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126-754: The areani or arcani were a force of the Roman Empire , based in Roman Britain during the later part of the Roman occupation of the island. They had played some part in the campaign of Constans in Britain in 343; later they helped to instigate the Great Conspiracy in 367-368. Due to their participation in the Conspiracy, Count Theodosius disbanded them. The term areani is a hapax legomenon , occurring once only, in

252-560: A chi - rho inside the loop of an ankh . Following the battle and the defeat and death of Maxentius , Constantine became the undisputed emperor in the West and performed an adventus , a ceremonial entrance to the city. Arriving inside Rome's walls he ignored the altars to the gods prepared on the Capitoline Hill and did not carry out the customary sacrifices to celebrate a general's victorious entry into Rome, instead heading directly to

378-405: A priestly role . He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law. The rise of successful freedmen—through political influence or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of

504-460: A cross-shaped (either Τ or †) symbol, whereas Lactantius's description suggests a staurogram (⳨), although the crux ansata (☥) or the Egyptian ankh (𓋹) have been proposed as interpretations as well. All of these symbols were used by Christians in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Eusebius concurs with Lactantius that a new device was added to Constantine's soldiers' shields but does not connect this with

630-468: A cross. Up at the extreme top a wreath woven of precious stones and gold had been fastened. On it two letters, imitating by its first characters the name "Christ," formed the monogram of the Saviour's title, rho being intersected in the middle by chi ... From the transverse bar, which was bisected by the pole, hung suspended a cloth ... But the upright pole ... carried the golden head-and-shoulders portrait of

756-573: A dramatic series of events sometime between his father Constantius Chlorus 's death in 306 and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312. The battle secured Constantine's claim to the title of augustus in the West, which he had assumed unilaterally when his father died. According to the Eusebius' Life of Constantine , Constantine saw a vision of "a cross-shaped trophy formed from light" above

882-455: A faction that opposed his concentration of power. This faction was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian . Antony and Octavian divided the Roman world between them, but this did not last long. Octavian's forces defeated those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC the Senate gave him

1008-425: A fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy. Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility. In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants; the majority of slaves provided trained or unskilled labour. Agriculture and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on

1134-635: A fine for a crime for which an humilior might receive a scourging . Execution, which was an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic, could be quick and relatively painless for honestiores , while humiliores might suffer the kinds of torturous death previously reserved for slaves, such as crucifixion and condemnation to the beasts . In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as honestiores , especially if they declined to fulfil religious responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created

1260-425: A freedman were born free, with full rights of citizenship. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed active political freedom ( libertas ), including the right to vote. His former master became his patron ( patronus ): the two continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other. A freedman was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but could play

1386-710: A half centuries. Their refusal to participate in the imperial cult was considered an act of treason and was thus punishable by execution. The most widespread official persecution was carried out by Diocletian beginning in 303. During the Great Persecution , the emperor ordered Christian buildings and the homes of Christians torn down and their sacred books collected and burned. Christians were arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned, starved, and condemned to gladiatorial contests to amuse spectators. The Great Persecution officially ended in April 311, when Galerius , senior emperor of

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1512-617: A high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by inscriptions throughout the Empire . The Latin word ordo (plural ordines ) is translated variously and inexactly into English as "class, order, rank". One purpose of the Roman census was to determine the ordo to which an individual belonged. Two of the highest ordines in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian. Outside Rome, cities or colonies were led by decurions , also known as curiales . "Senator"

1638-565: A higher social class. Most of the emperors were bilingual but had a preference for Latin in the public sphere for political reasons, a "rule" that first started during the Punic Wars . Different emperors up until Justinian would attempt to require the use of Latin in various sections of the administration but there is no evidence that a linguistic imperialism existed during the early Empire. After all freeborn inhabitants were universally enfranchised in 212 , many Roman citizens would have lacked

1764-401: A household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave acting as the master of others. Talented slaves might accumulate a large enough peculium to justify their freedom, or be manumitted for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law ( Lex Fufia Caninia ) limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will. Following

1890-465: A knowledge of Latin. The wide use of Koine Greek was what enabled the spread of Christianity and reflects its role as the lingua franca of the Mediterranean during the time of the Empire. Following Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century CE, there was a decline in the knowledge of Greek in the west. Spoken Latin later fragmented into the incipient romance languages in the 7th century CE following

2016-454: A man as an equestrian. The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at Cádiz and Padua alone. Equestrians rose through a military career track ( tres militiae ) to become highly placed prefects and procurators within the Imperial administration. The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders

