HIST 1001 : Histfinalexamnotes-Dietz
● Diocletian, 284-305
o Divides the empire in half and serves as emperor in the east
and serves with his friend who co-emeperors the west
o Uses the name Augustus as the title of the posititions..
“Augustus of the east”
o Creates a position of sub-emperor; calls it the Caesar
o Created the system tetrarchy
▪ Rule of 4
▪ Augusts (east & west)
▪ Caesar (east & west)
▪ Brought a lot of calmness and stability
o Sets a standard lower tax rate that has to be collected all over
the roman world
▪ Also brings a lot of calmness and stability
o He saw Christianity as something that takes away traditional
roman values
o Main thing hes remembered for is launching the great
persecution against the Christian empire
▪ The great persecution
o 303-anti-christian edicts
▪ Turning over property, no imperial service
▪ Arrest of clergy, no meetings
o 304- more edicts issued
▪ Forced sacrifice
o Consciously retired
● Constantine, 306-337
o Father was at first a Caesar of the west and then became an
Augustus of the west
o Traditional roman
o Reign is critical in the Christianization of the empire
o Maxentius
▪ When constantine comes to power this is a general in
rome who he tried to make an alliance with but
Maxentius decided that he wanted to take over,
happens in 312
▪ Constantine is forced to march rome to meet maxentius
to prevent him from trying to take over
▪ Constantine sees a giant chi rho in the sky (with this
symbol you will conquer)
● Chi rho
o Well known symbol of christianity
▪ So he orders his men to paint this sign on their shields
▪ Constantine squashes this rebellion at the Milvian
Bridge; maxentius is killed
o Later he issues his own edict
o Edict of Milan, 313
▪ Says form now on all religions will be tolerated
▪ All Christians who lost property or positions in great
persecution will be compensated
▪ From now on this Christian god is the favored god
o Suspends blood sacrifice
o Gets very interested in what’s the proper Christian doctrine
o Begins to build churches and support Christian bishops
o Calls together the first ever church council; Council of
Nicaea, 325
▪ Bishops believed different things so at the council they
debated these
▪ Basically decide any other belief other then the belief
they decide is a heresy
o Uses his own money to build huge churches
o Builds the church in rome St. Peters
o Also builds in Jerusalem; basilica church on the site of the
crucifixion, Holy Sepulchre
o Builds a new capital referred to as “new rome”
▪ Constantinople
o In it builds another basilica church; Hagia Sophia
o Gets baptized to Christian on his death bed
o Every emperor after Constantine is Christian
o 346 Constantine’s son orders all temples closed
o 381 Theodocius the 1st says no more sacrifices
o in 391 outlaws all forms of paganism
o in 435 C’s grandson temples are ordered destroyed
o by 529 platos academy is considered a pagan institution that
has to be shut down
o basically after the reign of Constantine if you wanted to be any
kind of roman citizen you would have to be Christian
Transformation of the Mediterranean World: Greeks, Germans and
Muslims
I. Germanic Migrations and the Fall of Rome? (main impact is on
west)
● Germanic tribes
o Practiced a form of kingship
o Some Germanic tribes became to have good
relationships with the romans and some were hired
as mercenaries
o Danube and Rhine frontiers are difficult to cross and
serve as good borders; occasionally froze during the
winter
o Traditional romans thought these tribes were like
barbarians since it was a completely different culture
● Huns410
o Non-german tribe
o First evidence of them comes from China; written
evience from them comes from the people they are
attacking
o Sometime late 2nd century begin moving (from a
homeland) westward across asia and conquering
people along the way
o Encounter the Visigoths
▪ (First of the tribes to enter into the roman
world)
▪ They run and ask the roman empire if they can
cross the Danube serve as mercenaries for
them and serve roman empire
▪ The king is expecting young strong men but
instead he gets all the men AND their families
▪ 376-Romans get nervous about the numbers
and they set them up in refuge camps at the
border; life is tough
▪ Leaders of Visigoths ask emperor please
don’t do this; emperor ignoring them
▪ Visigoths finally have enough and have an
uprising (demanding land)
▪ Roman emperor is killed during the battle
▪ They apologize and say ALL we want is land
lets just settle. Romans say ok
▪ Visigoths go from once being a stable farming
people become a nomadic tribe moving
through roman empire looking for good land to
settle
▪ Want to move into north Africa; but as they are
coming through romans freak out because it
looks like they are wanting to attack rome as
they are coming into Italy
