Lecture 6 The Transformation of
the Classical World 192-500
Chapter 6
约东汉末年、三国、魏晋南北朝早期
content
The crisis of the third century
The empire restored
Imperial Christianity
A parting of the ways
The crisis of the third century
Internal problem External attacks
Sheer size of territory External threats
Economic system The barbarian menace
Political instability
Military problem
Military problem
The army commanders can get
Enrich the army
administrative posts ,then set about
and scorn the rest restructuring the empire.
Capable soldiers could hope to rise to the
The rise of the military highest levels of public power, regardless of
their birth.
Free-spending
The army’s incessant demands for
Economic disaster higher pay led emperors to lower the
amount of silver in the coins with which
the soldiers were paid.
External attacks
External threats
Berber 柏柏尔人 tribes, the Sassanid dynasty 萨珊王朝 , Gothic
confederation
The Barbarian Menace — Germanic barbarians
The Barbarian Menace
Germanic Society
1patriarchal households clans tribes.
2 lived by farming.
3 Warfare defined social groupings, and warriors dominated public
life.
Feuding and Peacemaking
1 building wealth and reputations by means of warfare.
2 feuding had enormous costs.
3 using Wergeld 偿命金 in exchange for peace
Warrior Bands
warrior society
The empire restored
Diocletian 戴克里先 , the God-Emperor
(284—305), a Dalmatian 达尔马西
亚人 soldier who had risen
through the ranks to become
emperor. He divided the
empire into eastern and
western parts, created The
Tetrarchy （ ruling by four ） ,
and formed a Militarized
Society. Although he carried
out a series of Fiscal Reform, [Link]
it was dismal failures. [Link]
Constantine 君士坦丁 , the Emperor of God
（ 306—337), he was the son
of Constantius. He rescinded
the persecution of Christians
and convert the city’s
religious belief. What’s more,
he established his capital in
Byzantium, later it was known
as Constantinople.
[Link]
cwho/p/who_constantine.htm
The Triumph of Christianity
1 Imperial support
2 Imperial control over Christianity was
strong, but not total.
Reasons 3 Christian miracles
4 Preaching
5 Physical coercion 胁迫
preaching
Emperor gave bishops the authority to [Link]
act as magistrates. 地方行政官 src=360pic_normal&q
[Link]
201302/[Link]
ml
People who refused
conversion were
tortured to death
[Link]
[Link]?
boardid=1&id=9598767
Imperial Christianity
By the late third century, Christian communities existed throughout
the empire. But the relationship among the three (Trinity) was a source
of endless debate.
Monarchians
Christological 信奉上帝一体论者
controversies —two extremes Gnostics 诺斯替教徒
Arians 阿里乌
教义信奉者
The Father
How to deal with it?
The Son The Spirit
Origen 俄利根 of Alexandria
The first Christian
intellectual to undertake a
systematic exposition of
the Trinity was the great
Alexandrine theologian
Origen(185—254).
His trinitarian
teachings insisted on the
co-externality of the Son
with the Father, but, he
seemed to subordinate the
Son to the Father and to [Link]
make the Spirit a creation a1_78_30_0130000000794311976130
of the Son. 0674457_jpg.html
Augustine of Hippo
(354—430)
He elaborated a new
Christian understanding of
human society and the
individual’s relationship to
God, which dominated
Western thought for the
next 15 centuries.
His views were set forth in
several works: Confessions,
On the Trinity, and City of
GOD. [Link]
8&src=hao_360so&q=Augustine+of+Hi
ppo
The Call of the Desert
Hermit
Attempting to explain
Monk leading a monastic life
Christian doctrine
recluse
Anthony
(ca.250—355 ）
[Link]
wiki/Monasticism
Monastic Communities
Communal organization—communal life
Egypt
Basil the Great 圣巴锡尔 (ca.329—379 ）
Benedict of Nursia 努尔西亚的本笃 (ca.480—
547)
to o k t wo fo r m s
Mo n a sti c i sm
Solitary life— individual Solitary or hermit
The Syria desert
Simeon Stylites 西门 · 斯泰莱特 (ca.390—459)
Their monasticism remained a personal
religious commitment.
A parting of the ways
[Link]
The Barbarian of the West
Reasons
1 the Visigothic kingdom 西哥特王国 in southern Gaul 高卢 and
Spain(414)
A treaty with Constantinople in which the Visigoths were recognized as a
legitimate, established political presence within the empire.
2 the Vandals’ 汪达尔人 attack and conquest(406)
3 the Huns’ 匈奴人 menace (430s)
In the late fourth and fifth centuries, emperors accepted whole
barbarian peoples as integral parts of the Roman army and settled
them within the empire.
The Hellenization of the East
The eastern half of the empire, in contrast to the west, managed to
survive and even to prosper in the fifth and sixth centuries.
1 the east had always been more urbanized and civilized than
west.
2 the east had never developed the tradition of public poverty
and private wealth that was characteristic of the west.
reasons
3 the local aristocracies in the eastern provinces never achieved
the wealth and independence of their western counterparts.
4 Christian bishops never managed to monopolize, thus, under
the firm direction of its emperors, the eastern empire not only
survived but also prepared for a new expansionist phrase.
[Link]
Thank you!