WEEK X: PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary sources are available as electronic documents on the Boğaziçi Library web site.

1.Letter of Funbert of Chartres on the Obligation of Vassals
2.Manorial Life
3.Dictatus Papae
4.Ipswich Town Charter (1200)

MEDIEVAL EUROPE: SOCIETY, ECONOMY, POLITICS / SELIM DERINGIL

19 November 2007

MEDIEVAL EUROPE: RURAL SOCIETY AND FEUDALISM

“Europe” as a misnomer: The word “Europe” would have meant nothing in the Middle Ages.People talked about “The Roman Empire” or “Christianity” but never “Europe”. We will nonetheless use the word for the sake of convenience.

Feudalism: A system of social and economic control where the ruling classes (monarchy,aristocracy, clergy) maintained control over and extracted suplus product from the producers (peasants, artisans, guilds) through a system of extra-economic force which was legitimated by religion.

Feudal Rent:
The forms of the extracted surplus product.
i) rent in produce (food products, animals etc)
ii) labour rent (given number of days a week of labour on the lord’s land.
iii) Labour dues. Tasks serfs were obliged to perform free of charge for the lord.
iv) Money rent.

Serfdom: The basic form of labour relations in feudalism. A serf was a peasant who was attached to the land. They could not leave the land of the lord and freely offer their labour elsewhere.

Manor: The name given to the lords’ landholdings. A lord could hold more than one manor.

Allodial holdings: land held free and clear of any feudal obligation.

Vassalage: the relationship of superiority or inferiority in the highly fragmented political structure of feudalism. Each lord was the vassal or inferior of a superior lord.

Patronage: material and moral protection of an inferior by a superior. Artists and intellectuals were able to survive and produce as the result of the patronage of powerful men.

Völkerwanderung: The “wandering of the peoples” . The invasion of the Roman Empire by the Germanic tribes which began on 31 December 495 A.D . This was to be the process which would lead to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

Feudal Synthesis: The gradual mutual influencing of the Germanic tribal traditions of the tribes with Roman practices and traditions. The inevitable outcome of the fact that the Germanic tribes were of a lower level of sophistication than the Roman Empire.

The “barbarian states”: The loose structure of Germano/Roman states that sprang up on the remains of the West Roman Empire. 4-7 century AD.

The Carolingian Empire: The empire began after Charles Martel’s defeat of the Arabs in Poitiers in France in AD 753, thus confining the Arabs to the Iberian Peninsula. It reached its height with the crowning of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor in AD 800. Charlemagne died in 814 and his empire fell apart. The Carolingian Empire represented the high point of feudalism. After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire at the end of the 9th century the land of western Europe became more and more fragmented as each individual lord increased his power.

Parcellization of Sovereignty: the fragmentation and breakdowm of political power in a context where there was little or no centralized power. Each lord would control his own private army and extract surplus product from serfs under his jurisdiction. This led to the formation of a ruling class which could exist more or less independent of the centralized monarchy. This is the main difference between East and West Rome. Although there were powerful aristocrats in the Byzantine Empire there was never the fragmentation that was seen in the west.

Widespread invasions: the collapse of the Carolingian Empire was followed by a “re-barbarisation” of Western Europe. Europe was to be under constant threat from the Arabs in the south, the Magyars (ancestors of present day Hungarians) in the east and the Vikings from the north. Particularly the Vikings were extremely effective raiders . Great sailors, they ranged all the way from America to Constantinople. Gradually, after the 10th century, the danger from the invaders decreased. The Magyars and Vikings converted to Christianity and the Arab invasions were confined to the Iberian Peninsula.

Insecurity leading to feudalism: The condition of constant insecurity that the peasantry and towns lived under meant that they had to turn to the only close source of defense: the feudal lord. This meant that that manors or villages became fortified enclaves and the peasantry was increasingly dependent on the lords. This led to the enserfment of more and more peasantry.

Different historical development of East and West Roman Empire
The traces of the different historical development survives and continues to influence present day Europe. Some form o centralized rule survived in the east under the Byzantine Empire.The Ottomans were to inhert may of the traditions and methods of rule from Byzantium. Fatih Sultan Mehmed actually took as one of his titles: “Sultan al Rum”, meaning Roman Emperor. Latin remained the language of power in the west whereas Greek continued to rule in the east, even after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Most importantly, the division of the European world into the Catholic West and the Orthodox East remained permanent.