2142-554: A married woman could have sex only with her husband, but a married man did not commit adultery if he had sex with a prostitute or person of marginalized status. Childbearing was encouraged: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom (the ius trium liberorum ). At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in Roman Italy were slaves, making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least

2268-579: A passage in Ammianus : The duties that Ammianus describes, traveling and reporting the news of the tribes to Roman leaders, are appropriate to military scouts. They may have lived in the paramilitary zone between the Antonine Wall and the Vallum to the south. The term "areani" means "people of the sheep-folds", and many of the homesteads in their frontier region were indeed sheep-folds. It has been suggested that

2394-580: A precedent for the position of the Christian emperor in the Church. Emperors considered themselves responsible to the gods for the spiritual health of their subjects, and after Constantine they had a duty to help the Church define and maintain orthodoxy. The Church generally regarded the definition of doctrine as the responsibility of the bishops ; the emperor's role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy , and uphold ecclesiastical unity. The emperor ensured that God

2520-520: A protection against the attacks of the enemy. Writing his Church History shortly after 313, Eusebius makes no mention of this story in that work and does not recount it until composing his posthumous biography of Constantine decades afterwards. Life of Constantine was written by Eusebius after Constantine had died, and Eusebius admitted that he had heard the story from Constantine long after it had happened. Lactantius , writing 313–315 and around twenty years before Eusebius's Life , also does not mention

2646-427: A sense of "Romanness". Roman society had multiple, overlapping social hierarchies . The civil war preceding Augustus caused upheaval, but did not effect an immediate redistribution of wealth and social power. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid. Personal relationships— patronage , friendship ( amicitia ), family , marriage —continued to influence politics. By

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2772-507: A slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the Aquilian Law . Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called conubium , but their unions were sometimes recognized. Technically, a slave could not own property, but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual fund ( peculium ) that he could use, depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave. Within

2898-461: A step further than the earlier Edict of Serdica by Galerius in 311, returning confiscated Church property. This edict made the empire officially neutral with regard to religious worship; it neither made the traditional religions illegal nor made Christianity the state religion , as occurred later with the Edict of Thessalonica of 380. The Edict of Milan did, however, raise the stock of Christianity within

3024-583: A vision in the sky. Instead, Lactantius mentions only that Constantine's dream took place on the eve of the climactic battle on the Ponte Milvio across the Tiber , with the crucial detail that the "sign" was marked on the Constantinian soldiers' shields. According to Lactantius: Constantine was advised in a dream to mark the heavenly sign of God on the shields of his soldiers and then engage in battle. He did as he

3150-545: Is an aspect of social mobility in the early Empire. Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike later European nobility , a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands. Admission to the higher ordines brought distinction and privileges, but also responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services ( munera ). Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures. Decurions were so vital for

3276-509: Is possible that Constantine's mother, Helena , exposed him to Christianity. In any case, he only declared himself a Christian after issuing the Edict of Milan . Writing to Christians, Constantine made clear that he believed that he owed his successes to the protection of the High God alone. In 310 a panegyric , preserved in the Panegyrici Latini collection and delivered at Trier for

3402-675: Is revered as a saint and isapostolos in the Eastern Orthodox Church , Oriental Orthodox Church , and various Eastern Catholic Churches for his example as a Christian monarch. The first recorded official persecution of Christians on behalf of the Roman Empire was in AD ;64, when, as reported by the Roman historian Tacitus , Emperor Nero attempted to blame Christians for the Great Fire of Rome . According to Church tradition, it

3528-666: The limes , east of the Euphrates , the Sasanian rulers, perennially at war with Rome , had usually tolerated Christianity . Constantine is said to have written to Shapur II in 324 and urged him to protect Christians under his rule. With the establishment of Catholicism as the state religion of the Roman Empire, Christians in Persia would be regarded as allies of Persia's ancient enemy. According to an anonymous Christian account, Shapur II wrote to his generals: You will arrest Simon, chief of

3654-582: The 4th-century process of Constantine's integration of the imperial government with the Catholic Church that began with the First Council of Nicaea. The term was popularized by the Mennonite theologian John H. Yoder . The claim that there ever was a Constantinian shift has been disputed; Peter Leithart argues that there was a "brief, ambiguous 'Constantinian moment' in the fourth century," but that there

3780-525: The Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia in 337; the real reasons behind it remain unknown and are debated also. According to Hans Pohlsander, professor emeritus of history at the State University of New York at Albany , Constantine's conversion was a matter of realpolitik, meant to serve his political interest in keeping the empire united under his control: The prevailing spirit of Constantine's government

