The Late Empire, Christianity, and the Germanic Invasions

This is Unit Eight of Western Civilization One, part one of two: the late Roman Empire and early Christianity, from the murder of Severus Alexander in two thirty-five to the Council of Nicaea in three twenty-five. Unit seven closed on two thirty-five, where the machine breaks. Carry one idea through this unit. The anchor tells the late empire, early Christianity and the invasions as one story with a turn in the middle. Fifty years of crisis, then Diocletian's structure, a Tetrarchy to fix succession and dioceses to fix administration, with orthodoxy enforced by persecution. Then Constantine kept the structure and changed the religion, and the turn is there: from him on, the Church grew inside the imperial frame, its dioceses copied from the map, its creed backed by imperial authority. This part carries the story to that turn; part two watches the frame weaken and the Church stand. By the end you will be able to describe the crisis and the Sasanians. To say what Diocletian did and why the persecution failed. To tell Constantine's conversion and his capital. To describe the mystery cults, Palestine, the Gospels' account and Paul. And to explain why Rome found Christianity alien, how the Church organized, what it absorbed and rejected, and what Nicaea decided.

Four entries on crisis and recovery: twenty-six emperors in fifty years, the Sasanian state in the East, Diocletian's structure, and the persecution that failed.

Fifty years, twenty-six emperors.

WC1 0701 The Crisis of the Third Century: Twenty-Six Emperors

From two thirty-five, when Severus Alexander was murdered, the Empire risked collapse for fifty years: the anchor's twenty-six emperors, the Praetorians auctioning the throne, borders breaking, elites retreating to estates, and about two seventy-one three rival empires, Gallic and Palmyrene on the witness. Aurelian, a witness name, rebuilt Rome's walls in two seventy. The system hinged on one man, and when he traveled, government stalled.

A new Persia with a state religion.

WC1 0702 Sasanian Persia: Iranshahr and a State Religion

Ardashir founded the Sasanian dynasty in two twenty-four, the witness's date, and it ruled to six fifty-one. Zoroastrianism became a state religion for the first time, the magi allied to the throne, and centralized rule followed the Achaemenid model; Shapur the First captured the emperor Valerian. The anchor gives four dates for the Sasanians' rise, one of them B.C.E. Use two twenty-four.

Four rulers, new dioceses, frozen prices.

WC1 0703 Diocletian's Tetrarchy, Dioceses, Army, and Prices

Diocletian, two eighty-four to three oh five, shared rule with a co-emperor and two juniors, the Tetrarchy, to end assassination by designated succession. He grouped provinces into dioceses, enlarged the army in smaller legions, reformed taxes, and froze prices in three oh one, an edict that failed into a black market. The Tetrarchy worked exactly once: Diocletian retired, and civil war followed.

Orthodoxy as state policy, and a spectacular failure.

WC1 0704 The Great Persecution, 303, and Its Failure

Diocletian blamed the crisis on neglected gods and demanded orthodoxy, religious orthodoxy as a state policy for the first time. In three oh three, the witnesses' date, Christianity was banned and the anchor's several thousand were executed. The anchor calls it a spectacular failure. Nine years later the emperor was Christian; hold the two dates together.

Two entries on Constantine: the vision before the Milvian Bridge, toleration, a gold coin that lasted centuries, and a Christian capital where Europe meets Asia.

A vision, an edict, and a gold standard.

WC1 0705 Constantine: 312, 313, the Solidus, and the First Christian Emperor

Constantine became sole ruler by three twelve after a vision before the Milvian Bridge, a witness name, promising victory on conversion; the Edict of Milan in three thirteen, also witnessed, gave toleration. He struck the solidus on a gold standard, the West's coin for the anchor's eight hundred years. Cynical readings of the conversion exist, the anchor notes; his sincerity is attributed.

A capital where every trade route crossed.

WC1 0706 Constantinople, 324: A New Beginning

Constantine founded Constantinople at Byzantium in three twenty-four, dedicated in three thirty on the witness, where Europe meets Asia and every east-west trade route crossed, fed by Egyptian grain. Its walls were not breached until twelve oh four, the witness's date for the Fourth Crusade. Where the anchor says the walls held a thousand years, twelve oh four came first.

Four entries on the religions of the Empire: mystery cults offering salvation, the sects and revolts of Roman Palestine, the Gospels' account of Jesus, and Paul's opening of the faith.

Salvation through rites, memberships stackable.

WC1 0707 Mystery Religions: Mithras, Sol Invictus, Isis

Roman religion was diverse, and mystery cults from the Hellenistic kingdoms offered salvation through rites, with multiple memberships allowed. Mithras, a Zoroastrian-derived god of sun and rebirth, drew soldiers; Sol Invictus was venerated by emperors; Isis ran the largest cult and could never be purged. Some historians imagine a Mithraic empire without Constantine, the anchor says; the counterfactual is attributed.