21 November 2007

LECTURE II: MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN POLITICS: KINGS and VASSALS / SELIM DERINGIL

Reading material: Perry Anderson, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism pg 147-153.

1. Parcellization of Sovereignty. Political power as a private posession.
“Political power never focused on a single centre. The functions of the state were disintegrated in a vertical allocation downwards , at each level of which political and economic relations were ...integrated”.

2. Combination of jurisdiction with economic exploitation. The peasants inhabited a world of overlapping claims and powers which enabled a measure of resistance. The “weapons of the weak”. Also the parcellization of sovereignty allowed for pockets of resistance such as the forest. Symbolized by romantic figures such as Robin Hood.

3. Vassalage. The holding of fiefs (agricultural land, manors, right to extract surplus) in return for military service and loyalty.

4. Nature of the relationshiop of the producers to the means of production.
Immediate producer unted with the soil in a specific social relationship, serfdom.

5. Feudalism was the first mode of production to allow the autonomous development of commodity production. The sale of objects as commodities. The idea of production for profit rather than subsistance. Had existed even in antiquity but in the feudal mode of production came to acquire a physical shape in the form of the autonomous medieval towns. Later to become the birthplaces of capitalism. It is no accdent that the Renaissance occured in the economically most developed zone in Europe, north central Italy.

6. Dynamic opposition of town and country. Alone possible in the feudal mode of production. Opposition between the urban economy of commodity exchange (capitalism or proto-capitalism) , a system regulated by merchants, bankers, and guilds, and a rural economy of natural exchange (agricultural production), dominated by the manorial economy, lords and vassals.

7. Contradiction at the very summit of the feudal chain. The monarch was the feudal suzerain of his vassals but he was also baound to them by reciprocal ties of fealty. He was not the supreme sovereign. His position was more like a first among equals primus inter pares.

8. The potential for centralizaiton and decentralization.
The feudal mode of production in the West was thus the only one in which the original structure specified a sdynamic tension between the centralizing power and de-centralist forces.

23 November 2007

LECTURE III: MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN POLITICS: POPES AND BISHOPS / SELIM DERINGIL

1. Definition of “Pope”
Meaning “father” in Greek. “Papa”. Head of the Catholic Church. One of the oldest institutions on earth. Extant for over 2000 years. Also ruler of the independent mini-state of the Vatican. Also one of the richest men the world.

2. Apostolic Succession
Vicar of St. Peter. Vicar of Christ. Roman Pontiff. First used in AD 495. Claim that the Popes are the direct descendants to the office of St. Peter, the most beloved of the apostles of Christ.

3. Election
Carried out by secret ballot by a full vote of the Sacred College of Cardinals.Election takes place in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Cardinals meet in a “conclave” (cum clavi) when they are theoretically locked in until they elect a new Pope.(recently popularized by Dan Brown the author of the Da Vinci Code in his novel Demons and Angels) . For many years the Papacy was dominated by Italians. Before the election of the Pole, Karol Wojta as Pope John Paul II in 1978 (itself a political decision Wojta was well known for his anti-communist views) the last non-Italian Pope was a Dutch pope elected in 1522. John Paul was now followed by a German , the current Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger). It is now beleived by some that the days of the election of a Third World Pope are not far away. (Philipino candidate particularly strong)

4. Political Power of Papacy
The office of the Pope has always had great political significance.Although ever since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in A.D 495 the Papacy has no army it was still very powerful because Popes could “excommunicate”. Anybody who openly opposed a Papal ruling was made anathema , thrown out of the Church. The statements of the Popes therefore became dogma ,meaning absolute truth. (Hence the sayings like “Don’t be so dogmatic” or “He is very dogmatic in his attitude”.

5. Pentarchy
Originally there were five great patriarchates. These were Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. This was recoginzed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople was declared “The New Rome” and rose to the most important position. This was helped by the Arab invasions of Jerusalem, and Alexandria.

6. The Great Schism (1054)
After the collapse of Rome the eastern an western parts of the empire drifted apart. There were many linguistic and cultural diferences. Latin and Greek. The “New Rome” became a serious threat to the supremacy of the Old Rome. In the year A:D 395 after the death of the Roman Emperor, Theodosius the Great, the empire was divided.
Reasons for the drifting apart of the two halves of the empire.

i)Disputes in the Balkans, Southern Italy, and Sicily over whether the Western or eastern Church had jurisdiction.

ii) The designation of the Patriarch of Constantinople as ecumenical patriarch (which was understood by Rome as universal patriarch and therefore disputed)

iii) Following the rise of Islam, the relative weakening of the influence of the patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, leading to internal church politics being seen as Rome vs. Constatinople.

