Questioning the paradigm of “Decline and Fall” (cf. E. Gibbons, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1788 ( ! ) )
→Transformation and Legacy of the Roman Empire
The 3rd Century Crisis
Enemies and separatist states: Germanic tribes, Sassanid Empire (224), Palmyra, Gaul kingdom…
Problem of succession: no more dynasty→usurpers and lack of legitimacy
Feebleness of the Senate
Fiscal crisis: devaluation
Diocletian (284-305)
Diocletian’s reforms (284-305)
The Tetrarchy: 2 Augusts and 2 Caesars to rule the Empire
Image of the Emperor: sacralization
Administrative reform: rise of the bureaucracy
Military reform: expansion of the army, mobile troops, alliance with barbarian groups
Economic reforms: Price edict (301)
BUT these reforms failed…
Tetrarchy Two Augustus - Two Caesar
The Price Edict of Diocletian (301)
Solidus
Constantine the Great(306-337)
East and West in the 4th c.: the division
At the beginning of the 4th century Constantine managed to establish his authority on the whole Empire and chose Byzantion as a capital. The Empire became Christian.
In the West, official date of fall: 476 (Germanic general, Odoacer, deposed the Roman Emperor).
→Western Europe divided into Germanic kingdoms (Visigoths, Vandals, Franks, Ostrogoths)
Europe in 500s
The Roman legacy Political system
Law
The Latin language
Culture
Architecture
Nimes, France
Al-Djam, Tunisia
Pantheon
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