Late Antiquity

Political centralization of Roman Empire in 4th century

 

What ended the 3rd-century crisis?  Diocletian

            A strong emperor Diocletian defeated all his enemies - both at home and abroad, and then put into effect a series of reforms that will make it harder for troops to revolt

            - separation of civilian and military governorships

            - increase in taxes to make troops happy

-  Made emperors more royal - given trappings of kings

            Previous emperors - the princeps - had acted like first among equals - dressed like another senator

            Diocletian acted like a king -

                        He kept his person outside reach of his subjects - with a strong body guard ; this made it harder to assassinate him

                        He wore a crown (diadem)

                                    (PICTURE)

                        His subjects had to lie on the ground and kiss his hem: 

            - Tried to punish atheists (so gods would stop punishing the Romans 

 

Result: Stabilization of Roman empire:  fourth-century revival

 

Diocletian's reforms were harsh and expensive - but they stabilized the Roman empire.

Armies stopped revolting; foreign enemies were defeated; parts of the empire became economically prosperous again

The Romans had another century of good times.

Later emperors would by and large preserve his reform of the government - with one important difference - they would become Christian

 

 

I. Adoption of Christianity as official Roman religion

 

Origins of Christianity (did Jesus Christ live in the Roman Empire, what ethnic group did he belong to, was he a Roman citizen?; why did the Romans execute him?)

            Jesus was a Jew from the region of Galilee, a hotbed of the Jewish "Zealots" who wished to expel the Romans from Judaea

            Jesus was not a Zealot - he taught that God's kingdom was in the next world, not this one (more like Essenes)

                        "Render unto Caesar" (i.e. pay your taxes) in this world.

            Nevertheless, the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate executed Jesus as someone who was stirring up rebellion among the Jews  (not because of his religious beliefs)

 

Appeal of Christianity

            The earliest Christians were Jews.

            It wasn't until after Paul (a Hellenized Jew and Roman citizen) that gentiles - non-Jews - began to convert in any numbers.

            Most of the converts in the first two centuries AD were middle- to working-class town-dwellers, many of them slaves and women

            Why did they convert?

                        partly out of desire to have personal relationship divinity and chance of eternal salvation (most pre-Christian religions had focused on ceremonies performed for benefit of community - not individual, and for rewards in this world, not after death)

                        Christianity was particularly appealing to women, slaves, and the poor - since they were allowed to participate in religious celebration (unlike in many Graeco-Roman cults)

 

Persecution of Christians

Until the 4th century AD, Christianity was an illegal religion - in theory punishable by death.

-Why did Romans persecute Christians? 

 They refused to perform any of the religious ceremonies of the Roman state - to honor the emperors, to take oaths in court when they gave testimony

But many of these things were also true of the Jews - and  the Roman government officially tolerated the Jews.

The Romans could deal with the fact that the Jews refused to worship Roman gods - because they were ethnic Jews, that was their traditional inherited religion; they weren't going to try to convert the entire Roman empire.

The Christians were set on conversion

             They made people - Romans - betray their traditional gods

 

Despite illegality of Christianity, Romans didn't actively pursue Christians in 1st and 2nd centuries AD

            Letter from emperor Trajan to Pliny – don’t seek them out

 

Roman officials didn't actively seek Christians out until the 3rd century (Severan emperors of early third century – Acts of Perpetua)

 

Diocletian's persecution

Increase in conversions to Christianity in the 3rd century, as people became disillusioned with their traditional gods.

Then emperors like Diocletian believed that these conversions to Christianity had the third century crisis; Romans had turned away from the old gods, and now these gods were punishing the Romans.

Hundreds of Christian men and women - esp. priests and bishops - were arrested and publicly executed (in the amphitheatres)

These persecutions were complete failures – more people converted than before, because of glorification of martyrdom

                                                                                                                        

Still, it is unlikely that Christianity would have become more than a minority religion in the Roman empire except for the conversion of an emperor -  Constantine.

 

Conversion of Constantine to Christianity

Constantine was not a particularly nice person:  he killed his nephew, drowned a wife, led a civil war in order to take over the empire.

