Powerpoint

• When did the Roman Empire end?
• End of the western Roman Empire

  476
• Death of the last recognized western emperor

  480
• Sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade

  1204
• End of the eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire

  1453
• End of the Holy Roman Empire

  1806
• Late Roman empire


  • Empire after c.300 divided into east and west; east more populous, wealthier than the west; north Africa a key province for the west
• Emperors of the late Roman empire


  • Constantine (d.337)
  • Honorius (d.423)
• Reasons for the end of the (western) Roman Empire


  • Because of many invading barbarians
  • Because of a society weakened by religion
• But survival of the eastern empire!
• 'Barbarians' not a helpful term – each group (and each individual!) had different interests and experienced the empire differently
• Many worked for Rome – the empire provided wealth and status
• The Goths entered empire (in the east!) as refugees, not invaders
• Age of civil war and political instability
• Was the fall of an empire a bad thing for everyone?
• Would everyone have cared?
• Important nuances about the end of the (western) Roman Empire

  • General decline in the economy (the state no longer facilitates exchange in the West; less centralized power)
  • Some regions transformed – Roman culture almost disappeared: e.g. England
  • Military conflicts such as civil wars still devastating for people living through it
• But these caveats still suggest we should abandon a simplistic narrative of chaos and decline
• A letter from Ostrogothic Italy, c.508: 'Our government is an imitation of yours, the exemplary form of the only good imperium set on display'
• Procopius of Caesarea, Wars 5.1: 'In name Theoderic was a usurper, yet in fact he was truly an emperor.'
• Contemporary inscription: "semper Augustus," "guardian of liberty," "propagator of the Roman name," and "born for the good of the Republic"
• The conversion of Clovis, first king of the united Frankish kingdom – described as a 'new Constantine'
• The eastern empire in the age of Justinian (sixth century)
• Suggested reading


  • G. Halsall, Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568 (2007)
  • B. Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (2005)
  • B. Croke, 'A.D. 476: The Manufacture of a Turning Point', Chriron 13 (1983), PDF available here
  • E. Watts, The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea (2021)
  • K. Cooper, 'Gender and the Fall of Rome', in P. Rousseau (ed.), A Companion to Late Antiquity
  • P. Heather, 'Why Did the Barbarian Cross the Rhine?', Journal of Late Antiquity 2.1 (2009)
  • J. Wijnendaele, 'Sarus the Goth: From Imperial Commander to Warlord', Early Medieval Europe 27 (2019)
  • J. Arnold, Theoderic and the Roman Imperial Restoration (2014)
  • H.-U. Wiemer, Theoderic the Great: King of Goths, Ruler of Romans (2023)
• Age of faith


  Role of Christianity much more than just about religious history
• Importance of Christianity


  • Understanding causes of events
  • Shaped wider society/culture
  • Transformed the landscape
  • Huge variety of beliefs
  • Encounters between religions shaped cross-cultural relations (e.g. conversion)
• Lecture outline


  • Imperial Christianity, c.300-500
  • Barbarians and conversion, c.500-900
  • A Christian Europe?
• Lactantius: 'He [Constantine] was enjoined in a dream to mark the heavenly symbol of God on the shields of his men and so to engage in battle. He did as commanded, and marked Christ on the shields.'
• Constantine I = first Christian emperor, ended persecution of Christians
• Imperial patronage of Christianity


  Gradual spread the faith – Christianity made state religion by the end of the fourth century
• Institutional pull factors


  • Financial and legal privileges for Christian clergy
  • Donations for church building
  • Seeking unity of the Church
• Institutional push factors


  • Model of the emperor
  • Hard coercion (anti-pagan legislation e.g. banning of sacrifice)
  • Soft coercion (promotion of Christian officials)
  • Model of Christianity, mission, holy people and bishops, cult of the saints
• Organic push factors


  • Peer pressure
  • Women leading the way (evidence for Roman elite)
• Who converted? Urban middle and lower 'classes' quickly; aristocrats, soldiers, rural people more slowly
• Long-distance trade


  Either through the Indian ocean or overland through central Asia
• Regional differences
• Pliny: '"At the very lowest computation, India, the Seres, and the Arabian Peninsula, withdraw from our empire one hundred millions of sesterces every year—so dearly do we pay for our luxury and our women"'
• Roman state previously already involved in religion
• Silk trade


  1. Monks arrived from India

  2. Learned emperor Justinian wanted a way for Romans to no longer buy silk from Persians

  3. Declared they could arrange for Romans to no longer have to purchase silk from Persians
• Previous persecutions


  • 250-1: first general persecution (Decius), though against Christians?
  • General sacrifice test & certificates
  • Emphasis on unification (following 'Constitutio Antoniana' 212 AD)
  • 257-9: second general persecution (Valerian) – banishment/confiscation of property/execution
  • 303-311: last 'Great Persecution' (under 'Tetrarchy' – system of 'four emperor rule', also includes increased expression of link between emperor and the divine)