Monday

Two Emperors
Diocletian
He rules from 284-303
He persecutes Christain
Rome needs a big army (400,000 strong)
Rome needs a big government (20,000) officials

Constantine
Rules from 306-337
He doesn't persecute Christians
Conversion to Christianity
313- his Edict of Milan proclaims freedom of worship
Built a new capital in the East.
Byzantium soon to be known as Constantinople

Byzantine was easier to control/more secure and richer.
More trade routes, less barbarians

It's called the Edict of Milan because the two Emperors Constantine and Licinius were debating in Milan. It recognized the Christians and tolerated their religion and let them worship. It also returned the property that had been confiscated from them.
Life in the fourth century
Country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection
new farming system: Peasants work for elite landlords on large farms.
Peasants can avoid paying taxes but they are getting hit just as hard by the land lords.
paying off debts and being allowed to live on the land in exchange for endless back breaking work
Landowners hold local power as counts and bishops wielding more real power than the faraway empire.
foreshadowing feudalism.
The western Empire crumbles
Rome's power is decreasing while nomadic barbarians gain power.
Western Empire is too poor, begins to be neglected
Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
Visigoths take over Spain and actually capture and loot Rome itself in 410
Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean
Other barbarian tribes:
Ostrogoths in Italy
Franks in Gaul
Angles and Saxons in Britain.

End of an Era
From the beginnings:
500 BC- the monarchy is abolished
450 BC- the twelve tables are established
through the glory days:
44 bc - end of the line for Julius Caesar
27 BC-180 AD- the roman Peace (pax romana)
to the bitter end..
constant fifth century invasions by barbarian tribes left the Western Empire shattered and crumbling
The last emperor was a teenage boy installed in 475 by his father
Barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without bothering to kill him.