Hunt, tijdvak 3
Chapter 7 The Transformation of the Roman Empire
Diocletian had ended the third-century political crisis and kept the Roman Empire from breaking into
warring parts by appointing a co-emperor and two assistant emperors. Diocletian convinced his co-
rulers first to persecute1 the pagan Manicheans (followers of the Iranian prophet Mani and the
objects of his proclamation) and then the Christians.
1
Vervolgen
From Principate to Dominate in the Late Roman Empire, 284 – 395
Diocletian and Constantine pulled Roman government out of its extended crisis by increasing the
emperor’s authority, reorganizing the empire’s defence, restricting worker’s freedom and changing
task system to try to increase revenues2.
2
Inkomsten
The Political Transformation and Division of the Roman Empire
Historians refer to Roman rule from Diocletian onward as the dominate because he took the title
dominus (‘’lord” or “master”) – what slaves called their owners.
Non-Roman Kingdoms in the Western Roman Empire, c. 370 – 550s
By the 370s, this human tide provoked3 violence and a loss of order in the western empire.
3
Uitgelokt
Non-Roman Migrations into the Western Roman Empire
Hordes of men, women and children crossed into the empire as refugees 4, fleeing the Huns. Over
time the immigrating non-Roman peoples forced the Roman government to grant them territory in
the empire.
Tribes5 frequently attacked other tribes.
At Atilla’s death in 453, the Huns lost their fragile unity and faded from history. By this time,
however, the terror that they had inspired in the peoples living in eastern Europe had provoked the
migrations that eventually transformed the western empire.
When the emperor Theodosius died in 395, the barbarians whom he had allowed to settle in the
empire rebelled. United by the Gothic chief Alaric into a tribe known as the Visigoths (De Visigoten
worden ook wel Westgoten genoemd ter onderscheiding van de Ostrogoten of Oostgoten.), they
fought their way into the western empire. They had no precedents to follow so they adapted the
only model available: Roman tradition.
The details of the change in the later fifth century that has traditionally, but simplistically, been called
the fall of the Roman Empire reveal the complexity of the political transformation of the western
empire under the new kingdoms.6
Probably persuaded by his wife a Christian, to believe that God had helped him defeat the Allemanni,
Clovis proclaimed himself an orthodox Christian and renounced Arianism.
Clovis’s dynasty, called Merovingian after the legendary Frankish ancestor Merovech, endured for
another two hundred years, foreshadowing the kingdom that would emerge much later as the
forerunner of the modern France. They survived so long because they successfully combined their
own traditions of military bravery with Roman social and legal traditions.
4
Vluchtelingen
5
Stammen
, 6
De details van de latere vijfde eeuw werden traditioneel, maar simplistisch gezien, de val van het
Romeinse Rijk genoemd, en onthulden de complexiteit van de politieke transformatie van het
westerse rijk.
Social and Cultural Transformation in the Western Roman Empire
This process of social and cultural transformation promoted stability by producing new law codes but
undermined long-term security by weakening the economic situation.
The most prominent component of this system (the system from Clovis) was wergild, the payment a
murderer had to make as compensation for his crime, to prevent endless cycles of revenge.
The Roman Empire in the East, c. 500 – 565
Justinian increased imperial authority and tried to purify religion to satisfy what he saw as his duty to
provide strong leadership and God’s favor.
Imperial Society in the Eastern Roman Empire
The eastern emperors worked to maintain Roman tradition and identity, believing that “Romanness”
was the best defence against what they saw as the barbarization of the western empire.
Government in the eastern empire increased social divisions because it provided services according
to people’s wealth.
This fee-based system allowed the emperors to pay their civil servants tiny salaries and spend
imperial funds for other purposes. To keep the system from destroying itself through extortion 7, the
emperors published an official list of the maximum fees their employers could charge
7
Afpersing
The Reign of Emperor Justinian, 527 – 565
Justinian (Justinianus I) became the most famous eastern emperor by waging war to reunite the
empire as it had been in the days of Augustus, making imperial rule more autocratic, constructing
costly buildings in Constantinople, and instituting legal and religious reforms.
Justinian’s success in reuniting the western and eastern empires had unintended consequences:
severe damage to the west’s infrastructure and the east’s finances.
Justinian’s efforts to impose religious unity only drove Christians further apart and undermined his
vision of a restored Roman world.
