Did Rome Really Fall?

Or did it just change into something different?

284 A.D.

• Rome nothing like it used to be – it is weak and dying

• Citizenship being given away• Decline in trade and small industry• Plague• Barbarian invasions• Germans fighting for Rome

Enter…

• Diocletian (284-305 A.D.)• Turns empire into something

new and saves it• Here’s what he did

Diocletian’s Changes

• 1) Creates a tetrarchy (divides Empire into 4 parts)– 2 Augusti rule most important

parts– 2 Caesars rule lesser parts– Each of 4 sections divided into 3

areas (Prefectures), then subdivided into Dioceses, then subdivided into Provinces

Number 2

• 2) Develops Mobile Field Army– Stays with Emperor– Every troop on horseback– Armed with lance, chain mail, and shield– Foundation for Middle Ages

Number 3

• 3) Makes it law that sons must follow father’s occupation (beginning of serfdom/feudalism)

Constantine (306-337 A.D.)

• Expands on Diocletian’s reforms

• More famous for Christianity than anything else

• Edict of Milan 313 A.D.• Switch to Eastern Empire

(capital city at Byzantium = Constantinople)

Long and Short of it• 476 A.D. Rome (the city) defeated by Germans

but…• The Roman Empire had already relocated • Result?• 2 Empires – Western Empire (centered in Rome

and led by Germans)• Eastern (Byzantine) Empire (centered in

Constantinople and led by Romans/Greeks)• The Rome of Caesar and Augustus no more…

sniff, sniff