may 9

Today in class we finished another powerpoint about the Christianity.

The Rise of Christianity
- Jesus spends 3 years preaching, is killed by Roman leaders
- Jesus' followers believe he is the Messiah and savior who has risen from the dead
- Sual ( the persecutor) becomes Paul ( the evangelist) spreading Jesus message.
- Christianity evolves from cult status to established, official structure.
- Priest, bishops, and pope
- Persecution against both was common
- Christianity was poor, and since there were poor, their numbers grew
- The roman empire and Christianity are now linked in power and influence


Decline of the Roman Empire
- AD 180: Rome has problems
- Economic ( trade became risky; taxes were too high; food supply was dropping.)
- Roman generals fought for control; soldiers' loyalty declined and mercenaries appeared, frontiers were hard to patrol

Diocletian divided the empire into 2
- Greek- speaking east ( had more resources)
- Latin speaking west ( Rome, tradition) 

- AD 324- Constantine becomes emperor over both halves of the empire
- Moves capital from Rome to Byzantium ( renamed Constantinople) , where Asia met Europe ( now Turkey) 
- After his death, empire is divided again
- This time " Barbarians Invaders" ( Huns, Vandals, Visigoths, Angels, Saxons, Franks overrun the empires' frontiers)
- That is it for the Roman Empire ( AD 476)