3906-722: The Church of the Holy Apostles ; although Eusebius does not mention any Byzantine church by name, he reports that Christian sites were numerous inside the city and around it. Later tradition ascribed to Constantine the foundations in Constantinople of the Church of Saint Menas , the Church of Saint Agathonicus , the Church of Saint Michael at nearby Anaplous , and the Church of Hagios Dynamis ( Ancient Greek : Άγιος Δύναμις , romanized :  Hagíos Dynamis , lit.   'Holy Power'). The reign of Constantine established

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4032-472: The Constantinian dynasty Christianity expanded throughout the empire, launching the era of the state church of the Roman Empire . Whether Constantine sincerely converted to Christianity or remained loyal to paganism is a matter of debate among historians. His formal conversion in 312 is almost universally acknowledged among historians, despite that it was claimed he was baptized only on his deathbed by

4158-470: The Dominate . The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate, he was expected to be accessible and deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually. The Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen. After Nero,

4284-519: The First Council of Nicaea , effectively the first ecumenical council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so classified). The Council of Nicaea is the first major attempt by Christians to define orthodoxy for the whole state. Until Nicaea, all previous Church councils had been local or regional synods affecting only portions of the Church. Nicaea dealt primarily with the Arian controversy. Constantine

4410-682: The Greek East and Latin West . Constantine the Great ( r.  306–337 ), the first Christian emperor , moved the imperial seat from Rome to Byzantium in 330, and renamed it Constantinople . The Migration Period , involving large invasions by Germanic peoples and by the Huns of Attila , led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire . With the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic Herulians and

4536-569: The Nile Valley in Egypt. The empire completely circled the Mediterranean  ... referred to by its conquerors as mare nostrum —'our sea'. Trajan's successor Hadrian adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding the empire. Borders ( fines ) were marked, and the frontiers ( limites ) patrolled. The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable. Hadrian's Wall , which separated

4662-502: The Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus , these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles. According to Socrates Scholasticus , Constantine commissioned the construction of the first Church of Hagia Irene in Constantinople, on the site now occupied by the Justinian church of the same name. It commemorated the peace won by Constantine and Crispus 's victory over Licinius and Licinius II at

4788-477: The Republic , and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian 's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, Rome had expanded its rule to most of the Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by civil wars and political conflicts , which culminated in

4914-627: The Romance languages while Medieval Greek became the language of the East. The Empire's adoption of Christianity resulted in the formation of medieval Christendom . Roman and Greek art had a profound impact on the Italian Renaissance . Rome's architectural tradition served as the basis for Romanesque , Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture , influencing Islamic architecture . The rediscovery of classical science and technology (which formed

5040-590: The Servile Wars of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves. Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as prostitutes in ancient Rome were often slaves. The burgeoning trade in eunuchs in

5166-554: The Tetrarchy , issued an edict of toleration which granted Christians the right to practice their religion, although it did not restore any property to them. Constantine , caesar in the Western Empire, and Licinius , caesar in the East, also were signatories to the edict. It has been speculated that Galerius' reversal of his long-standing policy of Christian persecution has been attributable to one or both of these co-caesars. It

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5292-505: The deposition of Romulus Augustus in 476 by Odoacer , the Western Empire finally collapsed. The Eastern Roman Empire survived for another millennium with Constantinople as its sole capital, until the city's fall in 1453. Due to the Empire's extent and endurance, its institutions and culture had a lasting influence on the development of language , religion , art , architecture , literature , philosophy , law , and forms of government across its territories. Latin evolved into

5418-638: The victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power ( imperium ) and the new title of Augustus , marking his accession as the first Roman emperor . The vast Roman territories were organized into senatorial provinces, governed by proconsuls who were appointed by lot annually, and imperial provinces, which belonged to

5544-450: The 3rd century, the Empire underwent a 49-year crisis that threatened its existence due to civil war, plagues and barbarian invasions . The Gallic and Palmyrene empires broke away from the state and a series of short-lived emperors led the Empire, which was later reunified under Aurelian ( r.  270–275 ). The civil wars ended with the victory of Diocletian ( r.  284–305 ), who set up two different imperial courts in

5670-605: The 600-member body by appointment. A senator's son belonged to the ordo senatorius , but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards. In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from Italy , with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from the Greek-speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian. The first senator from

5796-400: The 6th and 7th centuries with the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy. Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate". Slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood . They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, sexual exploitation , torture, and summary execution . A slave could not as a matter of law be raped;

5922-452: The Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, moral legislation attempted to regulate conduct as a means of promoting " family values ". Adultery was criminalized, and defined broadly as an illicit sex act ( stuprum ) between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband. That is, a double standard was in place:

