownas the tetrarchs, were able to administer the vast em-pire more effectively than an individual emperorcould. Diocletian was a skillful administrator. Hemanaged to bring Rome’s many armies, including un-


Sinicization ofNomadic Peoples

Confucianism (kuhn-FEW-shun-iz'm)

Popularity ofBuddhism

The BarracksEmperors

The EmperorDiocletian

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predictable maverick forces, under firm imperial con-trol. He also tried to deal with a crumbling economyby strengthening the imperial currency, forcing thegovernment to adjust its expenditures to its income,and imposing price caps to dampen inflation. His eco-nomic measures were less successful than his adminis-trative reforms, but they helped stabilize an economyravaged by half a century of civil unrest.

Yet Diocletian’s reforms encouraged ambitionamong the tetrarchs and their generals, and his retire-ment from the imperial office in 305 C.E. set off around of internal struggles and bitter civil war. Al-ready in 306 C.E. Constantine, son of Diocletian’scoruler Constantius, moved to stake his claim as soleemperor. Once he had consolidated his grip on powerin 324 C.E., Constantine ordered the construction ofa new capital city, Constantinople, at a strategic siteoverlooking the Bosporus, the strait linking the BlackSea to the Sea of Marmara and beyond to the wealthyeastern Mediterranean. After 340 C.E. Constantino-ple became the capital of a united Roman empire.

Constantine himself was an able emperor. Withthe reunion of the eastern and western districts of the

empire, however, he and his successors faced thesame sort of administrative difficulties that Diocle-tian had attempted to solve by dividingthe empire. As population declined andthe economy contracted, emperors found it increas-ingly difficult to marshall the resources needed togovern and protect the vast Roman empire.

Germanic Invasions and the Fall of the Western Roman EmpireApart from internal problems, the Roman empirefaced a formidable military threat from migratoryGermanic peoples. Indeed, during the fifth centuryC.E., Germanic invasions brought an end to Romanauthority in the western half of the empire, althoughimperial rule survived for an additional millenniumin the eastern Mediterranean.

Germanic peoples had migrated from their home-lands in northern Europe and lived on the eastern andnorthern borders of the Roman empiresince the second century C.E. Most notablewere the Visigoths, who came originallyfrom Scandinavia and Russia. Like the nomadic peo-ples who moved into northern China after the fall ofthe Han dynasty, the Visigoths settled, adopted agri-culture, and drew deep inspiration from Roman soci-ety. In the interests of social order, however, theRomans discouraged settlement of the Visigoths andother Germanic peoples within the empire, preferringthat they constitute buffer societies outside imperialborders.

During the late fourth century, the relationship be-tween Visigoths and Romans changed dramaticallywhen the nomadic Huns began an aggres-sive westward migration from their home-land in central Asia. The Huns were probably cousinsof the nomadic Xiongnu who inhabited the centralAsian steppe lands west of China. During the mid–fifthcentury C.E., the warrior-king Attila organized theHuns into a virtually unstoppable military juggernaut.Under Attila, the Huns invaded Hungary, probedRoman frontiers in the Balkan region, menaced Gauland northern Italy, and attacked Germanic peoples liv-ing on the borders of the Roman empire.

Attila did not create a set of political institutionsor a state structure, and the Huns disappeared as apolitical and military force soon after his death in 453C.E. By that time, however, the Huns had placed suchpressure on Visigoths and other Germanic peoples


Only the colossal head of Constantine survives from astatue that originally stood about 14 meters (46 feet) tall.

Constantine

GermanicMigrations

The Huns

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that they streamed en masse into the Roman empirein search of refuge. Once inside imperial boundaries,

they encountered little effective resis-tance and moved around almost at will.They established settlements through-out the western half of the empire—

Italy, Gaul, Spain, Britain, and north Africa—wherepopulations were less dense than in the eastern Medi-

terranean. Under thecommand of Alaric,the Visigoths even

stormed and sacked Rome in 410 C.E. By the middleof the fifth century, the western part of the Roman

empire was in a shambles. In 476 C.E. imperial author-ity came to an ignominious end when the Germanicgeneral Odovacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, thelast of the Roman emperors in the western half of theempire.

