Coach Hughes – Chapter 11 Section 3 – Study Guide/NOTES – Pages 361-366 – The Decline of The Roman
Empire
I. Problems in the Empire
A. After Marcus Aurelius’s death, Commodus and the Severans ruled Rome.
B. After the Severans ended, Rome’s leadership grew weak, and the government grew corrupt.
C. With a weak government, the economy worsened.
D. Rome had to defend itself constantly from attacks from the north and the east.
E. Problems came from within the empire, too. Disease (plague) killed many people.
F. Taxes were high and food was scarce because many farmers went to war. Germanic farmers were invited to
work on Roman lands, but they were not loyal to Rome.
G. Emperor Diocletian tried to establish reforms that would improve the political situation.
H. Diocletian split the empire into two separate empires: the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman
Empire.
II. Rome Falls
A. Emperor Constantine tried to stop the empire’s decline. He moved the capital city to Byzantine, and the city
later became known as Constantinople.
B. The Visigoths feared the Huns (lead by Attila) and asked Rome for protection. In exchange, Rome required
the Visigoths to be loyal to them.
C. The Visigoths rebelled against the Romans and beat the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople.
D. More Germanic groups invaded Roman territory.
E. The Visigoth leader Alaric and his soldiers captured the city of Rome and burned it.
F. The Vandals overpowered Rome’s territories in Spain and northern Africa. Then they entered Rome and
destroyed buildings.
G. Odoacer was a Germanic leader who took control of Rome’s government from the emperor Romulus
Augustulus. This event marked the end of the Western Roman Empire.
H. A band of Visigoths killed Odoacer and set up a kingdom in Italy.
I. The Eastern Roman Empire continued to prosper after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It became
known as the Byzantine Empire.
III. The Byzantine Empire
A. The Eastern Roman Empire was known as the Byzantine Empire. It included Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs,
Armenians/Persians, Jews, Slavs, and Turks.
B. Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
C. Constantinople was located between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, at the crossroads of trade routes
between Europe and Asia.
D. People of early Constantinople initially followed Roman ways. They spoke Latin and enforced Roman laws.
E. Eventually, the Byzantine Empire became more influenced by Greece. People spoke Greek and drew upon
Greek culture.
IV. The Byzantine Civilization
A. Justinian was the emperor of the Byzantine Empire from A.D. 527 until A.D. 565.
B. Empress Theodora, Justinian’s wife, helped her husband rule Byzantine. She gave him advice and
advocated more rights for Byzantine women.
C. The Byzantine Empire lasted for about 1,000 years. Constantinople was its largest and wealthiest city.
D. The Byzantine Empire depended on trade. It was the center of trade between Europe and Asia.
E. Silk weaving was a major industry. Byzantine emperors supported artists and architects.
F. Hagia Sophia was the religious center of the Byzantine Empire and was a great architectural
accomplishment.
G. Mosaics are pictures made from many bits of colored glass or stone. Most mosaics showed saints, or
Christian holy people.
H. Marriage and family were very important in the Byzantine way of life.
I. Byzantine women obtained some rights. They became educated, and some served as regents, or people who
stand in for rulers who are too young or too ill to govern.
J. The Byzantine government supported education. Boys studied academic subjects in Byzantine schools.
Girls did not attend school but were taught at home.