hi

In the 3rd century

·         Epidermic disease spread through Empire

·         Hard to defend the frontier against barbarians

·         Emperors were losing power

·         2.5 years average for an emperor

·         Too many poor citizens

Diocletian

·         284 Ad was his reforms

·         Had a 400,000 people in the army

·         Divided Rome Territories into smaller provinces

·         Get 20000 officals

·         they were more efficient at collecting higher taxes - this greater yield provided for a larger army

Time marches on to 300 Ad…

·         60 million people in the roman empire

·         Millions are Christians

·         Christianity help the poor

·         more Christians - more face-to-face contacts - more conversions - more offspring

·         Christians are gaining power, becoming the ruling elite

Hi

·         Diocletian (ruled from 284 - 305) left Christians alone at first

·         Constantine ruled as emperor 306 – 337

How did Constantine restructure the empire?

• He built the army up to as many as a half a million troops
• He started a new gold coinage that kept its value for lots of centuries
• He shared power with fellow emperors, (his sons)
• He started to build an eastern capital , the city of New Rome , later named Constantinople  it was located between Europe and Asia