Constantine didn't convert for what we today would consider good reasons.

He was having trouble winning a war against a rival emperor;

Before a famous battle – the battle of Milvian Bridge, 312, – Constantine had a vision.

The vision told him to make his soldiers put the sign of Christ (Chi-Rho) on their shields.

            "in this sign you will conquer"

Constantine won the battle.

Constantine decided that the Christian God was stronger than the old gods.

He legalized Christianity –

            He didn't persecute non-Christians - later Roman emperors would do this

But he made Christianity the favored religion.

by giving the churches money, and overseeing the conferences of bishops – the ecumenical councils –  in order to decide what was orthodox theology.

(Christians, then as now, were divided into different sects).

 

Gradual conversion of whole Roman world (and beyond) to Christianity 4th through 6th centuries AD

Constantine’s conversion is enormously important to later history – if he hadn’t decided to convert, it is very unlikely that Europe (and therefore the US) would have become wholly Christian.

Later Roman emperors outlawed all religions except Christianity and Judaism.

They helped sponsor missionary efforts to neighboring peoples of the empire - like the Germans, like the Ethiopians.

 

Assimilation of pagan and Christian customs:

            Saint Valentine's Day Feb. 14 -  Roman fertility festival, Lupercalia given Christian dress; martyrdom of 3rd-century Valentine on Feb. 14 (5th century)

            Same thing happened with Christmas on Dec. 25 :  early Christians didn't celebrate it - but Romans held celebrations at this time to honor Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras, the god of light (one of most popular "mystery religions")

 

 

II. COMING OF THE BARBARIANS

Problems recruiting army

        Roman army in 4th century numbered about 1/2 million soldiers  - Remember, this was largely a volunteer army.

      The emperors had a lot of trouble finding recruits for a number of reasons

Part of the problem was that it was less profitable to fight defensive wars on the borders, rather than wars of conquest (no booty);  R

Romans were not as warlike as they used to be (wealth effect)

As more and more Romans converted to Christianity, they adopted a more Christian  morality – disapproval of military service

           

Because of problems recruiting soldiers, emperors started to recruit troops from outside the empire - from among those very foreigners who had attacked the Romans during the 3rd century crisis.

 

The solution to the recruitment problem:  barbarians

 

            (MODERN PICTURE)

            (ACTUAL RECONSTRUCTION)

Meaning of "barbarian" - those who spoke "ba, ba, ba, ba" - i.e. foreign languages

The barbarians who served in Roman armies were primarily Germanic speakers:  Goths, Franks, Vandals; also Arabs from Arabia and Palestine

            (MAP)

 

Social and political structure

The barbarians did not have as nearly as sophisticated a political system as the Romans; still organized in "tribes"

They were illiterate - only learning how to write from the Romans

 

Germanic federates in Roman army (4th and 5th centuries AD)

What the Germanic tribes had going for them was a liking for war - and Romans had by and large lost this

From the late 4th century on, Germanic soldiers fought in Roman armies as federates (foederati) - that is as mercenaries under their own tribal commanders (repeat)

In return for fighting for the Romans, they got chunks of the Roman empire to settle - mostly in Europe and the Balkans.

At first the federates were a great idea - they helped the Romans preserve their empire.

The problem is that these federates kept wanting bigger chunks of land (or money) in return.

 

410 AD:  first sack of Rome by federate Visigoths

a group of federate Visigoths demanded more land from the emperors.

            When they didn't get it, they invaded Italy, and sacked Rome itself.

In the decades after this, barbarian federates started to take pieces of the Roman empire into their own control -

            At first parts of Germany, Gaul, England, Spain

                        Then North Africa

 

End of western Roman empire:  476

476 - the traditional end date of the Roman empire is when an army of Germanic federates conquered Italy, killing the last western emperor - Romulus - in the streets of Rome

 

As we'll talk about next week, the Roman empire didn't really end - the eastern, "Greek" empire survived for another thousand years.

But in the west - in Italy, in Europe, Roman rule was over after 476.

