CLAS / HIST 4091 / 5091 The Roman Empire

Lecture 28. Roma Aeterna

I. Roma Aeterna

A. Rutilius Namatianus On His Return Home (417): Rome is eternal but must return to paganism

B. Augustine City of God Bk. 11 (418): Earthly city / heavenly city

II. The Beginnings of Europe

A. The Dark Ages (6th - 8th C West)

Lack of Sources? Gregory of Tours, hagiography, laws, charters

Absence of Strong State? restructuring

Power of Bishops!

B. Kingdom of the Franks

-Clovis (Ludwig/Louis): rules 481-511; unites Frankish tribes; Battle of Soissons (486) gains control of remains of Roman Gaul

-Defeats Visigoths at Battle of Vouillé (507): gains southern Gaul

-Establish Paris as capital

-Converts to Catholic Christianity in 496? influence of wife Clotilde; church Council of Orléans (511)

C. Survival of Rome in the West: Charlemagne (Charles the Great): King of Franks 768-814

-Invades Muslim Spain : Battle of Roncesvalles (778)

-Conquers Saxons: converts them to Christianity

-Allies with papacy; Holy Roman Emperor from 800

D. Renaissances: 9th C; 12th C; 15-16th C

III. Rome's Survival in the East

A. Byzantines = Romans (Romaioi / Rumi)

-Survival of Roman Law / Greek culture / Roman imperial ideology

-Patriarch of Constantinople: Unity of Church and State (appoints emperor)

B. Sixth-century Golden Age: Justinian (527-65)

-Reconquest of Africa (533-4), Italy (535-54)

-Codification of Roman Law

-Constantinople = world capital (Hagia Sophia)

-Victory of Heraclius 624/9: invades Persia, recovers true cross

C. Muslim Invasions:

Saracen Power: allies against Sasanian Persia

Mohammed (d. 632) prophet of new monotheism / Abrahamic religion

Battle of Yarmuk (636): defeat of Heraclius

Conquest of Persia, Egypt, Syria, Africa, Spain >> Turks

D. Empire to Commonwealth:

Fall of Constantinople 1453 -Constantine XI defeated

IV. Eternal Rome

A. Edward Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88): Empire prey to Barbarism and Christianity

B. Peter Brown The World of Late Antiquity (1971): Period of transformation / creativity; birth of regional identity

C. Eternal Rome

-Government: Republican Democracy (Polybius); Caesarism (Czar / Kaiser)

-Cultural survival: Literature, Law (Civil Code), Architecture

-The Heavenly City: Impact of Christianity on Western / World Culture