Fall of Rome and the Church Flashcards
Nea Rome
“New Rome” built by Constantine in 324 where Asia Minor and Europe meet. (Constantinople)
Who built 12 mile thick walls around Constantinople?
Theodosius ll
What was the Christian capital with 50 churches
Constantinople
- no pagan churches (banned)
- major trade route
- Greek language, but Latin for legal system
Edict of Milan
313- Constantine ordered return of meeting places and property to those who lost it during Diocletian Great persecution
How did the first popes come to be?
Some bishops saw themselves as successors fo saint peter and claimed precedence over other bishops.
(Many popes)
What did Constantine do to the weekly calendar?
Ordered 7 day week with day of rest
Arianism
Only god is divine, Jesus is not.
Had did the empire become a bureaucracy?
Employed 30 000 administrators to military and civil services.
What was the Solidus?
A new coin implemented by Constantine and made from pagan temple gold.
Increased gap between rich and poor.
The coloni
People forced to stay in a place and labourers on estates, liable to taxes. (Legally free but confined as slaves)
Julian
Constantine’s nephew who rejected Christianity and tried to reverse effect on the empire.
- dismissed bishops
- re established pagan temples
- died
Jovian
Successor of Julian, re established Christianity
Theodosius l
A ruthless emperor
-did not destroy pagan temples but left them
-got rid of vestal virgins and Olympic Games
Edit of Thessalonica: Form of Christianity in Nicea the official religion of the empire
In what century did even prosperous cities start to shrink
4 th century
What did Goths do at this time in the Roman Empire
- Became more difficult to deal with
- launched raids into Rome
- converted to Christianity by missionary
- became allies with a Rome
Huns
Horse-Borne nomads form the east that began to destroy Goths agrarian communities.
War at Andrianople
- Goths ask for help from Rome to defeat Huns.
- Rome agrees but realizes mistake
- Rome suffers bad loss
- Goths defeat Huns
- Goths now treated better by Rome
What types of superstition spread
Diviners, oracles, astrology, magicians, charmers
Thrice-wise Hermes
Prophet in Egypt that provided followers with texts about astrological, alchemical, and magical recipes
Neoplatonism
Started by Plotinus trying to restore philosophies in Rome
- reading and teaching of Plato
- Gods rule universe
- His disciple Porphyry wrote down his texting and used them to wage war on Christians (errors in writing in bible and commandments were bad).
Origen of Alexandria
- born into Christian Family, and so devoted he castrated himself to stop lust.
- set out to show that Christianity represented the culmination of best parts of Ancient Greek and Jewish culture.
- Translated Old Testament to Greek
- Assembled first systematic bible
- establish a canon: set of texts recognized as orthodox
Mani
A Persian Christian that preached what God told him
- said he had a guide to life the could release people from matter
- said Gods elect needed to live an ascetic life: no certain foods, no violence to any living thing (reincarnation)
Eusebius
Most prominent Christian thinker and writer. Was a cleric from Caesarea. Turned local church into a media Center
- Dre up the chronicle: long series of world history showing Christianity and Judaism was older than Greek culture.
- portrayed Constantine and Isela monarch
Monks
Left families to live Christian life and pursue holiness by dedication and celibacy.
-Started by military veteran Pachomius who organized communities of men and women who wore uniforms and followed simple set of life rules.
By the time pachomius died how had monasteries grow
3000 in Egypt
Hermits/ dessert father’s and mother’s
People who lives outside borders of towns and lived lives as monks on their own to make God The Center of their life’s
Simeon Stylites
Syrian Christian The fasted and wore painfully tight clothes and sat up top a pillar for 36 years
Council of Nicea
Assembly of senior clergy to debate Arianism. Vast majority disagreed. Constantine proposed God and Jesus as of the same substance
Donatus Magnus
Bishop of Carthage insisted sacraments by clerics who had compromised beliefs in persecution were invalid
Constantine’s brutal punishments
- those who committed parricide (killing parent) were to be sew up in sack with snakes and thrown into river.
- slanderers and public enemies were crucified or burned at the stake
Codification of the laws
438- Theodosius ll is sed this which was 2700 enactments if the emperors from Constantine to his own, topically arranged.
Jerome and Augustine
Jerome- Christian since birth (charged with illicit relations with females.
Augustine- successful orator and leader (pre destination)
Both suggested as Christians to accommodate love for ancient writers with commitment to the church.
What role did women okay in Augustine’s church
Subordinate
The vulgate
Bible that came to be in western churches (Jerome)
Fall of Rome (not full reason)
476- gothic leader odoacer removed Romulus Augustus from throne but gave him a pension and her lived in a villa.
Fall of Rome lead up
408- Visigoth leader Alaric besieged Rome for ransom
410- Alaric returns and sacks Rome (not churches, He Christian)
450’s- Attila the Hun ravaged Italy
455- Vandals (Germanic) took North Africa from Romans and sacked Rome