6048-642: The Battle of Chrysopolis in 324; its name, the Church of the Holy Peace ( Ancient Greek : Ἁγία Εἰρήνη , romanized :  Hagía Eirḗnē , lit.   'Holy Peace') recalled the Altar of Peace ( Latin : ara pacis ) built by Augustus , the first deified Roman emperor. Two other large churches were dedicated to Saint Mocius and to Saint Acacius ; both worthies had supposedly been martyred in Byzantium during

6174-409: The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, saying only that the "sign of the saving trophy" was marked, but not specifying when. Sometime after 317, Eusebius was permitted by Constantine, probably either in 325 or in 335, to see a standard that was made according to the emperor's dreamt instructions during the civil war. He described it as: A tall pole plated with gold had a transverse bar forming the shape of

6300-504: The Christians. You will keep him until he signs this document and consents to collect for us a double tax and double tribute from the Christians … for we Gods have all the trials of war and they have nothing but repose and pleasure. They inhabit our territory and agree with Caesar, our enemy. Constantinian shift is a term used by some theologians and historians of antiquity to describe the political and theological aspects and outcomes of

6426-529: The Diocletianic Persecution. The Church of St Mocius was supposed to have included parts of a former temple of Zeus or Hercules, though it is unlikely that such a temple existed on the site, which was without the walls of the Constantinian city as well as of erstwhile Severan Byzantium. According to Eusebius, Christian liturgies were also performed in Constantine's Mausoleum, the site of which became

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6552-513: The Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century , a period of invasions , civil strife , economic disorder , and plague . In defining historical epochs , this crisis sometimes marks the transition from Classical to Late Antiquity . Aurelian ( r.  270–275 ) stabilised the empire militarily and Diocletian reorganised and restored much of it in 285. Diocletian's reign brought

6678-556: The Godbeloved Emperor, and likewise of his sons. This later description of Eusebius's, written after 324, suggests a more elaborate symbol than does Lactantius's earlier text, involving the Greek letters rho (Ρ) and chi (Χ) ligature d as the c hi rho (☧), a monogram of Ancient Greek: χριστός , romanized:  khrīstós , lit.   'anointed', referring to Jesus . Possibly Eusebius's description refers to

6804-618: The Great Persecution of Diocletian, and endowed the church with land and other wealth. Between 324 and 330, Constantine built a new city, New Rome , at Byzantium on the Bosporos , which would be named Constantinople for him. Unlike "old" Rome, the city began to employ overtly Christian architecture, contained churches within the city walls, and had no pre-existing temples from other religions. In doing this, however, Constantine required those who had not converted to Christianity to pay for

6930-412: The Great and Christianity Constantine ruled the Roman Empire as sole emperor for much of his reign. Some scholars allege that his main objective was to gain unanimous approval and submission to his authority from all classes, and therefore he chose Christianity to conduct his political propaganda, believing that it was the most appropriate religion that could fit with the imperial cult . Regardless, under

7056-488: The Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status which made it domina provinciarum ("ruler of the provinces"), and – especially in relation to the first centuries of imperial stability – rectrix mundi ("governor of the world") and omnium terrarum parens ("parent of all lands"). The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule is traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). The cohesion of

7182-602: The Middle East. The Latin phrase imperium sine fine ("empire without end" ) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In Virgil 's Aeneid , limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by Jupiter . This claim of universal dominion was renewed when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century. In addition to annexing large regions, the Romans directly altered their geography, for example cutting down entire forests . Roman expansion

7308-476: The Peace of the Church or the Constantinian shift . In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan decriminalizing Christian worship. The emperor became a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor within the Church and raised the notions of orthodoxy , Christendom , ecumenical councils , and the state church of the Roman Empire declared by edict in 380 . He

7434-450: The Rhine and Danube. Roman jurists also show a concern for local languages such as Punic , Gaulish , and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding of laws and oaths. In Africa , Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions into the 2nd century. In Syria , Palmyrene soldiers used their dialect of Aramaic for inscriptions, an exception to the rule that Latin was the language of

7560-448: The Roman world from what was perceived as an ever-present barbarian threat, is the primary surviving monument of this effort. Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire, but the Empire was deliberately multilingual. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill says "The main desire of the Roman government was to make itself understood". At the start of the Empire, knowledge of Greek was useful to pass as educated nobility and knowledge of Latin

7686-449: The account of his achievements ( Res Gestae ) prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of the Empire. Geography alongside meticulous written records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration . The Empire reached its largest expanse under Trajan ( r.  98–117 ), encompassing 5 million km . The traditional population estimate of 55–60 million inhabitants accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of