Four sects, and a Temple destroyed.

WC1 0708 Roman Palestine: Four Sects and Two Revolts

Palestine resented taxation and refused emperor-worship. Its sects: Sadducees, priests keeping every law; Pharisees, all laws for all and a coming messiah; Essenes, desert ascetics; Zealots, armed revolt. The revolt of sixty-six ended with the Temple destroyed in seventy, and Bar Kokhba is the witnesses' name for the revolt of one thirty-two. Sadducees and Pharisees rest on the anchor; Essenes and Zealots are witnessed.

The Gospels' account, reported as theirs.

WC1 0709 Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels' Account

The anchor writes in a secular frame, stated as such: the four Gospels were transmitted orally and written about ninety C.E. by most scholars' dating. Their account is of a carpenter who preached salvation through forgiveness, was arrested for inciting rebellion, and was crucified about thirty-three; Christ means anointed. The course reports the Gospels' account as theirs, and the dating as the scholars'.

The faith opened to everyone, and four disputes.

WC1 0710 Paul and the Four Early Disputes

Paul, a converted Jewish leader, made the crucifixion a divine plan cancelling sin and opened the faith to everyone. Centuries of dispute followed, with no single canon or creed at first: which God, whether Jesus was the messiah, human or divine, Jews only or all. Gnostics treated him as a teller of secrets. The disputes were settled by authority, and Nicaea, later in this lecture, shows how.

Five entries on the Church taking shape: why Rome found it alien, bishops and dioceses on the imperial map, holidays absorbed and polytheism rejected, Arius, and the creed of three twenty-five.

Equality without rank, in a legal hierarchy.

WC1 0711 Universalism: Why Rome Found Christianity Alien

Christianity inherited spiritual equality from Judaism and opened it to all: no social distinctions, love of neighbor regardless of rank, which the anchor calls alien to Roman legal hierarchy. Monotheism refused emperor-worship, evangelism drew suspicion, and Nero blamed Christians for the fire of sixty-four, making martyrdom a lasting trope. Where the anchor's tenth chapter dates the fire sixty-eight, it was sixty-four.

A diocese copied from the imperial map.

WC1 0712 Bishops, Dioceses, Charity, and the Bishop of Rome

Bishops ruled priests and deacons, archbishops sat in provincial capitals, and the diocese copied the imperial map. Charity for the poor drove conversion. The bishop of Rome, one among several, claimed the Petrine succession, pope meaning father and the keys given to Peter, and took six centuries to win the West. The later proof of perpetual supremacy is the anchor's scare-quoted phrase, attributed.

Holidays kept, gods rejected, empire declared Christian.

WC1 0713 Holidays Absorbed, Polytheism Rejected, Theodosius, 380

December twenty-fifth, Sol Invictus's day, became Christmas; Easter took spring festivals; saints' days replaced local feasts. But polytheism was not tolerated: pagan, from country bumpkin, was the Christians' contempt, temples were repurposed, mob attacks were tolerated, and in three eighty Theodosius declared the Empire Christian. Practices survived, charms, spirits, salt over the shoulder. Belief systems ended; habits did not.

Every definition creates a position to reject.

WC1 0714 Trinity, Heresy, and Arius

Theologians of the second and third centuries defined the Trinity, and every definition created a position to reject; heresy means choice. Arius, an Egyptian priest, taught that the Father created the Son, so the Son is not God, and Arianism, the largest early heresy, spread among the Germanic tribes by missionaries. The Germanic kingdoms of part two will be Arian; remember why that mattered.

The first party line backed by an emperor.

WC1 0715 Nicaea, 325, and the Creed

Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in three twenty-five, and its creed declared Christ consubstantial with the Father, born of the Virgin, risen and returning: the first party line backed by imperial authority. Catholic means universal, and language split the Church into Latin West and Greek East. Where the anchor says the Nicene Creed is now called the Apostles' Creed, they are different texts.

Look at what you can now do. You can describe fifty years of crisis under twenty-six emperors and a Sasanian Persia from two twenty-four with Zoroastrianism as state religion. You can say that Diocletian's Tetrarchy worked exactly once, that his dioceses and price edict fixed administration and failed at prices, and that the persecution of three oh three was a spectacular failure nine years before a Christian emperor. You can tell the vision of three twelve, the Edict of Milan, the solidus, and Constantinople founded in three twenty-four. You can describe mystery cults with stackable memberships, four sects and two revolts in Palestine, the Gospels' account reported as theirs, and Paul's four disputes. And you can explain equality without rank as alien to Rome, dioceses copied from the map, holidays absorbed and polytheism rejected by three eighty, Arius's created Son, and Nicaea's consubstantial one. Part two opens on the Latin West and the Greek East, the monks, Augustine, and the invasions that ended the West while the Church stood.