A significant social and governmental organization in the development of western civilization was the Roman Empire. Emperor Diocletian ruled from the Rome-based central government headquarters after dividing the kingdom into the Western kingdom and the Eastern Empire. (Blagg, and Millett 50). The Roman Empire was founded by Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, and it began to fall in the west when Odoacer, a German King, took over as the new emperor. On the other hand, the Byzantine Empire, which stood on the eastern side until Constantine XI's death and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, (Blagg, and Millett 50). The power that the Roman Empire had a major influence on western civilization and lasted for long thus it contributed to almost every aspect of the western culture.
During the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine defeated Maxentius and became the rule of both the empires (western and Eastern). He ruled from 306 CE to 337 CE and he believed that Jesus Christ is the only person that helped him to win the battle (Bury 54). Emperor Constantine introduced a number of laws for example the Edict of Milan (317 CE) which created room for freedom of religion in all areas of the empire and Christianity was the new religion that everyone came in terms with. Moreover, the previous Roman emperors believed that they had a special relationship with divinity to strengthen their authority and faith for example Caracalla with Serapis and Diocletian with Jupiter. In this case, Constantine defied the odds and chose Jesus Christ as the only figure and guider.
During the first meeting with the Council of Nicea (325 CE) Emperor Constantine chaired the gathering to decide on significant issues with regard to deity of Jesus and the formation of manuscripts that later became the bible in the current world (Gardner, Andrew, 46). The emperor stabilized both the currency and the empire as well as forming the military. He also took an initiative of forming a new city by the name New Rome that situated close to the former Byzantium city (currently known as Istanbul). Many people knew him as The Great Constantine because they believed he championed the new faith and attributed to political, cultural, and religious reforms (Luttwak 67). After his demise, his sons took over the empire and frequently engaged in misunderstandings with each other, which threatened Emperor Constantine’s achievements.
All the three sons Constans, Constantius II and Constantine II subdivided the empire amongst themselves and later led to fighting because each one of them believed to deserve more (Mattingly, David, 64). Because of the war, Constans and Constantine II lost their lives while Constantius II died later identifying Julian his cousin as his successor (Garnsey, Peter, 37). Julian only ruled for two years (361-363 CE) and by that time, he was working hard in returning Rome to its previous glory by using various reforms aimed at making the government to work more efficiently than before. Emperor Julian did not the Christianity faith because he believed he was a Neo-Platonic Philosopher hence he blamed Constantine for adhering to it because it led to the deterioration of the emperor. As part of reclaiming religious tolerance, he removed Christians from senior government positions and banned the spread of the religion in different government institutions.
Furthermore, he removed the Christians who worked in the military and he met his death while campaign again the Persian thus ending the Constantine dynasty. His death brought to an end the Pagan emperor of Rome and people referred his emperor as ‘Julian the Apostate’ because he opposed the new faith of Christianity. After the short, rule of Jovian who re-introduced Christianity as the major faith of the empire by repealing Julian’s different statutes the Theodosius took over the authority of the emperor (379-395 CE). The new emperor ended the Constantine and Jovian’s empires by banning paganism in all sectors of the empire and went ahead to closing the pagan temples by converting them to churches.
It was in Theodosius era that the famous Plato’s academy ended although many of the reforms were not popular with both the common citizens and the Roman aristocracy because they had the influence of Paganism in their minds (Mitchell 70). His government removed religious beliefs and social duties that paganism provided hence creating room for worshipping only one God who ruled from Heaven. Theodosius seemed to focus much on promoting Christianity and forgot to devote his duties as an emperor thus; he was the last emperor to rule both the western and eastern empires. The decline of the Roman Empire came into place after a number of battles against the invasion of Goths. The war of Adrianople, on August 9 378 CE led to the defeat of Emperor Valens of the Roman Empire hence many historians marked as an important event in the decline of the Roman Empire.
Different theories try to suggest the cause of the decline but they do not explain what those factors were. Many believe that Christianity was the main cause in the empire’s decline for example Gibbon and Orosius argued that Christianity played a major role in the fall of the empire in 418 CE. Orosius argued that initially paganism itself played a significant role in the fall of Rome. Other reasons believe to have led to the fall of the Roman Empire include corruption and other ungovernable areas of the empire and the growing Germanic tribes that are constantly invading Rome. Moreover, the Roman soldiers could not provide adequate security in safeguarding its borders effectively because at some point they could not collect taxes from their provinces.
Another factor that led to the fall of the empire is the constant rebellion and the invasion of the Goths in the third century CE. The fall of the Western Roman Empire came in September 4 476 CE when Germanic King Odoacer overtook Romulus Augustus although many historians argue that it ended in 480 CE after the death of Nepos Julius (Garnsey and Saller 35). On the other hand, the Eastern Empire continued as Byzantine Empire to 1453 EC and although many people previously referred it as The Roman Empire, it did not resemble the name at all. After the fall of the western empire, the empire re-stablished itself as the Holy Roman Empire thus becoming an Empire in the name only after the removal of the construct.
Works cited
Blagg, Thomas Frederick Colston, and Martin Millett. The early Roman empire in the west. 2016.
Bury, John Bagnell. History of the later Roman Empire. Vol. 1. Courier Corporation, 2012.
Gardner, Andrew. "Thinking about Roman imperialism: postcolonialism, globalisation and beyond?." Britannia 44 (2013): 1-25.
Garnsey, Peter, and Richard Saller. The Roman Empire: economy, society and culture. Univ of California Press, 2014.
Luttwak, Edward N. The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century CE to the Third. JHU Press, 2016.
Mattingly, David J. Imperialism, power, and identity: Experiencing the Roman Empire. Princeton University Press, 2013.
Mitchell, Stephen. A history of the later Roman Empire, AD 284-641. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