Finally on July 16th three ambassadors from the Pope entered the Hagia Sophia during mass on a Saturday afternoon and placed a Bull of Excommunication on the altar. Even after this relations between the two churhes were not completely broken. What caused the most severe rupture was the Fourth Crusade 1204. It continues because each church sees the other as wrong and demands that it is the true chruch.

7. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
After Constantine the Great declared that Constantinople was the “New Rome” in A.D 330 the bishop of Constantinople became the second most important patriarch after the patriach of Rome. For many years Roman popes opposed this decision until in 381 the First Council of Constantinople declared that “The Bishop of Constantinople shall have primacy of honour after the Bishop of Rome, because it is the New Rome”.The Archbishop of Constatinople-the New Rome- ranking as primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox faith which is seen by followers as the One, Holy and Apostolic Church. His title is not recognized by the Turkish state which only recognizes him as the spirtual leader of the Greek minority in Turkey and refers to him as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Phanar, Fener Rum Patriği . yet his poistion is recognized world wide as the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. The Ecumenical Patriarch has a unique role among Orthodox bishops, he bears the title primus inter pares which indicates his seniority among all Orthodox bishops. This primacy grants to the patriarch of Istanbul the power to decide in cases of religious disputes in the Church. For example in 2006 the patriarch was invited to assist in declaring the Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus incompetent due to his having Alzeimer’s disease. All this shows that the Papal visit of Benedict XVI.

8. Papal Infallibility
There is the popular misconception that the Pope is infallible, that he cannot be wrong. This is closely connected with the last Pope’s statement that “Islam is incapable of reform”. There is however a concept of Papal Infallibility.The definition of Papal infallibility was made by the First Vatican Council in 1870. In this council it was declared that in order for a Papal ruling to become dogma , an unchanging rule of the Catholic Church the Pope must be speaking ex cathedra , that is from the chair, meaning from the Papal throne. This is a symbollic statement meaning that the Pope must be speaking officially, otherwise his statement is purely a private opinion. For a Papal statement to be infallible it must confirm to the following rules:

i) The Pope must be speaking as the Roman Pontiff that is the heir of St.Peter.

ii) He must be speaking ex cathedra “that is in the discharge of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, and by the virtue of his apostolic authority...”

iii) He must clearly state that whoever opposes this ruling “will become anathema” will be excommunicated.

iv) He must be speaking of a matter of faith or morals.

v) His declaration must be made for the whole church.

MIDTERM ANNOUNCEMENT

The Midterm will be held on November 26, from 17:00 to 18:30 pm. Each student must take the exam in the assigned room. Those students whose names are not on the room list will not be admitted to the exam in that room.

ALİ ABA - ZERRİN CENGİZ (YD 106)
DİLEKNUR CEYLAN-GÖRKEM GÖMEÇ (YD 206)
ELİF GÜLTEKİN- NURDAN KOÇ (YD 306)
DERYA KONDUMER - ÖZGE SEKMEN (YD 406)
ŞULE SELÇUK-CEREN TOSUN (YD 116)
TUGCE NAZ TUGTEKİN-DOĞAÇ YAVUZ (YD 302)
HÜLYA YAVUZ-GÜRKAN ZORER (YD 304)

Students must bring their student ID cards.

FILM

There will be a documentary film projection this Friday (November 23, 2007) at 17:00 in Garanti Kultur Merkezi.
The title of the movie is: Crusades: Terry Jones Tells the Dramatic Story of Battle for Holy Land (dir. Alan Ereira and David Wallace, 1995)
If you miss this screening, you may also borrow the film from the Mithat Alam Film Center

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE (330-1453) / NEVRA NECİPOĞLU

9.11.2007

Outline (Lecture 1)
The Byzantine Empire: from Constantine the Great to the Age of Justinian

1-Preliminary remarks about the Byzantine Empire, a bridge between Antiquity and the Middle Ages

2-Terminology: “Byzantine Empire” is a later term introduced by German humanists in the 16th cent. The Byzantines considered themselves “Romans” and called their state the “Empire of the Romans”

