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Hello, welcome to Ancient History Encyclopedia.
I'm Kelly and today I'll take you through a short introduction
into the expansive history of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was the largest empire
the Ancient World, so pre-476 CE, had ever seen.
At its height, its land covered all the area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea,
including parts of Northern Europe, Africa, and the Near East.
It lasted for over 1000 years,
and began 31 BCE and ended in 476 CE in the West
and 1453 CE in the East.
Let's have a look at how it began,
some of the key events and emperors, and how it fell.
Before the Roman Empire, there was the Roman Republic.
In was in the year 27 BCE when Octavian,
the nephew of Julius Caesar,
was granted the title of the first Emperor of Rome.
and adopted the title "Augustus Caesar".
You might be thinking,
"Wasn't Julius Caesar the first emperor of Rome?"
Although he is often regarded as such,
he never actually held the title of emperor.
He did, however, hold the title of dictator,
which the Senate begrudgingly gave to him
giving him supreme political and military power.
It's important to remember that during the Roman Republic
it was not the norm to give all the power to one man.
It was one of the first things they changed when they got rid of their kings,
changing from a monarchy to a republic.
Now, back to Augustus.
Due to his success in destroying Rome's enemies
and bringing stability to the Empire,
the Senate willingly granted him the title of emperor.
Augustus ruled until he died in 14 CE
and it is said his lasts words were
"I found Rome a city of clay and left it a city of marble."
He reformed laws, initiated vast building projects,
he secured the borders of Rome and secured the empire a lasting name
as one of the greatest, if not the greatest,
political and cultural powers in history.
Following Augustus was his heir, Tiberius,
who lacked the strength in character and vision
that made Augustus such a successful emperor.
Then came Caligula, the Cruel one;
Claudius, the Paranoid one;
and Nero, the Crazy one.
These five emperors are called the Julio-Claudian Dynasty,
from the families from which these emperors descended:
Julius and Claudius.
Nero's suicide in 68 CE initiated the period of social unrest
which has come to be known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
Within the year, there were four rulers:
Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian.
The year was full of death, and swift successions
with men each less qualified to rule than the last.
Until Vespasian.
When Vespasian ascended the throne he initiated the Flavian Dynasty,
which can be distinguished by their building projects,
such as the Colosseum,
economic prosperity, and expansion of the empire.
It was under the emperor Trajan, who ruled between 98 and 117 CE,
when the empire truly began to reach its height.
The empire attained its greatest geographical extent and political power
between 117 and 121 CE under the reign of Hadrian.
Trajan is noted as one of the five good emperors of Rome,
along with Nerva, Hadrian,
who build the famous wall across the Scottish border of Roman territory,
Antoninus Pius, who built the Antonine wall in Scotland,
and Marcus Aurelius, the so-called "philosopher king"
and author of "The Meditations".
The Empire fell into an era of instability and turmoil
between 235 and 284 CE.
This period is now known as the Crisis of the Third Century.
The empire was constantly fighting civil wars
and experiencing social unrest and economic upheaval.
The empire was reunited by Aurelian, but by 285 CE
the empire was simply too large to be ruled
by the central government in Rome.
At this time the empire was split by emperor Diocletian
into a Western and Eastern Empire.
But then, 27 years later, Constantine became the sole ruler
of the Eastern and Western Empires.
He named the city of Byzantium the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire,
also known as the Byzantine Empire,
and named it Constantinople,
which is now modern-day Istambul.
In the 4th century,
Christianity had started to take hold throughout the empire.
In 313 CE Constantine issued the Edict of Milan,
which declared religious tolerance of all religions throughout the Empire,
especially Christianity.
In 380 CE, the emperor Theodosius I,
declared that the state religion would be Christianity.
He outlawed all pagan worship, closed the schools and universities,
and converted all pagan temples into churches.
One question we hear a lot
is why did the Roman Empire fall.
It should be noted that the Fall of Rome
only refers to the Western part,
which ended in 476 CE.
The Eastern part of the Empire continued until 1453 CE.
Towards the end of the 4th century
the Goths started to invade Roman territory,
causing the Gothic wars.
Scholars date the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire
to 378 CE, when emperor Valens was defeated
at the battle of the Adrianople by Goth forces under Fritigern.
After all this talk of economic strength and geographic expansion,
it isn't easy to find the cause of the fall of such a large empire.
A sole cause has never been agreed on,
and it's understandably so, as the decline took about 300 years.
However, there are many factors that must be mentioned.
These factors are political instability due to the size of the empire;
the self-interest of the two halves of the empire;
invasion of barbarian tribes;
government corruption; reliance on mercenary armies;
overreliance on slave labour, and damaging the economy;
massive unemployment, and inflation.
With these factors working together,
there was also the introduction of Christianity,
which has been noted as a pivotal factor in the decline of the Roman Empire.
Before Christianity the emperor was considered divine,
and the "Cult of the Emperor"
encouraged worship of whoever held the position as a god.
During the Crisis of the Third Century this became a problem,
because an emperor who wanted to stay in power
and do as he wanted as the head of the government
favoured the military with higher pay and more gifts.
The military kept him in power,
for as long as they thought he was doing what he should.
And so ultimately the military came to decide
who would rule Rome, and for how long.
How did the Empire come to its final end?
Well, the Empire ended in the West when the last Roman emperor,
Romulus Augustulus,
fell to the Germanic king Odoacer in 476 CE.
Between 962 and 1806
the Western Roman Empire was reinvented
and the Holy Roman Empire,
although only an empire in name.
In the East, it continued as the Byzantine Empire
until around 1453 CE, with the death of Constantine XI
and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.
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-- Subtitles by Rosa Baranda --