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Lesson 12.2: Rome's Decline

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33 views15 pages

Lesson 12.2: Rome's Decline

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aymen mendili
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lesson 12.

2:
Rome’s Decline
A Troubled Empire
A. Political Confusion

 As Rome’s government grew weak, the army became very powerful. In


the span of 50 years, Rome had 22 different emperors.

 Many Romans no longer valued traditional values of duty, courage, and


honesty.

 Dishonest Government officials took bribes, support for education


declined, many wealthy Romans stopped paying taxes and enslaved
laborers now made up a large part of the empire’s population.
Economic Weakness
 The weakened government led to
a weakened economy.

 To stop economic decline, the


government produced more
coins, however these new coins
had less gold and silver which
reduced their value.
Economic Weakness
 In order to get the same profit for their
goods, farmers and merchants continued
to raise their prices and these actions
led to inflation-a steep rise in prices with
the matching decline in the value of
money.

 As the value of Roman coins decreased,


people began to barter, or to exchange
goods instead of money.
C. Invasions
 While Rome struggled,
Germanic tribes raided the
Western Empire, and Persian
armies invaded the East.
 People in cities started to build
protective walls around
them.
D. Who Was
Diocletian?
 When Diocletian became emperor,
he introduced reforms. He built
forts along frontiers, divided the
large empire into four sections,
set maximum prices for wages and
goods, and ordered workers to
remain at the same job until they
died.
 Despite his efforts, Diocletian’s
reforms did not succeed. People
ignored his rules and he was not a
strong enough emperor to
enforce them.
The Fall of Rome

A. Constantine’s Rule

 Although Constantine issued several orders


to reinforce the rules of Diocletian, the
empire continued to decline.
 Constantine moved the capital from a failing
Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium,
Which later became known as
Constantinople.
The Fall of Rome

 After Constantine’s death,


Theodosius took power but found
the empire difficult to govern.
Because he felt the empire had
grown too large, so he decided that
when he died, the Eastern and
Western parts would become
separate empires - the Eastern
and Western Roman Empires.
B. Germanic Tribes
 Some Germanic tribes were looking
for better land, however most were
fleeing the Huns, a fierce group of
warriors from Mongolia in Asia.

 The Visigoths, fearing a Hun attack,


asked the Roman government for
protection. When the Roman’s let
them settle inside the empire’s
border, the Visigoths promised to be
loyal to the empire and not attack
them from the inside.
B. Germanic Tribes
 The Romans did not treat the
Visigoths fairly, though, charging
them high prices for food and
even enslaved some of their
people.
 The Visigoths rebelled and
defeated the Roman legions,
which brought more attacks on
Roman territory.
B. Germanic Tribes
 The Vandals also attacked Roman lands in Spain and Northern Africa
before entering Rome and seizing valuables and burning buildings.

After the German General Odoacer


seized control, no Roman emperor
ever again ruled from Rome. From
then on, foreign powers ruled what
had been the Roman Empire.
Historians often used this event to
mark the end of the Western Roman
Empire.
B. Germanic Tribes
 Western Europe’s new Germanic rulers adopted Latin, Roman laws,
and Christianity. Meanwhile, in the Eastern Mediterranean, the
Eastern Roman Empire thrived. It became known as the Byzantine
Empire and lasted for nearly 1000 more years.
Rome’s Legacies
 A. Rome’s Influence on Law and
Government

 Like the Romans, Americans believe that


everyone is equal under the law and that a
person is considered innocent until proven
guilty.
 The U.S. and several other countries are
democratic republics and believe that a
republic works best if all adult citizens vote,
participate in government, and help to
improve their communities.
B. Rome’s Cultural Impact
 Many Western countries use
the Latin alphabet and many
English words have Latin
roots.
 The Romans also continue to
influence the literature we
read and enjoy, while current
architecture and
construction owes much to
the Ancient Romans.
C. Ancient Rome and
Christianity
 Christianity, a major world
religion, began in the eastern part
of the Roman Empire and was
adopted by Rome’s emperors in the
A.D. 300s.
 The Roman road system allowed
the early Christians to travel
throughout the empire safely and
quickly. Therefore, Christian ideas
were easily shared with other
groups of people.

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