5/9/13

The Roman Empire struggles after the Pax Romana

• In the Third Century AD:
• diseases spread
• hard to defend the frontier against the barbarians
• emperors lost hold of power
• stayed in power for an average of two and a half years
• this was because of wars or people wanted to kill you
• maintaining armies is expensive
• too many citizens in poverty
• 284 AD - Diocletian's Reforms
• increase the size of the army to 400,000 troops
• 1/3 bigger than during Augustus' time
• recruit from barbarians
• recruiting the barbarians was a big risk because they could easily conquer them from the inside
• divide Roman territories into smaller provinces
• new gov't had 20,000 officials
• 10 times bigger 
• if you put more people in charge them more people will become corrupt
• there might be more ideas to help Rome
• more efficient at collecting higher taxes
• this provided a larger army
• but the people are getting something out of the higher taxes
• 300AD
• 60 million people in the empire
• several million are Christians
• Christianity appeal to the poor and disenfranchised
• more Christians
• more face-to-face contact
• more conversions
• more offspring
• Some Christians are gaining power, and becoming the ruling elite
• Diocletian 
• rulled from 284-305
• left Christians alone
• then undertook the most systematic persecution of all*
• Constantine
• ruled as emperor 306-337

1. How did he persecute them all?
• 
  
2. What was his connection with Christianity?
• Constantine favored Christianity. He was exposed to Christianity by his mother but did not commit to a specific religion. But scholars believed that over time he did adopt his mothers religion. Although he didn't get baptized until right before his death. His conversion was thought to be a turning point for early Christianity and was referred to as the Triumph of the Church. But between the time he converted and when he was baptized him and his wife had his two eldest sons murdered.  The battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision of the Christian God promising victory if they daubed the sign of the Chi-Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, on their shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine's success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism.
3. How did he restructure the empire?
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5/8/13

Christianity in the Pax Romana

• It all begins with Jesus
• Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
• Gospel - good news
• Jesus was a Jewish preacher. 
• Known as Messiahs
• He though one must strive for perfection because God was perfect.
• He sought out imperfection in society.
• He hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors because society was crapped on.
• He was known as the Messiahs who had come to the world to bring faith.
• He was known to be God and Human.
• He was a threat to Roman Rule.
• The followers of Jesus where known as Apostles.
• Paul of Tarsus was a Jew who became a follower of Jesus after a miraculous vision on thee road to Damascus. 
• Paul was the one who was spreading news about him even though he hadn't seen him or met him. 
• Paul was persecuting and was blind. But when Jesus told him to stop he did and his eyesight came back. 
• After Paul was well-traveled and help find churches and kept in touch with new Christians. 
• Letters came from Corinth, Thessalonia, Rome, and Ephesus. 
• 
  

5/6/13 LO2 Christianity in the era of the Roman Peace

        Jesus

- During the period of Jewish conflict leading up to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD Jesus lived and taught.

- The Gospels are books of good news about Jesus. 

- The authors didn't focus on the details of Gods life but more on the birth and death of him.

        The Teacher

- The people that believed in Jesus and the Jews began to fight because the Jews thought he was a direct opponent of their group. 

- Jesus did everything a normal person would to.

- He went to church, he obeyed the law, and h even fallowed some of the Jewish traditions. 

- Because someone said "be perfect, as your heavenly God is perfect" Jesus took this way farther.

- He made a point of associating people whom are sticklers for the Law to be displeasing to God. 

       The Messiah

- Jewish groups hoped for benign. 

- But to fulfill this traditional prophecy that the whole human race will turn to one God.