The barbarian federates - the Franks, Goths, Saxons, would eventually form the kingdoms of early medieval Europe.

 

III.  WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EASTERN ROMAN (BYZANTINE) EMPIRE?

 

The western Roman empire disappeared in 476 AD, but the eastern Roman empire would last for another thousand years.

Chronology: 

-This eastern Roman empire is called the “Byzantine” empire after 476 (or after 7th century AD in Lerner)

-The Byzantine empire is the direct successor of the eastern Roman empire.

It would last until 1453 – when the Ottoman Turks invaded it.

 

-The capitol was Constantinople (previously called Byzantium – thus “Byzantine)  - modern-day Istanbul – on strait between Europe and Asia.

            This huge and beautifully constructed city was the center of Byzantine politics and culture – Constantinople was where the emperors lived, where the patriarch of the Byzantine church (Orthodox church) had his cathedral, and where most Byzantine literature was produced

 

Key characteristics of the Byzantine empire:

- Greek-speaking ruling elite – but ruled a multiethnic population

- Christian state with emperor as head of church - (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox)  (IMAGE OF ICON)

 

Justinian and Theodora

- The emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora was the most important early Byzantine emperor and empress.

They  ruled in the first of the 6th century AD. 527-565 AD

 

Justinian is important both for his foreign policy and for his legal reforms.

 

1. Foreign affairs: reconquest of West and war against Persians

Tried to reunite the Roman empire - by reconquering the western half.

He succeeds in getting back Italy and North Africa for a while.

But this Byzantine “reconquest” was only temporary and did more damage to Italy and North Africa than the barbarians had.

 

Justinian also wanted to conquer the Sassanid Persians – who were based in Iran and Iraq.

The Sassanid Persians were, like the Romans, a sophisticated empire, literate, with enormous army and bureaucracy.

Justinian failed to conquer them, but he initiates the trend.

 Byzantine emperors would keep trying for the hundred years after him  –

 this constant war between the Byzantines and Persians would end up exhausting the two empire and pave the way for the Arab invasions,

Much as the wars between Athens and Sparta had made it easy for Alexander of Macedon to conquer the Greeks.

So in foreign affairs - Justinian was a great conqueror - but his conquests helped weaken, not strengthen the Byzantine empire.

 

2. Internal policy: unity of law and religion

In addition to an aggressive foreign policy,  Justinian tried to create “big government” within his empire – to regulate every aspect of people’s lives.

One of the more positive results of this policy was the Justinian Code

            This code was compiled by a team of lawyers between 529-565, over 30 years of work.

            By and large, it continues Roman law – but in a far more systematic fashion than previously and with some Christian morality added (disapproval of concubines, although admits they are legal; infanticide outlawed).

Importance of Justinian Code to later generations was immense. 

            The Byzanties of course used it; but it was also later adopted in medieval Europe – became the basis of much European law.

 

Justinian’s desire to regulate his subjects’ lives produced a magnificent law code, but it also led to religious persecution.

Justinian, more than any emperor before him, wanted his subjects to belong to the same religion, and published many laws to make them do so.

The main victims were Christian heretics – that is, Christians who belonged to a different sect than Justinian .

These heretics lived mainly in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The second victim was the Jews.

The Romans had previous tolerated the Jews  - but stopped doing so after Justinian.

At first, the courts took the property of heretics and Jews , and closed their holy places.

Later in the sixth and seventh centuries, they began killing heretics and Jews.

 

Weakening of Byzantine empire:

Here we come to the second factor which made it easier for the Arabs to conquer much of the Byzantine empire.

(The first factor was the exhaustion of the Byzantine military and finances after the wars with the Persians.)

The second factor was the disaffection of many Byzantine subjects because of religious persecutions.

Christian heretics or Jews who had lost their property, or even family members to the state because of their religion,  did not fight very hard against foreign invaders.

This was especially true because the Arabs were not persecutors – they tolerated religious differences – especially the various Christian sects and the Jews.

 

On Thursday, we will turn to them.

 

Discussion of Perpetua