DESCENT INTO ANARCHY:THE FALL OF ROME
Year of the Four Emperors
Nero commits suicide in 68 AD 69 3 emperors take power…all three
assassinated …one after the other The fourth emperor, Vespasian, survives
and starts the Flavian Dynasty
Flavian Dynasty, AD 69-96
Vespasian (69-79) builds the 70,000 seat Flavian Amphitheatre…the Coliseum of Rome
Titus (79-81) Reigns during the destruction of Pompeii
by Mount Vesuvius Domitian (81-96)
Invaded and conquered Britain Got himself assassinated
The Five Good Emperors
Nerva (96-98) Recognizes that there’s no system for
picking successors Establishes system of adopting his successor The five good emperors are all capable
administrators and leaders: Trajan (98-117) Hadrian (117-138) Antoninus Pius (138-161) Marcus Aurielius (161-180)
Unleash Chaos
After the death of Commodus in 193, 5 emperors ruled in 193 The last one, Severus, starts a dynasty
that lasts from 193-235
From 235 to 284, twenty-five different men claimed to be emperor Average reign lasted 2 years Almost all of them got assassinated
Divide and Conquer
By 286 it is clear that one man cannot rule the empire alone
Diocletian divides the empire into an eastern and western half Ruled by an Augustus and a Caesar
Constantine builds a new capital at Byzantium, and renames it Constantinople in 306
Several emperors try to reunite the two halves…all attempts fail
East and West in 395
Sack of Rome
Rome is sacked by the Visigoths in 410 under Alaric
Rome is sacked again in 455 by the Vandals The Vandals were so destructive that they gave
us the words vandalism and vandalize
The last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, is deposed (kicked out) on September 4, 476
Why Rome Fell
The empire became too big for one person to rule Violent transitions between emperors
The Roman army became weak The Romans came to rely on Germanic
tribes that were not as loyal The economy collapsed
The currency was devalued and there was no budgetary control over the treasury