3-The age of Constantine the Great (r. 306/324-337):
- The foundation of Constantinople
- Nature and meaning of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity

4-Transformation of Christianity from a tolerated, legitimate religion into the official state religion between the reigns of Constantine I and Theodosius I – Co-existence of Christianity and paganism in the early Empire

5-Different balance of state-church relations in Byzantium and in medieval Europe

Vocabulary & Dates (Lecture 1)
Byzantine Empire (330-1453)
Byzantion
Konstantinoupolis = “Constantine’s city” = Constantinople
Emperor Constantine I (r. 306/324-337)
Foundation and dedication of Constantinople (330)
Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305)
Nikomedeia (mod. İzmit)
Edict of Milan (313)
Hagia Sophia / Hagia Eirene / church of the Holy Apostles
Acropolis / pagan temples dedicated to Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite etc.
Emperor Theodosius I (r. 379-395)
Emperor Julian the Apostate (r. 361-363)
sol invictus (“the invincible sun”, title used for the sun-god Apollo)
polytheism / monotheism
Patriarch of Constantinople
First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325)

12.11.2007

Outline (Lecture 2)
Byzantine Society from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages

1-Byzantine imperial ideology & concept of imperial authority

2-The age of Justinian I (r. 527-565):
- Wars of reconquest in the West
- Codification of Roman law
- Hagia Sophia and other building projects
- Nika riot (532)
- Justinianic plague (542)

3-Consequences and aftermath of Justinian’s reign

4-The 7th-century transformation of Byzantium from a late antique into a medieval society

Vocabulary & Dates (Lecture 2)
Charlemagne
Justinian I (r. 527-565) / Theodora (Justinian’s wife)
Empress Irene (r. 797-802) / Empress Zoe (11th c.)
Tribonian
Corpus Juris Civilis (“Body of Civil Law”)=Justinian’s Code
Nika riot (532)
basilica vs. domed church
Sassanids of Persia
Emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641)
polis (“city”)
theme system (thema / pl. themata)

14.11.2007

Outline (Lecture 3)
From the Iconoclastic Controversy to the Great Schism: Christianity Divides

1-Period of Iconoclasm (726-843)

2-Conflicts with the Papacy:
- Pope’s coronation of Charlemagne as “Roman Emperor” (800)
- The Great Schism (1054)

3-The Macedonian dynasty (867-1059):
- Military victories (esp. against Arabs & Bulgars)
- Conversion of Russia and Serbia to Orthodox Christianity
- Growing power of the landowning military aristocracy, etc.


Vocabulary & Dates (Lecture 3)
Iconoclasm (726-843)
Emperor Leo III (r. 717-741)
icon / idolatry / iconoclast vs. iconodule (=iconophile)
Franks
Coronation of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III (800)
Great Schism (1054)
Macedonian dynasty (867-1059)
Emperor Basil II Bulgaroktonos (“Bulgar-slayer”)(r. 976-1025)
Baptism of Prince Vladimir of Kiev (988)
Cyril and Methodius

16.11.2007

Outline (Lecture 4)
1.New external challenges in the mid-11th century: Normans and Seljuks
2.Rise of the crusading movement
3.The Fourth Crusade and the Latin capture of Constantinople (1203/4)
4.Restoration of Constantinople to Byzantine rule (1261)
5.Byzantium as an Ottoman vassal (ca. 1371/2)
6.The fall of Constantinople (1453)
7.Concluding remarks

Vocabulary and Dates (Lecture 4)
Venice / Pisa / Genoa
kommerkion / commercium
Komnenian dynasty (1081-1185)
pronoia
Norman capture of Bari (1071)
Battle of Manzikert/Malazgirt (1071)
Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081-1118)
First Crusade (1095-1098) / Pope Urban II
Anna Komnena’s Alexiad
Fourth Crusade (1203/4)
Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204-1261)
Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1261-1282)
Palaiologan dynasty (1261-1453)
Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391-1425)
Monastery of Chora (Kariye) / Theodore Metochites
Gennadios Scholarios, Greek Orthodox Patriarch under Mehmed II

FAITH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY / VANGELIS KECHRIOTIS