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7812-585: The basis for Islamic science ) in medieval Europe contributed to the Scientific Renaissance and Scientific Revolution . Many modern legal systems, such as the Napoleonic Code , descend from Roman law. Rome's republican institutions have influenced the Italian city-state republics of the medieval period, the early United States , and modern democratic republics . Rome had begun expanding shortly after

7938-418: The collapse of the Empire's west. The dominance of Latin and Greek among the literate elite obscure the continuity of other spoken languages within the Empire. Latin, referred to in its spoken form as Vulgar Latin , gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages . References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages, particularly in Egypt with Coptic , and in military settings along

8064-482: The conditions of martyrdom . The three major elements of the Imperial state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government. The military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens, agricultural fields, and religious sites. The Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to rule through force alone. Cooperation with local elites

8190-533: The deceased emperor's deification. The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of powers from several republican offices. The emperor made himself the central religious authority as pontifex maximus , and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders. While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate , the emperor's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in

8316-449: The descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron", a comment which has led some historians, notably Edward Gibbon , to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the Empire's decline . In 212, during the reign of Caracalla , Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. The Severan dynasty was tumultuous; an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution and, following its collapse,

8442-418: The easternmost province, Cappadocia , was admitted under Marcus Aurelius. By the Severan dynasty (193–235), Italians made up less than half the Senate. During the 3rd century, domicile at Rome became impractical, and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland ( patria ). Senators were the traditional governing class who rose through the cursus honorum ,

8568-399: The emperor but were governed by legates . The first two centuries of the Empire saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana ( lit.   ' Roman Peace ' ). Rome reached its greatest territorial extent under Trajan ( r.  98–117 AD ), but a period of increasing trouble and decline began under Commodus ( r.  180–192 ). In

8694-435: The emperor while practising incubation at the shrine of Apollo Grannus in Grand, Vosges . Eusebius was aware of this vision, or reports of it, and refers in his own Panegyric of Constantine of 336 to "tricennial crowns" bestowed by the hand of God in Christianity on Constantine, "augmenting the sway of his kingdom by long years". Eusebius of Caesarea and other Christian sources record that Constantine experienced

8820-401: The empire and reaffirmed the importance of religious worship to the welfare of the state. Most influential people in the empire, especially high military officials, had not been converted to Christianity and still participated in traditional Roman religion ; Constantine's rule exhibited at least a willingness to appease these factions. Coins minted up to eight years after the battle still bore

8946-481: The empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced. Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent and put down "mercilessly and swiftly". The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors— Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , and Nero —before it yielded in 69 AD to

9072-457: The empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of Christianity , the " Great Persecution ". Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate tetrarch . Confident that he fixed the disorder plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, but the Tetrarchy collapsed shortly after . Order was eventually restored by Constantine the Great , who became

9198-506: The empire. This legal egalitarianism required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that distinguished between citizens and non-citizens. Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens, but did not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. A mother's citizen status determined that of her children, as indicated by the phrase ex duobus civibus Romanis natos ("children born of two Roman citizens"). A Roman woman kept her own family name ( nomen ) for life. Children most often took

9324-609: The end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer . Odoacer ended the Western Empire by declaring Zeno sole emperor and placing himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was ruled by Odoacer alone. The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos ,

9450-498: The exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves were on average an estimated 10 to 20% of the population, sparse in Roman Egypt but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces. Although slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until gradually ceasing in

9576-432: The face of Constantine, does not have an image of Constantine sacrificing to Jupiter, although he is shown sacrificing to Apollo and to Hercules . In 313 Constantine and Licinius announced "that it was proper that the Christians and all others should have liberty to follow that mode of religion which to each of them appeared best," thereby granting tolerance to all religions, including Christianity. The Edict of Milan went

9702-457: The father's name, with some exceptions. Women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business. Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication they could hold considerable fortunes. The archaic manus marriage in which the woman was subject to her husband's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era, and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into

9828-507: The first emperor to convert to Christianity , and who established Constantinople as the new capital of the Eastern Empire. During the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was divided along an east–west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople and Rome. Julian , who under the influence of his adviser Mardonius attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion , only briefly interrupted

9954-518: The founding of the Roman Republic in the 6th century BC, though not outside the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Thus, it was an "empire" (a great power) long before it had an emperor. The Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense, but a network of self-ruled towns (with varying degrees of independence from the Senate ) and provinces administered by military commanders. It

10080-456: The functioning of cities that in the later Empire, as the ranks of the town councils became depleted, those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged to return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life. In the later Empire, the dignitas ("worth, esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as vir illustris ("illustrious man"). The appellation clarissimus (Greek lamprotatos )

