Getting Back to Glory Any small school item may be use as your game piece Use coin as dice – Heads move forward 2 spaces – Tails move forward 4 spaces Each time a player lands on circle draw a “Glory Game Card” and follow the instructions Complete “What Really Happened” WS as you are playing the game – Worksheet is due at the end of class

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The End of the Pax Romana In 180 Marcus Aurelius died his death marked the end of the Pax Romana – Over the next 300 years the empire slowly declined The peace of Roman depended on one emperor following another without violence – Military commanders began to challenged emperors – Civil wars broke out more frequently

The Imperial Crisis The years are called the Imperial Crisis – Rome was torn apart and split into pieces Economic problems – Civil wars created massive economic problems – Emperors tried to get the money they needed for war by making coins with less gold – War make trade dangerous

Foreign invasions – During this period Rome’s foreign enemies were also becoming more dangerous – The empire’s size made it difficult to defend the borders

Germanic tribes (people who lived across the empire’s northern borders) – Made up of Franks, Vandals, and Goths – Germans raided Roman territory more often during the imperial Crisis Romans called the Germans barbarians (people who did not share their culture) – Many Germans adopted parts of Greco-Roman culture

The Late Empire When Diocletian became leader in 284 the empire recovered from the crisis Diocletian – Ruled the whole empire – Sent troops to restore peace to frontier regions – Persecuted Christians – Divided the empire into two halves West ruled by Maximian East ruled by Diocletian

Constantine – Converted to Christianity – Edict of Milan permanently established religious toleration for Christianity in 313 – In 324 he began work on a new capital for the eastern half in what is now Turkey Old Greek city called Byzantium When Constantine died is was called Constantinople