1. Chapter 2 – The Fall of Rome
Section Notes
Video
The Roman Empire
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire
Ancient Rome and the World Today
Maps
History Close-up
The Roman Empire at its Height, 117
Early Christianity in the Roman Empire
The Eastern and Western Empires
Invasions of the Roman Empire,
The Byzantine Empire, 1025
The Glory of Constantinople
Quick Facts
Roman Accomplishments
Why Rome Fell
The Western Roman and Byzantine Empires
Chapter 2 Visual Summary
Images
Roman Ruins
Time Line: Key Events in Roman History
Justinian and Theodora

2. The Roman Empire The Big Idea
7.1.1
The Big Idea
The Romans made great advances in many fields that helped keep their empire strong.
Main Ideas
Leadership and laws helped the Romans in building the empire.
Roman advancements in engineering, architecture, art, and philosophy helped shape later civilizations.
Christianity spread quickly throughout the Roman world.

3. Main Idea 1: Leadership and laws helped the Romans in building the empire.
Rome grew from a tiny village to a huge city.
Home to more than a million people
The territories Rome controlled formed one of the largest states the world had ever seen.
Territories surrounded the Mediterranean Sea.
The Roman Empire was ruled by emperors.
Roman citizens understood their laws and had protected rights.

4. Roman Emperor’s Powers
Declare war, raise taxes, and punish lawbreakers
Nominate public officials and influence meetings of the Senate
Lead religious festivals

5. Roman Citizenship
Citizens were the people who could participate in government.
Citizens had the right to vote and hold public office.
Duties of citizenship included
Paying taxes
Serving in the army when needed
Rome’s emperors gave citizenship to groups that the Romans had conquered.
This act helped keep people loyal to Rome.

6. Main Idea 2: Roman advancements in engineering, architecture, art, and philosophy helped shape later civilizations.
Engineering
Roads lasted for centuries, and bridges spanned raging rivers.
Aqueducts, human-made channels that carried water from distant mountain ranges into Rome or other cities
Architecture and Art
Romans borrowed from Greek ideas, such as using columns and open space, but made their buildings larger and grander.
Roman art borrowed ideas from the Greeks, such as making their art look realistic.
Philosophy
Wanted to show the world as it really was
Wanted their ideas to improve people’s lives

7. Main Idea 3: Christianity spread quickly throughout the Roman world.
Roman officials tried to stop the growth of Christianity, but they were unsuccessful.
Later emperors increased their support for Christianity, and it became the official religion of the empire.
By the 300s most of Rome’s population was Christian.
Church leaders became major figures in Roman society.

8. Fall of the Western Roman Empire
7.1.2
The Big Idea
Problems from both inside and outside caused the Roman Empire to split and the western half to collapse.
Main Ideas
Many problems threatened the Roman Empire, leading one emperor to divide it in half.
Barbarians invaded Rome in the 300s and 400s.
Many factors contributed to Rome’s fall.

9. Main Idea 1: Many problems threatened the Roman Empire, leading one emperor to divide it in half.
At its height the Roman Empire included all the land around the Mediterranean Sea.
The empire became too large to defend or govern efficiently.
Emperor Diocletian divided the empire to make it more manageable.

10. Problems in the Empire
Emperors gave up territory because they feared the empire had become too large. Yet new threats to the empire were appearing.
Because so many people were needed for the army, there was no one left to farm the land.
Disease and high taxes threatened Rome’s survival.

11. Division of the Empire
Emperor Diocletian divided the empire because it was too big for one person to rule.
Emperor Constantine reunited the two halves shortly after he took power. He moved the capital east, into what is now Turkey.
The new capital was called Constantinople. Power no longer resided in Rome.

12. Main Idea 2: Barbarians invaded Rome in the 300s and 400s.
Not long after Rome’s capital moved, German barbarians raided the Roman Empire.
In the late 300s, a new group, called the Huns, invaded Europe. They were from Central Asia.
The Goths fled from the Huns into Rome. They moved into western Roman territory.
Additional attacks by more invaders made the empire weak.

13. The Sacking of Rome
The Huns pushed a group called the Goths into Rome because they had nowhere else to go.
The Goths destroyed Rome after Rome quit paying them not to attack.
The Goths sacked, or destroyed, Rome in 410.

14. The Empire in Chaos
The Goths’ victory encouraged other groups to invade the western half of the empire.
The Vandals invaded Spain, crossed into northern Africa, and destroyed Roman settlements.
Led by Attila, the Huns raided most of the Roman territory in the east, except for Rome. Attila avoided Rome because he had been told diseases ran wild there.
Roman emperors became weak, and military leaders took power. They did not protect the empire, however.
A Barbarian general overthrew the last weak emperor in Rome and named himself king in 476. This event is considered the end of the western Roman Empire.

15. Main Idea 3: Many factors contributed to Rome’s fall.
The large size of the empire made it hard to govern.
Barbarian invasions weakened the empire.
Corruption, or the decay of people’s values, in politics led to inefficiency in government. Bribes and threats were used to achieve goals.
Wealthy citizens began to leave Rome, making life more difficult for those who remained.
Inflation and a weakening economy were factors.
The military used its power to make and remove emperors.

16. The Byzantine Empire The Big Idea
7.1.3
The Big Idea
The Roman Empire split into two parts, and the Eastern Roman Empire prospered for hundreds of years after the western empire fell.
Main Ideas
Eastern emperors ruled from Constantinople and tried but failed to reunite the whole Roman Empire.
The people of the eastern empire created a new society that was very different from society in the west.
Byzantine Christianity was different from religion in the west.

17. Main Idea 1: Eastern emperors ruled from Constantinople and tried but failed to reunite the whole Roman Empire.
Justinian wanted to reunite the old Roman Empire. He conquered Italy and much land around the Mediterranean.
He examined Rome’s laws and organized them into a legal system called the Justinianic Code.
Removed out-of-date and unchristian laws
Simplified Roman law to give fair treatment to all
He made two enemies who would have run him out of Constantinople had his wife, Theodora, not convinced him to stay.
Theodora was smart and powerful, and advised Justinian on how to end the riots.

18. The Empire after Justinian
After his death, the eastern Roman Empire began to decline.
Later emperors lost all the land Justinian had gained.
In 1453, a group called the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople and ended the eastern Roman Empire.
The 1,000-year history of the eastern Roman Empire came to an end.

19. How the eastern empire differed from the western empire
Main Idea 2: The people of the eastern empire created a new society that was very different from society in the west
How the eastern empire differed from the western empire
The society was called the Byzantine Empire.
People studied Greek, not Latin.
They traded with and were influenced by other cultures.
Emperors had more power and were thought to be chosen by God. They had both political and religious power.

20. Main Idea 3: Byzantine Christianity was different from religion in the west.
Christianity was very important to both the East and the West.
Churches and mosaics, or pictures made with pieces of colored stone or glass, reflected their devotion to God.
People in the East and West began to interpret elements of Christianity differently.
Eastern priests could get married, but Western priests could not.
Religious services were performed in Greek in the East and in Latin in the West.
The East broke away from the West and formed the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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