10206-613: The historian Christopher Kelly described it: Then the empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall in drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine – Danube river system, which snaked across the fertile, flat lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea , to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of

10332-496: The honorary title imperator (commander); this is the origin of the word emperor , since this title was always bestowed to the early emperors. Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies, and civil wars from the late second century BC (see Crisis of the Roman Republic ) while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. In 44 BC Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated by

10458-565: The images of Roman gods. The monuments he first commissioned, such as the Arch of Constantine, contained no reference to Christianity. The accession of Constantine was a turning point for early Christianity. After his victory, Constantine took over the role of patron of the Christian faith. He supported the Church financially, had a number of basilicas built, granted privileges (e.g., exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to high-ranking offices, returned property confiscated during

10584-600: The imperial court, the Eastern court and the major positions in the Eastern Church were held by Arians or Arian sympathizers. With the exception of a short period of eclipse, Eusebius enjoyed the complete confidence both of Constantine and Constantius II and was the tutor of Emperor Julian the Apostate . After Constantine's death, his son and successor Constantius II was an Arian, as was Emperor Valens . Constantine's position on

10710-516: The imperial palace. This is probably because the traditional Roman triumph , concluding with the sacrifice to Jupiter Optimus Maximus at his temple on the Capitoline, was traditionally celebrated after victory over Rome's enemies, rather than after the conquest of the city by a claimant in a civil war. The Arch of Constantine , for which numerous reliefs from earlier monuments depicting prior emperors sacrificing to various gods were re-carved with

10836-478: The influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, and the emperor's council ( consilium ) became subject to official appointment for greater transparency . Though the Senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty , equestrians played an increasingly important role in the consilium . The women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions. Constantine

10962-407: The joint occasion of the city's birthday and Constantine's quinquennalia , recounted a vision apparently seen by the emperor while journeying between Marseille and Trier. The panegyricist recounts that the god Apollo appeared to Constantine in company with Victoria and together presented him with three wreaths representing thirty years of power. This vision was perhaps in a dream experienced by

11088-515: The last Roman emperor. He died in battle in 1453 against Mehmed II and his Ottoman forces during the siege of Constantinople . Mehmed II adopted the title of caesar in an attempt to claim a connection to the former Empire. His claim was soon recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople , but not by most European monarchs. The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and

11214-588: The late 1st century prompted legislation that prohibited the castration of a slave against his will "for lust or gain". Roman slavery was not based on race . Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians, with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Foreign slaves had higher mortality and lower birth rates than natives, and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions. The average recorded age at death for

11340-486: The marriage. Technically she remained under her father's legal authority, even though she moved into her husband's home, but when her father died she became legally emancipated. This arrangement was a factor in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed compared to many other cultures up to the modern period: although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in daily life, and her husband had no legal power over her. Although it

11466-416: The members of the three higher "orders", along with certain military officers. The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority affirmed, particularly within the justice system. Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative "worth" ( dignitas ) of the defendant: an honestior could pay

11592-719: The military. The last reference to Gaulish was between 560 and 575. The emergent Gallo-Romance languages would then be shaped by Gaulish. Proto-Basque or Aquitanian evolved with Latin loan words to modern Basque . The Thracian language , as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia, are attested in Imperial-era inscriptions. The Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "astonishing cohesive capacity" to create shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples. Public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as forums , amphitheatres , racetracks and baths —helped foster

11718-523: The miracle. The Greek words Ἐν Τούτῳ Νίκα 'in this sign, conquer' are often rendered in Latin as in hoc signo vinces 'in this sign, you will conquer'. According to Eusebius, Constantine also had a dream that same night. In the dream, the Christ of God appeared to him with the sign which had appeared in the sky, and urged him to make himself a copy of the sign which had appeared in the sky, and to use this as

11844-489: The new city. Christian chroniclers tell that it appeared necessary to Constantine "to teach his subjects to give up their rites ... and to accustom them to despise their temples and the images contained therein," This led to the closure of temples because of a lack of support, their wealth flowing to the imperial treasure; Constantine did not need to use force to implement this. It was the chronicler Theophanes who added centuries later that temples "were annihilated", but this

11970-412: The political career track, but equestrians often possessed greater wealth and political power. Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, equites or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors, but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire. A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified

12096-507: The poor were other sources. Vernae , by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the household, estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his vernae faced social disapproval, as they were considered part of the family household and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become citizens; any future children of

