Back to Index of Lecture Notes Life in the Roman Empire I. Daily life in the Roman Empire

• A. Public life more important than private
• B. Government built grand public amenities
  • 1. temples
  • 2. baths
  • 3. coliseums
  • 4. markets
• C. homes very modest for most
• D. life lived outdoors (like Greeks) - public areas very crowded
• E. numerous corner cookstands and bars
  • 1. led to problems of violence, public drunkenness
  • 2. mob violence in time became only real political outlet for masses
• F. Meanwhile, wealthy lived life of dinners, parties, high fashion, slave servants

II. Pax Romana (particularly during period of 5 Good Emperors)

• A. extensive trade network, roads, created cosmopolitan empire
• B. Roman colonization created many towns
• C. These town became centers of cultural cross polinization
• D. Downside - more towns meant more epidemics
• E. East vs. West
  • 1. West part of empire more rural, agricultural, less cosmopolitan, dominated by large farms, more truly Roman in culture
  • 2. East part wealthier, more urban, more Greek in its culture

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Late Roman Empire and the Fall of Rome
I. Late Empire - a more rigid society, economy, more rigid religious systems

• A. Stability depended on relationship between emperor and military
  • 1. Strong leader, good relationship = stability, peace, prosperity
  • 2. Weak leader, poor relationship = political chaos, weak empire, poor economy
• B. 31BC-180AD had been a period of relative strength, stability
• C. But things break down in later Empire
  • 1. 193-235AD - increased militarization of government
  • 2. 235-284AD - military and political anarchy - many coups, many short-lived emperors
• D. Emperor Diocletian (284-305AD) restores order
  • 1. Institutes a number of reforms
  • 2. Attacks those he sees as Rome's enemies
  • 3. Including Christians - last major period of persecution of Christians in empire.
• E. Emperor Constantine, 306-337AD
  • 1. Finds city of Rome ungovernable, moves capital to Constantinople in east
  • 2. Splits empire in half
    • a. East governed from Constantinople, West from Rome
    • b. Western emperor junior in status to Eastern emperor
    • c. this split confirms and deepened cultural divide between East and West
    • d. In many ways, sets up the very different fates of East and West
    • e. Empire now focused on the East
  • 3. Legalizes Christianity - Edict of Milan 311AD
• F. Emperor Theodosius 378-395AD
  • 1. Last great emperor
  • 2. Makes Christianity the official religion of the empire

II. The Collapse of the (Western) Roman Empire

• A. Wealth of empire increasingly focused in the East
• B. Political power increasingly focused in East
• C. Germanic tribes (Goths) in North grow stronger
  • 1. Border regions increasingly less Roman in culture
  • 2. Goths pressured to move by migrations in Central Asia - Atilla the Hun
• D. Empire, particularly in West, grows weaker
  • 1. Army declines
  • 2. Plagues reduce population
  • 3. Economy declines
• E. Goths finally begin to move across the border c.400AD
  • 1. Visigoths sack city of Rome 410AD
  • 2. Vandals (a Gothic tribe) sack the city 455AD
  • 3. Imperial government in East and West unable to respond effectively
  • 4. Last person with title of Western Roman Emperor (Romulus Agustulus) killed 476AD
  • 5. No one bothers to try to take his place
  • 6. Western Roman Empire has collapsed
  • 7. Eastern Roman Empire keeps going - becomes known as Byzantine Empire

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