November 7, 2007

Lecture Outline

1. Two main religions in the Mediterranean before the apparition of Christianity: the Greco-Roman religion and the Jewish religion.
2. “Oriental” influences in Greco-Roman religion. Mithraism (Mithraea, decorated by frescoes from 2nd-3rd c.). Tendency towards mysticism.
3. Neo-Platonism: a metaphysical problematic (3rd c.).
4. Christ. Teaching of love, abolishment of social privileges, justice. Consideration to the poor and the helpless.
5. Texts: Old and New Testament (The Gospels, the Apocalypse of John, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles).
6. The contribution of Paul to the spreading of the new religion out of the Jewish communities. Foundation of churches.
7. Numerous persecutions of the Christians, esp. during the emperors Nero, Decius, Diocletian. Martyrs – heroes.
8. By the 4th c. A.D., about 10% of the population of the Roman Empire was Christian.
9. Religious policies of Constantine and Theodosian I.
10. 3rd-4th c.: the monasticism, born in Egypt, starts to develop in Syria and then in Palestine and Anatolia (see Peter Brown). The holy man.


Vocabulary, names and dates

ca. 30 A.D.: crucifixion of Christ.
ca. 35 A.D.: conversion of Paul.
65 A.D.: decapitation of Paul, during Nero
Preaching of an eternal life, peace, love, equity, justice.
Catacombs, Eucharist
Plotinus, Augustine, Boethius
Symeon Stylites (+ 459)
Monasticism, holy man,
Late Antiquity

Constantine (306-337).
313: the edict of Milan.
325: 1st General Council (Nicaea I), in Isnik.
330: Inauguration of Constantinople.
337: Constantine’s baptism.

Theodosius I (378-395)
381: 2nd General Council (Constantinople)
391: Edicts against paganism
392: destruction of the gigantic Serapeum of Alexandria (the biggest temple of its time) and of its library.
393: last Olympic Games

WEEK VIII: PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary sources are available as electronic documents on the Boğaziçi Library web site.
1. Anna Comnena, Alexiad
2. Manuel Palaiologos, Letters

WEEK VII: PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary sources are available as electronic documents on the Boğaziçi Library web site.

1. Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History
2. Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine
3. Constantine’s Coins, Statues and the Arch of Constantine in Rome

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC / NEVRA NECIPOGLU

OUTLINE:

1.Beginnings: The Emergence of Rome – The Regal Period (753-509 B.C.)

Etruscan and Greek Influences on Rome

Early Social Organization

2.The Early Republic (509-360B.C.)

3.From City-State to Domination of Italy (360-264 B.C.)

4.Rome Dominates the Mediterranean (264-133 B.C.)

5.Changing Times: Economic, Social, Political, Cultural Changes (264-133 B.C.)

6.From the Gracchi to the Triumvirate (133-60 B.C.)

7.Failure of the Oligarchy: The Rise of Julius Caesar

8.Social Change in the Late Republic

VOCABULARY:

Tiber River

Latium

Etruria

Romulus and Remus

Vergil’s Aeneid – Aeneas – Anchises (Aeneas’ father)

Magna Graecia

Rex = king

Consul

Comitia centuriata

Senate

Dictator

Struggle of the “Orders” (494-287 B.C.): patricians vs. plebeianstribunes of the plebs

XII Tables (ca. 450 B.C.)

Consilium plebis (Plebeian Assembly) – plebiscite

Equestrians

Jupiter / Zeus

Minerva / Athena

Carthage

Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.)

Hannibal

Scipio Africanus

Macedonian wars

Philip V of Macedon

Corinth

Revolt of Spartacus (73-71 B.C.)

Gracchi brothers: Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

Marius

Sulla

First Triumvirate

Pompey (106-48 B.C.)

Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.)

Rubicon River

Ides of March (44 B.C.)

