The "Fall" of Rome, The Silk Roads, and Changes in Afro-Eurasia Notes

The "Fall" of Rome in the West, The Silk Roads, and Changes in Afro-Eurasia

Split of the Roman Empire

  • Ancient Byzantium:
    • Founded by Greek colonists from Megara around 657 BCE.
  • Constantine the Great's Influence:
    • Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the Roman Empire's capital from Rome to Byzantium in 330 CE and renamed it Constantinople.
    • Marked a significant shift in the empire's focus and the beginning of what would later be known as the Byzantine Empire.
  • Eastern Roman Empire:
    • Centered in Constantinople, continued after the Western Roman Empire's collapse in 476 CE.
    • Byzantines considered themselves "Rhomaioi" (Romans) and inheritors of the Roman tradition, their culture and language were heavily influenced by Greek.
  • Legacy:
    • The Byzantine Empire, also known as Byzantium, continued to exist for over a thousand years, surviving until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks.

The “Fall” of Rome in the West

  • Political and economic fabric unraveling around 400 CE.
  • Who were the barbarians?
    • From frontiers of empire.
    • Barbarian synonymous with “soldier”.
  • Goths in Gaul
    • Romans needed soldiers; emperor invited Gauls but mistreated them.
    • Adrianople 378 CE: Gothic cavalry too much for Roman imperial army.
    • Fall of empire a result of long overextension, disgruntled barbarian immigrants, and civil war.
    • Goths served as local militia in Gaul (418 CE).

The Huns

  • Romans and non-Romans feared the Huns led by King Attila (406–453 CE).
  • Fashioned the first opposing empire that Rome had ever faced in northern Europe.
  • Extracted tribute of gold from Roman emperors.
  • Roman empire disintegrates twenty years after Attila’s death.
  • Romulus Augustulus resigned to make way for “barbarian king” in Italy.
  • Roman empire disintegrated after a long process of overextension.
  • “Barbarians” were only the last straw.

Continuity Through the Church

  • Decline in Roman Empire makes way for sense of unity through Catholic Church, with bishop of Rome the symbolic head of western churches.
  • Rome becomes spiritual rather than political capital of imperial city.

Byzantium and The Byzantine Empire

  • Byzantium Roman Empire of east undamaged: Byzantium New Rome, Constantinople.
  • Extremely successful city with 500,000 people and 4,000 palaces.
  • Strategically important location in the Bosporus Strait.
  • Hippodrome
  • Justinian - Emperor in 527 CE.
  • Reformed Roman Laws Digest - law book
  • Institutes - teacher’s manual in law school
  • Foundation of Roman Law - continuation of Roman law
  • Hagia Sophia - aka Holy Wisdom, showed power of church and state
  • Internal discord and Sasanian Persia threatened Byzantine Empire.
  • Bubonic Plague 531–542 CE killed one-third of Constantinople within weeks.

The Silk Roads (1 of 2)

  • Increasing exchanges of ideas using Silk Roads.
  • Provided way for universalizing religions to flow: Buddhism, Christianity, and Vedic religion (Brahmanism) across Afro-Eurasia.
  • Central Asia hub of cross-cultural contact.
  • The Sasanians control city of Merv, and nomads control other key cities.

The Silk Roads (2 of 2)

  • Sasanian Persia - 224 - 651 CE (Iran to Mesopotamia, to the border of Byzantine Empire) Ruler known as “King of Kings of Iranian and non-Iranian lands”.
  • Capital of Ctesiphon (near modern Baghdad), between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
  • Great Arch of Khusro symbolized the king’s power, Khusro Anoshirwan Justinian’s rival Sought to be the image as the ideal monarch in the east Sack of Rome’s Antioch (Roman city in Turkey), Iranian armored cavalry (540 CE).
  • Persia and Roman War.
  • Forces under Khusro II conquered Egypt and Syria and advanced to Constantinople.
  • Sasanians benefited from Syriac speaking people, dominant language and culture.
  • Cultural Crossroads - international relations and stability.
  • Sasanians devout Zoroastrians but Christianity and Judaism tolerated.
  • Nestorian Christians were able to expand their faith.
  • Jewish rabbis produced Babylonian Talmud,
  • Panchatantra stories entered from northern India were animal fables, morality stories.

Sogdians as Lords of the Silk Roads

  • Linked two ends of Afro-Eurasia through oasis cities.
  • Religion: Fusion of Zoroastrian, Mesopotamian, and Brahmanic beliefs.
  • Sogdian language - lingua franca of Silk Roads of the region (Iranian language family).
  • Goods: camels.
  • Architecture: mansions and palaces: City of Panjikent, an important Silk Road entrepot.
  • Buddhism on the Silk Roads.
  • Buddhism spread to China through traveling monks.
  • Large statues of the Buddha.
  • Bamiyan in the Hindu Kush valley.
  • Yungang Buddhas, China.