Unlike the Han dynasty, the Roman empire didnot entirely disintegrate: imperial authority survivedfor another millennium in the eastern half of the em-pire, known after the fifth century C.E. as the Byzan-tine empire. In the western half, however, Roman


CRETE CYPRUS

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Map 9.4 Germanic invasions and the fall of the western Roman empire between 450 and 476 C.E. Notice the many differentgroups that moved into western Roman territory in this period. What might have motivated such movement, and why couldn’t thewestern Roman empire prevent it?

Byzantine (BIHZ-uhn-teen)

Collapse of the Western Roman Empire

Interactive Map

Fall of the Roman empire

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authority dissolved, and nomadic peoples built succes-sor states in regions formerly subject to Rome. Van-dals and then Visigoths governed Spain, Franks ruledGaul, Angles and Saxons invaded Britain, and Italy fellunder the sway of a variety of peoples, including Visi-goths, Vandals, and Lombards.

Cultural Change in the Late Roman EmpireIn the Roman empire, as in China, the collapse of theimperial state coincided with important social andcultural changes. The Germanic peoples who toppledthe empire looked to their own traditions for pur-poses of organizing society and government. Whenthey settled in the regions of the former empire, how-ever, they absorbed a good deal of Roman influence.Over time, the mingling of Roman and Germanic tra-ditions led to the emergence of an altogether new so-ciety—medieval Europe.

Christianity was perhaps the most prominent sur-vivor of the western Roman empire. During the

fourth century C.E., several develop-ments enhanced its influence through-out the Mediterranean basin. In the

first place, Christianity won recognition as a legiti-mate religion in the Roman empire. In 312 C.E.,while seeking to establish himself as sole Roman em-peror, Constantine experienced a vision that im-pressed upon him the power of the Christian God.He believed that the Christian God helped him toprevail over his rivals, and he promulgated the Edictof Milan, which allowed Christians to practice theirfaith openly in the Roman empire. At some point dur-ing his reign, perhaps after his edict, Constantinehimself converted to Christianity, and in 380 C.E. theemperor Theodosius proclaimed Christianity the offi-cial religion of the Roman empire. By the mid–fourthcentury, Christians held important political and mili-tary positions, and imperial sponsorship helped theirfaith to attract more converts than ever before.

Christianity also began to attract thoughtful andtalented converts who articulated a Christian mes-sage for the intellectual elites of the Roman empire.The earliest Christians had come largely from theranks of ordinary working people, and for three cen-turies the new faith grew as a popular religion of sal-vation favored by the masses, rather than as areasoned doctrine of intellectual substance. Duringthe fourth century, however, intellectual elites began

to articulate Christianity in terms that were familiarand persuasive to the educated classes.

The most important and influential of those fig-ures was St. Augustine (354–430 C.E.), bishop of thenorth African city of Hippo (modern-day Annaba in Algeria). Augustine hada fine education, and he was conversant with the lead-ing intellectual currents of the day. During his youthhe drew great inspiration from Stoicism and Plato-nism, and for nine years he belonged to a communityof Manichaeans. Eventually he became disillusionedwith both the Hellenistic philosophical school andManichaeism, and in 387 C.E., while studying in Italy,he converted to Christianity. For the remainder of hislife, he worked to reconcile Christianity with Greekand Roman philosophical traditions. More than anyothers, Augustine’s writings helped make Christianityan intellectually respectable alternative to Hellenisticphilosophy and to popular religions of salvation.

Besides winning the right to practice their faithopenly and attracting intellectual talent, Christianleaders constructed an institutional apparatus that


St. Augustine

Portrait of St. Augustine holding a copy of hismost famous work, The City of God, whichsought to explain the meaning of history and the world from a Christian point of view.

Prominence ofChristianity

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transformed a popular religion of salvation into a pow-erful church. In the absence of recognized leadership,

the earliest Christians generated arange of conflicting and sometimescontradictory doctrines. To stan-

dardize their faith, Christian leaders instituted a hier-archy of church officials. At the top were five religiousauthorities—the bishop of Rome and the patriarchs ofJerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople—who resided in the most important spiritual and polit-ical centers of the Roman empire. Subordinate to thefive principal authorities were bishops, who presidedover religious affairs in their districts, known as dio-ceses, which included all the prominent cities of theRoman empire. When theological disputes arose, thepatriarchs and the bishops assembled in church coun-cils to determine which views would prevail as officialdoctrine. The councils at Nicaea (325 C.E.) and Chal-cedon (451 C.E.), for example, took up the difficultand contentious issue of Jesus’ nature. Delegates at

these councils proclaimed that Jesus was both fullyhuman and fully divine at the same time, in contrastto Nestorians, Arians, and other Christian groups whoheld that Jesus was either primarily human or primar-ily divine.

