Jillian Kurzmann's Blog 5/9/18

Jillian Kurzmann
5/9/18
Honors Western Civilization

Today in class, we took notes on a power point and in the textbook.
The Empire Strikes Out

• The decline of the Roman Empire
• Rise of Christianity
• Priests, bishops, pope (Bishop of Rome)
• The Roman Empire and Christianity are now linked in power and influence.
• Decline of the Roman Empire
• AD 180: Rome has problems
• economic (trade became risky; taxes were too high; food supply was dropping)
• military (frontiers were hard to patrol; Roman generals fought for control; soldiers' loyalty declined and mercenaries appeared).
• Diocletian divided the empire into two 
• Greek speaking- east (had more resources)
• Latin speaking- west (Rome, Tradition)
• Decline of the Roman Empire
• AD 324- Constantine becomes emperor over both halves of the Empire
• Means moves the capital from Rome to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople), where Asia met Europe (now Turkey).
• After his death, empire is divided again
• This time, "barbarian invaders" (Huns, Vandals, Visigoths, Saxons, Angles, and Franks) overrun the Empire's frontiers.
• That's it for the Roman Empire (AD 476)