Rome’s troubles increased as foreign forces grew more powerful. In the north and west of Europe, Germanic tribes threatened imperial lands. In Asia Minor, the Sassanians, a renewed Persian kingdom, fought Roman troops. The emperors had to spend more money fighting distant wars, which harmed the economy of the empire. At the same time, the emperors had to give up some political rule in the provinces-lands conquered and controlled by Rome-to local officials.
In 286, the emperor Diocletian (245-316) decided to share power with a co-emperor; each took responsibility for one part of the empire. This division remained in place for more than 200 years.
One of the exceptions came under Constantine the Great (285-337), who ruled over a united empire from 324 to 337. Constantine is best remembered for being the first emperor to convert to Christianity, a religion that developed in Roman lands after the death of Jesus Christ around 29. Constantine also moved the empire’s capital to Byzantium, a small city in what is now Turkey.
The city’s name was later changed to Constantinople and is today called Istanbul.
The empire split again after Constantine. Over the next few decades, the western half faced growing attacks from so-called barbarian invaders. Going into the fifth century, German chieftains took control of larger parts of the empire. The Romans by this time relied on friendly Germanic tribes for military aid, and some of the best German soldiers were important generals for Rome. In 476, German soldiers named one of their commanders the emperor in the west, marking the end of the western half of the Roman Empire. The eastern Roman Empire, however, survived, with Constantinople as its capital. It became the Byzantine Empire, which lasted for almost another 1,000 years.
Heart of the Catholic Church
Rome eventually became the seat of Western Christianity. This is St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, an independent state in the heart of Rome run by the Roman Catholic Church. The official language here is Latin.
Still, the idea of Rome as the center of a great empire was not completely dead. The city became the home of the leader of the Christian church in Western Europe-the pope. The church used Latin, the language of Rome, in its services and drew on Roman law and literature. This Christian church is today called the Roman Catholic Church. It served as a link between ancient Rome and the political and social structures that followed it in Western Europe.
Rome’s rise and fall took place over 1,000 years. During that time, the Romans ruled a larger empire than any people before them. The Roman Empire also lasted longer than any other government ever created in the West. Its society, according to Finley Hooper in Roman Realities, thrived because of “tradition, education, and family pride.” Yet the empire collapsed more because of breakdowns in that society, not dangers from outside. The appeal of the old ways lost out to a lust for power and wealth, along with economic and political forces the emperors could not or would not control. Roman history is filled with abusive leaders and the use of force to expand the empire’s borders. Most people of the era lived in poverty and had limited legal rights. Still, the great things that Rome accomplished remain part of the foundation of the modern Western world.
World History
