• Empire had grown too vast to be ruled from Rome.

• Emperor Diocletian divided it into a Western and an Eastern Empire 285 C.E.)

• Constantine founded a new capital (Constantinople), which shifted the political center of the empire to the east.

• Issued Edict of Milan (317 C.E.); religious tolerance for Christianity.

• Led Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.); codified the Christian faith. Collected manuscripts that would be “The Bible.”

• No longer able to guard its borders (500’s C.E.), Germanic tribes settle in the provinces.

• When Germanic tribes entered into the western part of the Roman Empire, they produced a hybrid culture that drew on both Germanic and Roman elements.

• Western Empire ends (476 C.E.)

• Area breaks into a highly decentralized political system made up of separate Germanic kingdoms.

• Eastern Empire continued on

as the Byzantine Empire until

453 CE.

• Public toilets.Street drainage and underground sewage systems.

• Aqueducts; use gravity to transport water to the cities.

• Public baths; used for hygienic and social purposes.

• 50,000 miles of roads that unified the empire and allowed for long-distant trade.

• Adopted Greek gods.

• Polytheistic.

• Pontifex Maximus; led the state religion.• Ancestor worship; the value of the Roman Republic, idealized as

“the way of the ancestors” was Rule of law.

The Roman Empire emphasized good laws while the Han dynasty emphasized good men (Confucius.)

• From this image we see that the central figure represents the spirit of the male head of the household.

• Such shrines to ancestor worship would be found in a wall niche in someone’s home.

• Welcomed foreign religions. • Many turned to mystery cults.• Had secret rituals only known to those in the faith.

• Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire (4th century C.E.)

• Like the Greeks, Rome began to weaken when new religious beliefs began to challenge traditional ones.

• Romans prized Greek art and hired Greek tutors for their children.

• Latin; official language.• Roman alphabet used today.

Latin Greek

• Vespasian built the Coliseum, (69 C.E.).

• Hadrian built the Pantheon, (128 C.E.).• A temple to all the gods.• Largest unsupported concrete dome in the world.• Built wall to keep nomads out.

• Julius Caesar created solar calendar, of 365 days (46 B.C.E.).• Miscalculated the solar year by 11 minutes.

• Invented blown glass.

• Based on agriculture and industry. • Latifundia; large farm estates,

using slave labor.• Roman patricians were able to

amass large estates because small landowners sold their land to patricians when they entered the army.

• The emergence of large estates based on slave labor led to the spread of wheat and olives throughout North Africa.

• Sons inherited their father’s profession and business.

• Upper class, restricted to careers in army, law or politics.

• Lex frumentaria; law requiring the government to supply citizens with bread, oil, wine, and pork.

• Emperors used system to win favor with the public.

• Contributed to Rome’s economic decline.

• Paterfamilias; oldest living father ruled over the family.

• Sons, 25 or younger, under father’s control.

• Patriarchy

• Women engaged at seven.

• Unlike Greek wives, were not required to live secluded lives.

• By the reign of Augustus, women could divorce. The strongest evidence of increasing female influence.

• Social bonds based on the client system.

• Client; a loyal supporter of a high-standing family.

• Should the client or patron die, their heir would take over the same position.

• Forty percent of Rome were slaves.

• Some slaves were trained as skilled fighters (gladiators).

• Rome had more slavery than any other classical empire.

• Slavery came to an end in the Greco-Roman world by gradually

transforming

into serfdom.

That concludes The Roman Empire.

Any questions before the quiz on the next slide?