Today's Class 4/25/13 LO3 The Overthrow of the Republic

LO3: The Overthrow of the Republic

• Non-citizens had no right to a share in government
•  Citizens who lived far away from Rome mostly had no voting rights
• Rome's triumphs abroad had a profound effect on society at home
• In former days, the farmer-soldier had been the backbone of the state
• But the social and economic revolution that followed the Punic Wars changes all that
• Proletarian: In ancient Rome, a propertyless but voting citizens, the lowest calls of Roman citizens
• Rome had "bread and circuses", meaning that there was free food and entertainment
• A new social group was on the up raising, and this group used their wealth to buy buying up ruined farms, restocking them, and then turning them to new purposes
• By 150 B.C., slaves made up nearly one-third of the population of Italy
• Slaves were secretion and tutors in the household of the rich and powerful domestic servant
• Aristocratic-the topmost level of society
• Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus = the Gracchus Brothers
• Tiberius was elected tribune of the people in 133 B.C.
• Gaius died in 121 B.C. (was his murdered?)
• First civil war was at 88 and 83 B.C.
• Triumvirate: In ancient Rome, an alliance of three politicians that enabled them to control the Republic's decision making
• Julius Ceaser entered the city's politics at a young age
• Ceaser was murdered on March 15, 44 B.C. or the Ideals of March

Test

• The soldier/farmers who fought in Rome’s wars often lost their farms when they returned to Italy and were reduced to the lowest “proletarian” citizen status
• War profiteers abounded and traded in slaves, weapons, and often bought abandoned farms to create large plantations (latifundia)
• "Just grab some land!" (Tiberius Gracchus is NOT cool with that)

War Profiteers

• used their wealth to buy up ruined farms
• small plots were merged into large estates for use as vineyards, olive groves, or pastureland for livestock
• displaced farmers could not compete with the low cost of hiring slaves (Carthage)
• in 150 BC, slaves made up one third of the population of Italy

• In the second century B.C., the Gracchi brothers attempted to carve out special rights for the poor, but their attempts were opposed and they were eventually murdered by their enemies in the Senate

• The Plan:
• resettle many of the city's poor (including army veterans) on small farms
• provide a public subsidy of grain (welfare) for those who remained in Rome
• this would raise the number of independent, self sufficient farmers
• would also reduce the gap between rich and poor
• with Tiberius in the assembly as a tribune, this woulda shoulda coulda worked
• sometimes run out of time.
• Tribunes only served one year, so Tiberius came up short
• his (possibly illegal) re-election simply enraged his enemiesh
• they killed Tiberius, and over 300 of his supporters
• his younger brother Gaius, meanwhile...

What happened to Gaius after he was killed by the Senate:

Gaius' head was cut off, as Opimius had announced that whomever brought back the head would be paid its weight in gold. When the head measured an astonishing seventeen and two-thirds pounds, it was discovered that Septimuleius, who brought the head, committed fraud by removing the brain and pouring in molten lead and therefore received no reward at all. The bodies of Gaius, Fulvius and the three thousand supporters who also died were thrown into the Tiber, their property confiscated and sold to the public treasury.

Civl War

• Julius Caesar, a talented patrician, formed a unique government with two former Sulla allies, Pompey and Crassus, known as the triumvirate
• Pompey was an accomplished general, Crassus the richest man in Rome               (and one of the richest men in history)
• Julius was named proconsul of so. Gaul, and within eight years conquered the rest of it, as well as parts of Britain and Germany, giving him great wealth, power, and influence

• Pompey is jealous, and the Senate is worried
• they tell Caesar to disband his army before returning to Rome
• instead, he and his army cross the Rubicon and make a grand, heroic entrance
• this causes a near civil war between Caesar's forces and Pompey's troops
• Pompey is defeated in Greece, and is killed in Egypt where he had taken refuge
• 46 BC: Caesar returned to Rome in triumph  and was declared “Father of the Fatherland” (an awesome title invented just for him)
• JC had himself appointed tribune, supreme pontiff, consul, and dictator - some at the same time
• why not shoot the works? - he had the Senate name him dictator for life
• we have now come full circle since the days of Tarquin the Proud, haven't we?
• resettle war veterans on farmlands in Italy and in the provinces
• extend Roman citizenship to parts of Gaul and Spain
• appointed citizens from the provinces to the Senate
• build splendid buildings and roads
• introduce reforms into every department of administration

Today's Class 5/2/13

In class today we finished watching the videos and talked about it. We learned that Tiberious was brutaly murdered by the Senate because they didnt like that he was running to be the ruler again. Also we learned that his plan to get the rich land owners to give up some of their land to give to the poor didnt work. After

Today's Class 4/31/13

I wasn't in class today cause I am sick.