Late Antiquity: The Age of New Boundaries, 250-600

The WestThe West

CHAPTER 6

The Breakdown of Imperial Government

• Chronic civil war and political turmoil between 233 and 284 C.E.

• Invasions in both eastern and western provinces

• Economic collapse and administrative breakdown

• Political decentralization, as power shifted to provincial capitals

Reformation under Diocletian, 284-305 C.E.

• Tetrarchy - the empire was divided in two, each half with a senior and junior emperor

• Heightened the symbolic power of the emperor

• Separated administrative and military bureaucracies, in provinces

• New tax system to pay for larger government

The Unintended Consequences of Reform

• Increasing social inequality• Shift in power from urban élites to imperial

bureaucracy led to deterioration of urban life

• Acceleration of decentralization and fragmentation

• Political and economic power shifted decisively to the eastern half of the empire

Constantine: The First Christian Emperor

• Constantine (r. 306-337) became sole emperor abandoning tetrarchy

• Retained separate eastern and western administrations

• Conversion to Christianity led to eventual Christianization of entire empire

• Built city of Constantinople - came to symbolize the link between empire and Christianity

The Spread of Christianity

• Christian community evolved into a formal organization, with an administration and hierarchy modeled on imperial system

• The Petrine Succession - by mid-fifth century, the bishop of Rome achieved preeminence

• Christianity transformed the physical appearance and spiritual life of cities

• Increasing intolerance of non-Christian religions - polytheistic worship banned in 391

Christian Doctrine and Heresy

• Demarcation, by the Church, between orthodox and heretical thought

• Dispute between Arians and Athanasians over the nature of the Trinity and the nature of Jesus Christ

• Nicene Creed (325) - stated Jesus was identical in nature and essence to God

• Council of Chalcedon (451) - declared Jesus was both human and divine

Communities of Faith and Language

• Chalcedonian (Orthodox or Catholic) - North Africa, Balkans, Italy, Gaul

• Monopysite - Armenian church and kingdom, Coptic church in Egypt, Syriac church in Syria

• Arian - Germanic settlers in western Empire• Latin was the language of Christianity, in the west• Greek was the language of Christianity, in the east

The Monastic Movement

• Egyptian ascetic movement challenged the wealth and hierarchy of the Church

• Monastic communities: Pachomius (ca. 292-346) wrote instructions to regulate communal, ascetic life

• Monasticism offered women an opportunity for independence from male world, but also reinforced negative perceptions of women in Christian thought

Jews in a Christian World

• Advance of Christianity led to legal discrimination against Jews

• Abolition of Jewish Patriarchate, 429 B.C.E., spelled the end of Jewish status as an official ethnic community within the empire

• Rabbinic Judaism legitimized the subordination of women, in Jewish communities

Access to Holiness: Christian Pilgrimage

• Competition for relics of saints and martyrs

• Palestine became the spiritual focus of the Christian world and a principal pilgrimage destination

• Pilgrimage fostered a sense of Christian community between people of many lands

• Development of a “spiritual geography”

Christian Intellectual Life

• After 312, the Church began to reconcile Christian and classical thought

• Monasteries were instrumental in the preservation and transmission of classical learning

• Neoplatonic thought reinforced Christian asceticism and ideas about the soul

• Disconnection of human destiny from the fate of the Roman Empire, in historical thought

The Fall of Rome’s Western Provinces

• Lacking the military capacity to repel Germanic invaders, the western government offered them land within the empire

• Germanic settlers consolidated and strengthened over several generations

• Gradually, these settlements became independent kingdoms

The End of Roman Rule in the Western Empire

• Germanic settlers were numerically inferior, but militarily superior - they retained a distinct identity

• Loyalty and allegiance to local kings superseded service to empire

• Development of new warrior aristocracies, with personal ties to local king

The Birth of Byzantium: Christianity and Law

• The emperor Justinian defined the imperial role in explicitly Christian terms

• Enforced uniformity of Roman law and orthodox Christianity, by force

• Constantinople became the political and spiritual center of a monotheistic empire, united under one God, one emperor and one law

Conflicts to the West and East

• Justinian’s attempts to re-conquer the western provinces overextended Byzantium’s resources

• Resentment of Justinian’s doctrinal interference fueled divisions between Christian churches in the east and west

• Intermittent and persistent warfare with the Persian Empire

A Transformed World

• Division of Europe into two culturally, politically and linguistically separate regions

• Emergence of Christianity as a defining characteristic of Western civilization