Notes

Today in West Civ class we went over the test. I did alright but i could've done better. Then we took notes 
The decline of the Roman Empire: 
Rise of Christianity:
- Jesus spends three years preaching, is killed by Roman leaders 
- Jesus' followers believe he is the messiah and savior who has risen from the dead 
- Saul (the persecutor) becomes paul (the evangelist), spreading Jesus' message (one true god, not roman gods) 
- Christianity evolves from cult status to established, offical structure 
- preist, bishops, pope (Bishops of Rome) 
2
- Christians and Jews were monothesitic 
- This conflicted with Roman beliefs 
- Persecution against both was common 
- Christianity appealed to the poor, their numbers grew 
- As it grew, even some Roman leaders embraced Christianity 
3
- Ad 313: Constantine has a battlefield conversion 
- he issues the Edict of Milan- an actual law that said that there is approval of christianity 
- Not only no persecution, but actually approval of Christianity, eventually making it the offical religion 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; soliders' loyalty declined and mercenaries appeared) 
Diocletian divided the empire into two 
- Greek-speaking East (had more resources)
- Latin speaking West (Rome, tradition) 
2
- Ad 324- Constantine becomes emperor over both halves of the empire 
- 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, angles, saxons, franks) overrun the empire's frontiers 
- that's it for the Roman empire (AD 476)