12222-403: The religions traditionally practiced in Rome evolved during his reign. In fact, his coinage and other official motifs, until 325, had affiliated him with the pagan cult of Sol Invictus. At first, Constantine encouraged the construction of new temples and tolerated traditional sacrifices ; by the end of his reign, he had begun to order the pillaging and tearing down of Roman temples . Beyond

12348-654: The scriptures were commissioned. The volumes were likely gospel books containing the Canonical Gospels of the Four Evangelists rather than complete Bibles with the entire Biblical canon , which were very rare in antiquity. Athanasius ( Apol. Const. 4 ) recorded around 340 Alexandrian scribes preparing Bibles for Constans . Little else is known. It has been speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists , and that Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Together with

12474-528: The slaves of the city of Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females). During the period of republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war, and the conquest of Greece brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves. Slaves were also traded in markets and sometimes sold by pirates . Infant abandonment and self-enslavement among

12600-522: The strife-torn Year of the Four Emperors , from which Vespasian emerged as the victor. Vespasian became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty , followed by the Nerva–Antonine dynasty which produced the " Five Good Emperors ": Nerva , Trajan , Hadrian , Antoninus Pius , and Marcus Aurelius . In the view of contemporary Greek historian Cassius Dio , the accession of Commodus in 180 marked

12726-461: The succession of Christian emperors. Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 after making Christianity the state religion . The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Romans fought off all invaders, most famously Attila , but the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself. Most chronologies place

12852-438: The sun at midday. About the time of the midday sun, when the day was just turning, he said he saw with his own eyes up in the sky and resting over the sun, a cross-shaped trophy formed from light, and a text attached to it which said, "By this conquer." ( τούτῳ νίκα ) Amazement at the spectacle seized both him and the whole company of soldiers which was then accompanying him on a campaign he was conducting somewhere, and witnessed

12978-426: The term is a misreading of "arcani", the secret ones. The term "arcanus" is known from Hadrian's Wall; Vindolanda tablet 162 bears the text "miles arcanu...", written in a good capital hand. Roman Empire The Roman Empire was the era of Roman civilisation lasting from 27 BC to 476 AD. Rome ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Romans conquered most of this during

13104-562: The time of Nero , however, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or an equestrian who exercised greater power than a senator. The blurring of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased social mobility , both upward and downward, to a greater extent than all other well-documented ancient societies. Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them. Social life, particularly for those whose personal resources were limited,

13230-466: The title Augustus ("venerated") and made him princeps ("foremost") with proconsular imperium , thus beginning the Principate , the first epoch of Roman imperial history. Although the republic stood in name, Augustus had all meaningful authority. During his 40-year rule, a new constitutional order emerged so that, upon his death, Tiberius would succeed him as the new de facto monarch. As Roman provinces were being established throughout

13356-411: The world's total population and made it the most populous unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century. Recent demographic studies have argued for a population peak from 70 million to more than 100 million . Each of the three largest cities in the Empire – Rome, Alexandria , and Antioch – was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century. As

13482-442: Was a point of pride to be a "one-man woman" ( univira ) who had married only once, there was little stigma attached to divorce , nor to speedy remarriage after being widowed or divorced. Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will. A mother's right to own and dispose of property, including setting the terms of her will, gave her enormous influence over her sons into adulthood. As part of

13608-559: Was abolished for reasons of Christian piety but was replaced with hanging , to demonstrate the preservation of Roman supremacy. On March 7, 321, Sunday, which was sacred to Christians as the day of Christ's resurrection and to the Roman Sun God Sol Invictus , was declared an official day of rest. On that day markets were banned and public offices were closed, except for the purpose of freeing slaves. There were, however, no restrictions on performing farming work on Sundays, which

13734-417: Was commanded and by means of a letter X turned sideways, with the top of its head bent around ( transversa X littera , summo capite circumflexo ), he marked Christ on their shields ( Christum in scutis notat ). Armed with this sign, the army took up its weapons. It is unclear from these sources what Constantine saw and what was marked on his army's shields. Eusebius's description of the daytime vision suggests

13860-465: Was considered "not true" by contemporary historians. Constantine respected cultivated persons, and his court was composed of older, respected, and honored men. Men from leading Roman families who declined to convert to Christianity were denied positions of power yet still received appointments; even up to the end of his life, two-thirds of his top government were non-Christian. Constantine's laws enforced and reflected his Christian attitudes. Crucifixion

13986-465: Was during the reign of Nero that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome. However, modern historians debate whether the Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Nerva 's modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in 96, from which point practising Jews paid the tax and Christians did not. Christians suffered from sporadic and localized persecutions over a period of two and

14112-465: Was further defined by their citizenship. Most citizens held limited rights (such as the ius Latinum , "Latin right"), but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by non-citizens. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, were peregrini , non-Romans. In 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of

