FALL OF ROME- MIDDLE AGES BORN

1. FALL OF ROME- MIDDLE AGES BORN HISTORIC OVERVIEW

3. MIDDLE AGES FOLLOW ROME • Middle Ages is the name given to 1000 years of European (from Europe) history • Also called Medieval times– from Latin words meaning, “middle” and “age”

4. Rome

5. TIMELINE • Began after Fall of Rome • Lasted till Renaissance (Rebirth) Death of Alaric • From about 476 to about 1500

6. HOW DID ROME FALL? • 200CE Rome HUGE • Stretched all across Europe and North Africa • Capital Rome – plus many other great cities • Great civilization – laws, government, architecture, technology

8. ROME SPLITS • Empire no longer manageable • Wars on several fronts • Empire split in two by Diocletian in 284 Empire in two parts – West and East • 330 CE Constantine built Constantinople the new capital in the East

9. ROME BECOMES CHRISTIAN • 313-Christianity legal • Emperor Constantine converted • 391-Christianity state religion • Pagan Rome became Christian Europe Constantine

10. GRADUAL TRANSFORMATION OF ROMAN EMPIRE Transformed in 3 big ways • Gradually became Christian, not Pagan • German settlers assimilated into Rome and by 476 Western empire controlled by German kings • Eastern Empire became Byzantine Empire, an lost much land to Muslim Turks

11. 3 HEIRS OF ROMAN EMPIRE • West • Byzantine Empire • Islam

12. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WEST, BYZANTINE, ISLAM Economic – • Islam prosperous, much trade, merchants, professionals • Byzantine empire revived after wars, trade, Constantinople important, farms productive • West – rich lived well, most people struggling, land unproductive

13. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WEST, BYZANTINE, ISLAM Political • Byzantine centralized Empire had both spiritual and worldly power, appointed Patriarch, head of navy and army • Islam also centralized • West fragmented – many small, often warring kingdoms

14. WEST’S GRADUAL TRANSITION INTO MIDDLE AGES • Period after the fall of Rome called Early Middle Ages • Period of war, confusion and chaos Alaric Hannibal Atilla the Hun