Decline of the Ancient World A.D. 1A.D.
400
What Your Child
Needs to Know
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BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY
Among the many peoples who lived under Roman
rule were Jews, descendants of Hebrews and Is-
raelites. The Romans conquered the Jews in 37
B.C. in the area we now refer to as the Middle East.
Unlike the Romans and other peoples, the Jews be-
lieved in only one god. The Romans persecuted
the Jews for their beliefs.
Jesus Christ
At this time, a Jew named Jesus of Nazareth (NA
zuh ruhth) was born. Around the age of thirty, Jesus
began preaching and teaching in the towns and vil-
lages of Judea (joo DEE uh), the Roman name for
Judah, mentioned in Chapter 2. He taught that peo-
ple should love God and their neighbor as much as
they loved themselves. He urged people to live lives
devoted to others and to forgive those who wronged
them. He was reported to have performed miracles.
The Jews believed that a Messiah (muh SYE
uh), a special leader, would one day be sent by God
to guide them. The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of
blasphemy when he claimed to be this Messiah.
Romans thought Jesus was a political threat. They
arrested him and tried him before the Roman gov-
ernor Pontius Pilate (PAHN chus PYE luht), who
sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion.
The apostles (uh PAHS ulz) of Jesus claimed to
have seen him alive after his death. Such a resur-
rection would mean that Jesus was divinethat he
was God. The apostles traveled throughout the
Roman Empire spreading Christianity, a religion
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based on Jesus life and teachings and on the belief
that Jesus and God are one. The Romans perse-
cuted the Christians because they put their God
and Jesus above the emperor. Nevertheless, Chris-
tianity continued to thrive and grow.
Peter and Paul
Two especially important early Christian leaders
were Peter and Paul. Peter was one of Jesus origi-
nal apostles and became the first pope, or leader,
of what later was named the Roman Catholic
Church. Pauls letters, or epistles, to Christian
churches are an important part of the Bibles
New Testament. By A.D. 300, Christianity had
spread to Greece, Egypt, France, Britain, and as
far away as India.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
During the Pax Romana, which gave the Roman
Empire peace and security, strong emperors con-
quered other lands until the empire reached its
greatest extentincluding parts of Europe, Asia,
and Africa. This period ended in A.D. 180. After
that, Rome faced many problems.
The vast empire became harder and harder to
govern. To maintain the enormous army necessary
for this task, taxes increased until the people could
no longer pay them. A plague struck Rome in A.D.
165 and wiped out thousands of people. This fur-
ther weakened the state. Barbarians from the
north began to boldly invade many parts of the em-
pire. Worst of all, there was no strong leadership.
Most of the emperors after A.D. 180 were weak
and corrupt. What could the Romans do to keep
the Roman Empire, like so many empires before it,
from falling apart?
A Divided Empire
In A.D. 286, the emperor Diocletian (dye uh KLEE
shuhn) decided the Roman Empire was too big for
one person to govern, and he divided it in two. The
eastern empire included Greece, Egypt, Turkey, and
Palestine (the larger area of which Israel and Judea
were parts). The western empire included Rome,
the rest of Italy, Gaul (France), Britain, and Ger-
many. Diocletian ruled the eastern empire, and
 Get Ready! for Social Studies World History

Ruins of Colosseum in Rome, completed A.D. 80

Maximilian (mak suh MIL yuhn), general of Gaul, The Decline of Rome
ruled the western empire. By the late 300s, the empire again had two rulers
This split, however, did not help. In A.D. 306, one for the eastern empire and one for the western.
the Emperor Constantine (KAHN stuhn teen) the Christianity did make the eastern empire stronger
Great reunited the two parts of the empire and and more unified, but the western empire contin-
ruled them single-handedly. But like Diocletian, ued to decline. Barbarian tribes such as the Goths,
he favored the eastern lands. Franks, and Vandals boldly attacked, and the
In A.D. 330, Constantine moved his capital western rulers were not strong enough to hold
from Rome to the Greek colony of Byzantium (buh them back. By A.D. 400, the barbarians were at
ZAN tee uhm) on the western coast of Turkey, fac- the gates of Rome. The eastern empire, now called
ing the Mediterranean. He later renamed the city the Byzantine (BIH zuhn teen) Empire, was se-
Constantinople (kahn stan tuhn OH puhl) in cure, however, and would continue to flourish for
honor of himself. Today it is Istanbul, Turkey. another thousand years.
Constantine had made one other bold move that
changed the course of world history. In A.D. 313, he
had recognized Christianity as a religion and al-
lowed Christians to worship openly. He took this ap-
proach for practical reasons as well as religious ones.
The Christian faith had grown despite Roman per-
secution and had united peoples of different back-
grounds. Constantine hoped Christianity would
unify the empire and make it strong again. He him-
self converted to the new religion on his deathbed in
A.D. 337. Christianity soon became the state reli-
gion of the Roman Empire.