14238-466: Was further fostered by a proliferation of voluntary associations and confraternities ( collegia and sodalitates ): professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs, performing troupes, and burial societies . According to the jurist Gaius , the essential distinction in the Roman " law of persons " was that all humans were either free ( liberi ) or slaves ( servi ). The legal status of free persons

14364-405: Was governed by annually elected magistrates ( Roman consuls above all) in conjunction with the Senate. The 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to rule by emperors. The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of imperium , meaning "command" (typically in a military sense). Occasionally, successful consuls or generals were given

14490-902: Was in less danger of polluting his soul with sin and not getting to heaven. He was baptized by his distant relative Arian Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia or by Pope Sylvester I which is maintained by the Catholic Church , the Coptic Orthodox Church , the Antiochian Orthodox Church , the Greek Orthodox Church , the Russian Orthodox Church , the Serbian Orthodox Church , upon by many other Eastern Orthodox , Nestorian Orthodox , and Oriental Orthodox Churches. During Eusebius of Nicomedia's time in

14616-539: Was mostly accomplished under the Republic , though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century, when Roman control in Europe, Africa, and Asia was strengthened. Under Augustus , a "global map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome, coinciding with the creation of the most comprehensive political geography that survives from antiquity, the Geography of Strabo . When Augustus died,

14742-671: Was necessary to maintain order, collect information, and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions. Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws, could collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation. Legal privileges and relative independence incentivized compliance. Roman government was thus limited , but efficient in its use of available resources. The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with divinely sanctioned authority ( auctoritas ). The rite of apotheosis (also called consecratio ) signified

14868-416: Was never a legal requirement for Latin in the Empire, but it represented a certain status. High standards of Latin, Latinitas , started with the advent of Latin literature. Due to the flexible language policy of the Empire, a natural competition of language emerged that spurred Latinitas , to defend Latin against the stronger cultural influence of Greek. Over time Latin usage was used to project power and

14994-426: Was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an executive magistrate . A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million sestertii . Not all men who qualified for the ordo senatorius chose to take a Senate seat, which required legal domicile at Rome. Emperors often filled vacancies in

15120-456: Was one of conservatism. His conversion to and support of Christianity produced fewer innovations than one might have expected; indeed they served an entirely conservative end, the preservation and continuation of the Empire. Constantine's decision to cease the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was a turning point for early Christianity, sometimes referred to as the Triumph of the Church,

15246-704: Was properly worshiped in his empire; what proper worship (orthodoxy) and doctrines and dogma consisted of was for the Church to determine. Constantine had become a worshiper of the Christian God, but he found that there were many opinions on that worship and indeed on who and what that God was. In 316, Constantine was asked to adjudicate in a North African dispute of the Donatist sect (who began by refusing obedience to any bishops who had yielded in any way to persecution, later regarding all bishops but their own sect as utterly contaminated). More significantly, in 325 he summoned

15372-491: Was supposed to have made man in his image, but only on the feet. Publicly displayed gladiatorial games were ordered to be eliminated in 325. According to Eusebius, in 331 Constantine had commissioned him to deliver fifty volumes of scriptures for the churches of Constantinople, which were to be bound in leather and easily portable. Only three or four churches are known certainly to have existed in Constantine's reign, but others appear to have been planned or established, for which

15498-411: Was the work of the great majority of the population. Some laws made during his reign were even humane in the modern sense and supported tolerance, possibly inspired by his Christianity: a prisoner was no longer to be kept in total darkness but must be given the outdoors and daylight; a condemned man was allowed to die in the arena, but he could not be branded on his "heavenly beautified" face, since God

15624-580: Was torn between the Arian and Trinitarian camps. After the Nicene council, and against its conclusions, he eventually recalled Arius from exile and banished Athanasius of Alexandria to Trier . Just before his death in May 337, it is claimed that Constantine was baptised into Christianity. Up until this time he had been a catechumen for most of his adult life. He believed that if he waited to get baptized on his death bed he

15750-447: Was used to designate the dignitas of certain senators and their immediate family, including women. "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated. As the republican principle of citizens' equality under the law faded, the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honours ( honestiores ) and humbler folk ( humiliores ). In general, honestiores were

15876-476: Was useful for a career in the military, government, or law. Bilingual inscriptions indicate the everyday interpenetration of the two languages. Latin and Greek's mutual linguistic and cultural influence is a complex topic. Latin words incorporated into Greek were very common by the early imperial era, especially for military, administration, and trade and commerce matters. Greek grammar, literature, poetry and philosophy shaped Latin language and culture. There

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