Opstand na rellen rond wagenrennen (532)
In 532 brak er het Nika-oproer uit, genoemd naar de strijdkreet van de oproerkraaiers, Nika! ("Overwin!"). De rel ontstond
door ongeregeldheden tijdens het wagenrennen, in het grote stadion van Constantinopel. Dat was sinds Romes gloriedagen
immens populair. Toen Constantinopel (oorspronkelijk Byzantium genoemd) de hoofdstad van het Romeinse Rijk werd,
verhuisden de wagenteams van Rome mee naar de nieuwe hoofdstad. Oorspronkelijk waren er vier teams, maar de populairste
twee bleven over: de Groenen en de Blauwen genoemd, naar de kleuren die de wagenmenners droegen in het stadion. Deze
kleuren werden ook gebruikt voor de aanhangers van respectievelijk de monofysieten (die stelden dat Christus alleen een
Goddelijke natuur had) en die van het concilie van Chalcedon (dat uitging van een ondeelbare dubbele natuur van God en
Mens).[2] Alle burgers en zelfs de keizer werden geacht om een voorkeur voor een van beide teams uit te spreken. Zo
ontstonden er grote 'supportersgroepen', wier rivaliteit zo groot was dat de strijd vaak na de rennen werd voortgezet in de
straten van de stad, met alle gewelddadige gevolgen van dien. De twee groepen hadden in de loop der eeuwen ook een
politieke dimensie gekregen, waardoor de tegenstellingen tussen de teams stegen. Justinianus had oorspronkelijk de Blauwen
gesteund, maar probeerde nu van beide partijen afstand te nemen. Na een wedstrijd in het stadion werden leden van de
verschillende teams ter dood veroordeeld. Daardoor kwamen zowel de Blauwen als de Groenen in opstand tegen de keizer.
Een brand verwoestte daarbij het grootste deel van de binnenstad (waaronder de Hagia Sophia). Justinianus maakte plannen
om uit het keizerlijk paleis te vluchten, maar volgens de overlevering was het keizerin Theodora die dat wist te voorkomen. De
opstand werd neergeslagen in een bloedbad, aangericht door Belisarius, die toen hoofd van de keizerlijke lijfwacht was. Hierbij
kwamen ongeveer 30.000 Groenen en Blauwen om het leven.
Chapter 7 The Transformation of the Roman Empire
Diocletian had ended the third-century political crisis and kept the Roman Empire from breaking into
warring parts by appointing a co-emperor and two assistant emperors. Diocletian convinced his co-
rulers first to persecute1 the pagan Manicheans (followers of the Iranian prophet Mani and the
objects of his proclamation) and then the Christians.
1
Vervolgen
From Principate to Dominate in the Late Roman Empire, 284 – 395
Diocletian and Constantine pulled Roman government out of its extended crisis by increasing the
emperor’s authority, reorganizing the empire’s defence, restricting worker’s freedom and changing
task system to try to increase revenues2.
2
Inkomsten
The Political Transformation and Division of the Roman Empire
Historians refer to Roman rule from Diocletian onward as the dominate because he took the title
dominus (‘’lord” or “master”) – what slaves called their owners.
Non-Roman Kingdoms in the Western Roman Empire, c. 370 – 550s
By the 370s, this human tide provoked3 violence and a loss of order in the western empire.
3
Uitgelokt
Non-Roman Migrations into the Western Roman Empire
Hordes of men, women and children crossed into the empire as refugees 4, fleeing the Huns. Over
time the immigrating non-Roman peoples forced the Roman government to grant them territory in
the empire.
Tribes5 frequently attacked other tribes.
At Atilla’s death in 453, the Huns lost their fragile unity and faded from history. By this time,
however, the terror that they had inspired in the peoples living in eastern Europe had provoked the
migrations that eventually transformed the western empire.
When the emperor Theodosius died in 395, the barbarians whom he had allowed to settle in the
empire rebelled. United by the Gothic chief Alaric into a tribe known as the Visigoths (De Visigoten
worden ook wel Westgoten genoemd ter onderscheiding van de Ostrogoten of Oostgoten.), they
fought their way into the western empire. They had no precedents to follow so they adapted the
only model available: Roman tradition.
The details of the change in the later fifth century that has traditionally, but simplistically, been called
the fall of the Roman Empire reveal the complexity of the political transformation of the western
empire under the new kingdoms.6
Probably persuaded by his wife a Christian, to believe that God had helped him defeat the Allemanni,
Clovis proclaimed himself an orthodox Christian and renounced Arianism.