As Roman imperial authority crumbled, thebishop of Rome, known as the pope (from the Latinpapa, meaning “father”), emerged as spiritual leaderof Christian communities in the western regions ofthe empire. As the only sources of established andrecognized authority, the popes and the bishops ofother important cities organized local governmentand defensive measures for their communities. Theyalso mounted missionary campaigns to convert Ger-manic peoples to Christianity. Although Roman im-perial authority disappeared, Roman Christianitysurvived and served as a foundation for cultural unityin lands that had formerly made up the western halfof the Roman empire.


The InstitutionalChurch

SUMMARY

By 500 C.E. classical societies in Persia, China, India, and the Mediterranean basinhad either collapsed or fallen into decline. Yet all the classical societies left rich lega-cies that shaped political institutions, social orders, and cultural traditions for cen-turies to come. Moreover, by sponsoring commercial and cultural relations betweendifferent peoples, the classical societies laid a foundation for intensive and systematiccross-cultural interaction in later times. After the third century C.E., the decline ofthe Han and Roman empires resulted in less activity over the silk roads than in thepreceding three hundred years. But the trade routes survived, and when a new seriesof imperial states reestablished order throughout much of Eurasia and north Africain the sixth century C.E., the peoples of the eastern hemisphere avidly resumed theircrossing of cultural boundary lines in the interests of trade and communication.

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FOR FURTHER READING

Thomas J. Barfield. The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires andChina. Cambridge, Mass., 1989. Provocative study of theXiongnu and other central Asian peoples.

Jerry H. Bentley. Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contactsand Exchanges in Pre-modern Times. New York, 1993. Studiesthe spread of cultural and religious traditions before 1500 C.E.

Averil Cameron. The Later Roman Empire, A.D. 284–430. Cam-bridge, Mass., 1993. A lively synthesis.

———. The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, A.D. 395–600.London, 1993. Like its companion volume just cited, a well-informed synthesis.

Edward Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Manyeditions available. A classic account, still well worth reading,by a masterful historical stylist of the eighteenth century.

C. D. Gordon, ed. The Age of Attila: Fifth-Century Byzantiumand the Barbarians. Ann Arbor, 1972. Translations of primary

sources on the society and history of nomadic and migratorypeoples.

Samuel Hugh Moffett. A History of Christianity in Asia, vol. 1.San Francisco, 1992. An important volume that surveys thespread of early Christianity east of the Roman empire.

Joseph A. Tainter. The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge,1988. Scholarly review of theories and evidence bearing onthe fall of empires and societies.

Susan Whitfield. Life along the Silk Road. Berkeley, 1999. Focuseson the experiences of ten individuals who lived or traveledalong the silk roads.

Francis Wood. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart ofAsia. Berkeley, 2002. A brilliantly illustrated volume dis-cussing the history of the silk roads from antiquity to thetwentieth century.


C H R O N O L O G Y

THIRD CENTURY B.C.E. Spread of Buddhism and Hinduism to southeast Asia

SECOND CENTURY B.C.E. Introduction of Buddhism to central Asia

139–126 B.C.E. Travels of Zhang Qian in central Asia

FIRST CENTURY B.C.E. Introduction of Buddhism to China

SECOND CENTURY C.E. Spread of Christianity in the Mediterranean basin and southwest Asia

184 C.E. Yellow Turban rebellion

216–272 C.E. Life of Mani

220 C.E. Collapse of the Han dynasty

284–305 C.E. Reign of Diocletian

313–337 C.E. Reign of Constantine

313 C.E. Edict of Milan and the legalization of Christianity in the Roman empire

325 C.E. Council of Nicaea

451 C.E. Council of Chalcedon

476 C.E. Collapse of the western Roman empire

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