Page 182 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

Between the years 235 and 284, there were twenty-two emper- ors, and only two of them did not suffer a violent end. German tribes and Persian armies invaded the empire. There were plagues, population decline, and economic problems. At the same time, a new religion—Christianity—was spreading throughout the empire. Beginning among the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, Christianity, with its promise of salvation, its similarity to many mystery religions, and its universality as a religion for all—rich
CHAPTER TIMELINE
and poor, men and women, Greek and Roman—slowly gained accep- tance. As we shall see in the next chapter, the response to the crises of the third century and the rise of Christianity would gradually bring a transformation of the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries.
Rome
China
Han Chinese Empire
100 B.C.E.
0
Age of Augustus
100 C.E.
Five good emperors
The Pantheon Seve Silver age of Latin literature
The Julio-Claudian rulers
Jesus of Nazareth
Augustan poets (Virgil, Horace)
200 C.E. 300 C.E.
Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of empire
ran rulers Aurelian pacifies empire
CHAPTER REVIEW
Upon Reflection
Q Was Augustus the last of the republicans or the first of the emperors? Why do you think so?
Q In what ways was the rule of the Roman emperors in the first and second centuries C.E. an improvement over the republic of the first century
Key Terms
principate (p. 121) praetorian guard (p. 122)
Suggestions for Further Reading
GENERAL HISTORIES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE For an overview of the Roman Empire, see G. Woolf, Rome: An Empire’s Story (New York, 2012). For a good survey of the early empire, see M. Goodman, The Roman World, 44 B.C.–A.D. 180
144 Chapter 6 The Roman Empire
B.C.E.? In what ways was their rule not an improvement over the last century of the republic?
Q How do you explain the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire?
pax Romana (p. 125) good emperors (p. 125)
(London, 1997). On the crises of the third century, see D. S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, A.D. 180–395 (New York, 2004).
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