Clovis’s dynasty, called Merovingian after the legendary Frankish ancestor Merovech, endured for
another two hundred years, foreshadowing the kingdom that would emerge much later as the
forerunner of the modern France. They survived so long because they successfully combined their
own traditions of military bravery with Roman social and legal traditions.
4
Vluchtelingen
5
Stammen
, 6
De details van de latere vijfde eeuw werden traditioneel, maar simplistisch gezien, de val van het
Romeinse Rijk genoemd, en onthulden de complexiteit van de politieke transformatie van het
westerse rijk.
Social and Cultural Transformation in the Western Roman Empire
This process of social and cultural transformation promoted stability by producing new law codes but
undermined long-term security by weakening the economic situation.
The most prominent component of this system (the system from Clovis) was wergild, the payment a
murderer had to make as compensation for his crime, to prevent endless cycles of revenge.
The Roman Empire in the East, c. 500 – 565
Justinian increased imperial authority and tried to purify religion to satisfy what he saw as his duty to
provide strong leadership and God’s favor.
Imperial Society in the Eastern Roman Empire
The eastern emperors worked to maintain Roman tradition and identity, believing that “Romanness”
was the best defence against what they saw as the barbarization of the western empire.
Government in the eastern empire increased social divisions because it provided services according
to people’s wealth.
This fee-based system allowed the emperors to pay their civil servants tiny salaries and spend
imperial funds for other purposes. To keep the system from destroying itself through extortion 7, the
emperors published an official list of the maximum fees their employers could charge
7
Afpersing
The Reign of Emperor Justinian, 527 – 565
Justinian (Justinianus I) became the most famous eastern emperor by waging war to reunite the
empire as it had been in the days of Augustus, making imperial rule more autocratic, constructing
costly buildings in Constantinople, and instituting legal and religious reforms.
Justinian’s success in reuniting the western and eastern empires had unintended consequences:
severe damage to the west’s infrastructure and the east’s finances.
Justinian’s efforts to impose religious unity only drove Christians further apart and undermined his
vision of a restored Roman world.
Opstand na rellen rond wagenrennen (532)
In 532 brak er het Nika-oproer uit, genoemd naar de strijdkreet van de oproerkraaiers, Nika! ("Overwin!"). De rel ontstond
door ongeregeldheden tijdens het wagenrennen, in het grote stadion van Constantinopel. Dat was sinds Romes gloriedagen
immens populair. Toen Constantinopel (oorspronkelijk Byzantium genoemd) de hoofdstad van het Romeinse Rijk werd,
verhuisden de wagenteams van Rome mee naar de nieuwe hoofdstad. Oorspronkelijk waren er vier teams, maar de populairste
twee bleven over: de Groenen en de Blauwen genoemd, naar de kleuren die de wagenmenners droegen in het stadion. Deze
kleuren werden ook gebruikt voor de aanhangers van respectievelijk de monofysieten (die stelden dat Christus alleen een
Goddelijke natuur had) en die van het concilie van Chalcedon (dat uitging van een ondeelbare dubbele natuur van God en
Mens).[2] Alle burgers en zelfs de keizer werden geacht om een voorkeur voor een van beide teams uit te spreken. Zo
ontstonden er grote 'supportersgroepen', wier rivaliteit zo groot was dat de strijd vaak na de rennen werd voortgezet in de
straten van de stad, met alle gewelddadige gevolgen van dien. De twee groepen hadden in de loop der eeuwen ook een
politieke dimensie gekregen, waardoor de tegenstellingen tussen de teams stegen. Justinianus had oorspronkelijk de Blauwen
gesteund, maar probeerde nu van beide partijen afstand te nemen. Na een wedstrijd in het stadion werden leden van de
verschillende teams ter dood veroordeeld. Daardoor kwamen zowel de Blauwen als de Groenen in opstand tegen de keizer.
Een brand verwoestte daarbij het grootste deel van de binnenstad (waaronder de Hagia Sophia). Justinianus maakte plannen
om uit het keizerlijk paleis te vluchten, maar volgens de overlevering was het keizerin Theodora die dat wist te voorkomen. De
opstand werd neergeslagen in een bloedbad, aangericht door Belisarius, die toen hoofd van de keizerlijke lijfwacht was. Hierbij
kwamen ongeveer 30.000 Groenen en Blauwen om het leven.