Stoicism

Cicero

Latifundia

November 2, 2007

ROMAN EMPIRE / VANGELIS KECHRIOTIS

1- Octavian, Marcus Antonius, Lepidus will take revenge from Brutus, Cassius, Cicero for Julius Ceasar’s death
2- The first confrontation between East-West, Octavian’s victory in Actium 31.
3- The titles used by Octavian: emperor, augustus, princeps
4- Three periods: Principate 27 BC-180 AD, 3rd c. crisis 180-284, Dominiate -610
5- Octavian’s rule retained both the senate and the status of citizen.
6- Reforms in public services, new coinage, tax-farming, colonisation of provinces.
7- From Augustus to Trajan, who conquered Dacia, the expansion of the Empire
8- Hadrian, who founded Adrianople, will preserve territories and organize defense
9- For two centuries period of stability, efficient bureaucracy, no external ennemies
10- Pax Romana, peak at 96-180, five good Emperors, last one being Marcus Aurelius
11- Citizenship extended and conquered populations were integrated. Hadrian, Trajan
12- Frontiers fluid, areas of both cultural interaction and violence.
13- Philosophy: Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius
14- Literature: Golden Age, 1st -2nd c., Virgil, Aeneid, Horace, Odes, Ovid, Metamorphoses
15- Silver Age, 3rd c. Tacitus, Germania, he praises the qualities of Romans’ enemies
16- Architecture, Hellenistic motifs are appropriated.
17- Museum culture, out of the objects imported from conquered lands.
18- Public architecture: Dome, baths, race courses, Pantheon, Colosseum
19- Wall painting, mosaic, the original Roman art
20- Engineering, bridges, aqueducts, roads will mark Roman heritage
21- Women’s role improved, they can be involved in literary or political life
22- Gladiator culture
23- Salvationist religions offering hope for the afterlife.
24- International trade flourishes, despise for manual labor, meager industry.
25- Roman law, pretors’ instructions to judges, decisions that create precedent
26- Civil law, law of the peoples, natural law
27- Decline starting with Commodus and the hereditary right of succession
28- Several dynasty, Septemius Severus, military leader who intervenes and introduces military intervention
29- Eventually civil wars 235-284, where authority was given to the general who could mobilize the greater army
30- Heavy taxation, debasing of coin leads to farmers’ devastation, hunger, disease
31- External enemies, Persians, Germans
32- Neoplatonic Philosophy, Plotinus, matter and the body are the prisons of the soul.
33- Emanationism, mysticism
34- Reasons for collapse i) poisoned by lead in kitchen utensils ii) moral degeneration iii) Germanic attacks iv) Political failures (succession right) v) Economic failures
35- Rome’s achievements: It survived until 476 in the West, until 1453 in the East. large geography politically united for long, communication, trade, travel, stable currency, citizenship to all, thus creating political participation.

November 5, 2007

FALL OF ROME AND THE ROMAN LEGACY / VANGELIS KECHRIOTIS

1. What does the phrase “Fall of Rome” mean? Which event illustrates better this end, or change, of a situation? End of a state or end of a civilization?

2. The possible reasons for that change and for the installation of a new situation (Christianity, decline of morals and values, public health – lead, political corruption, unemployment, inflation, urban decay, military spending).

3. The Roman Empire and the Romans after the “Fall of Rome”.

4. The legacies of the Roman civilization to the modern world.

Vocabulary and dates

From 235 to 284 A.D. political instability in the Empire took the form of a civil war. During these 50 years 26 emperors succeeded one another. Only one of them escaped a violent death.

In 313 an Edict of religious Toleration is signed in Milan, by Constantine and Licinius. The Christian religion can be professed in freedom.

In 324 Constantine defeats Licinius and becomes unique emperor of the Roman state. He founds Constantinople; it is also called the New Rome.

330: Constantinople is inaugurated. The imperial court is installed in the new Roman capital.

337: Constantine becomes the first Roman emperor to be baptized and become Christian, just before to die.

In 391 Theodosius signs an Edict forbidding paganism.

In 410 the Visigoth army, lead by Alaric, sack the city of Rome.

In 476 A. D. the Germanic general Odacer or Odovacar overthrew the last of the Roman Emperors, Augustulus Romulus. From then on the western part of the Empire was ruled by Germanic chieftain.

Administration

Engineering, technology, transports, communication

Via EgnatiaRoman legal system

Justinian (emperor: 527-565), summation of all Roman laws.

Corpus Juris Civilis (529), in Latin, 3 parts: Digesta (or Pandectae), Institutiones, Codex.

Later supplement, a collection of new laws issued during Justinian’s reign: the Authenticum or Novellae Constitutiones, in Greek.

Constantinople grew out of the Greco-Roman World (planning, urban environment, display of Greek sculptures in public space). “Universal capital”.

Example: display of two statues of Aphrodite in the bath of Hesychios, in Milet (6th century). Conclusion: as long as life in the Roman cities was maintained, and the economic prosperity of the upper class was assured, and that the educational system was preserved, the antique Roman culture was kept alive in the eastern part of the Empire. It was the big military, demographic and economic catastrophe of the 7th – 8th c. that progressively put an end to the antique culture in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.