The Dark Ages Marshall High School Mr. Cline Western Civilization I: Ancient Foundations Marshall High School Unit Five AE * Heirs of Rome: The Church and the Byzantines • Islamic Development • Another religion became dominant in the seventh century in an area known as Arabia. • Islam is a monotheistic religion that became popular in the Middle East. • Islamic nations did not separate church and state, but instead saw the two as completely intertwined. • As Islam became popular and spread, Arabic rulers came into contact with Christians. • Starting in 1096, Western Christians began to go east to battle their religious enemies in the Crusades. • This led to Christian troops being reintroduced to classical texts that had been preserved by Easterners, a key ingredient of the eventual European Renaissance. * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Threat to the Church • Every powerful group faces challenges from the outside, but they also have to watch for threats from within. • This is true of the early Christian Church, which took roots in the Roman Empire in 312 AD in the form of Catholicism. • Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion of the region for over half a millennium, though it faced threats from within itself during that time. • We're going to look at two of those threats: Arianism and iconoclasm. • Arianism • The first threat to the church came in the 4th century AD. • Although Catholic Christianity was growing in dominance among native Romans at the time, invading Germanic tribes, who moved into Roman territories from surrounding areas after being displaced by the Huns, brought with them a new form of Christianity called Arianism. * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Arianism • One of the key tenets of Catholic Christianity is the Holy Trinity - that the Father (God), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit are three aspects of the same divine being. • On the other hand, Arianism is a form of Christianity in which believers thought that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were three separate entities. The name comes from Arius, who created the Arian belief system. • Basically, Arian Christians believed that God never changed or grew. • However, Jesus was born and grew like a human. • His changing nature meant that Jesus was not God and couldn't be a divine entity. • Instead, God created Jesus. • The belief that the Holy Trinity were separate but formed from a similar substance is known as homoiousios. * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Arianism • The Catholic belief that all three pieces of the Holy Trinity were formed from the same substance is known as homoousios. • This conflict spread throughout the Christian nation. • Arianism was officially condemned after the issuing of the Nicene Creed, which reinforced homoousion as correct. • But as Germanic tribes continued to invade the Roman Empire and converted to the Arian version of Christianity, eventually Arianism was even endorsed officially in some areas of the Empire. • The conflict continued between Catholic and Arian Christianity in the Roman Empire until the popularity of Arian Christianity just died out (especially after many Germanic tribesmen reached Rome) and Catholicism became their dominant religion. • At that point, Arianism was basically all but gone in the Roman Empire. * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Arianism • However, it continued to be popular among members of the invading Germanic tribes. • This would continue to cause some problems with the native Romans up through the 5th and 6th centuries. • However, tribesmen would eventually follow suit with the rest of the Romans, and those who remained in the Empire would convert to Catholicism. • Iconoclasm • Another conflict in the early church was that of iconoclasm, or the intentional destruction of a religious image. • Conflicts of iconoclasm developed over concerns of how religious images were treated during worship. • Some people were concerned that worship may become directed towards the image rather than the person or being that it represented. * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Iconoclasm • The basis of this concern is in the Ten Commandments mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible. • The Commandments forbid the worship of idols. • Directing religious devotion to an image was interpreted by some as idol-worship. • Iconoclasm was a problem in the Byzantine Empire, the inheritors of the Roman Empire, beginning in the 8th century. • Like the Romans, the Byzantines were also Christians. • Some in the empire grew distressed because there had been an increasing amount of religious imagery displayed. • Earlier, an emperor had even included the image of Jesus on Roman coinage. • Religious icons became the blame of the loss of military battles and economic decline. * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Iconoclasm • Muslims also had a history of iconoclasm, and their spread into Roman territory may have influenced natives to take up this practice. • Icons were destroyed while at the same time the cross became a popular image for church decoration. • The first person to lead an occurrence of iconoclasm was Emperor Leo III around 730. • He believed the use of icons was to blame for his military losses to the Muslims. • He also blamed it for the violent eruption of a volcano on an island called Thera. • He felt these things were punishment from an angry God. • Leo's son, Constantine V, advocated for a council to officially support iconoclasm. * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Iconoclasm • Constantine's successor, Leo IV, also fought for the destruction of icons. • However, his wife undid much of his work because she was supportive of the use of icons. • Another bout of iconoclasm was started by Emperor Leo V in 815. • He also may have blamed icons for military defeats both while he was ruler and before. • His successor, Michael II, reaffirmed the rulings of another major council held to justify the destruction of images. • The actions of these leaders were not always supported by the pope, leading to conflict between the two leaders. • This conflict over iconoclasm would lead to two great historical occurrences • The crowning of Charles Martel as Holy Roman Emperor, and * Early Church Conflicts: Arianism and Iconoclasm • Iconoclasm • Conflicts would continue between emperors and popes until the occurrence of the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western religion in 1054. * The Post Roman Economy • The Roman Empire • For many years, Rome was the cultural capital of the world and sustained a huge empire through both military force and trade. • Eventually, civilization declined and took Rome's once-great economy with it. • This part of the unit will track the development of Rome's economy from its beginnings in agriculture to the height of the empire through its decline in the Dark Ages. • We will begin by exploring the founding of Rome. • Rome was founded by the first Roman king, Romulus, around 753 BC. * The Post Roman Economy • The Roman Empire • The city was formed by several tribes who united. • The foundation of the economy of the city at the time was agricultural. • Besides standard crops, Rome's agricultural products also included cloth and raw materials (like olives for oil and vineyards for wine). • Farming the land in the area and using the Tiber River to assist with trade allowed the people there to flourish. • Eventually, Romans developed roads. • The roads created a new opportunity for trade and allowed the economy to thrive even more. • As Rome became involved in conflicts surrounding the tribes, farmers became soldiers. * The Post Roman Economy • The Roman Empire • Without farmers to work the land, wealthy Romans brought in slaves to handle agricultural tasks. • As Rome's agricultural output grew, many products had to be shipped across the Mediterranean Sea to where other Roman cities were located. • Eventually, the Roman economy became largely dependent on imports and exports. • The Roman Empire expanded and grew so large that conflict began to occur more frequently within its borders. • Eventually, civil conflict caused city life to deteriorate. • By the third century AD, cities were full of sick and poor people. • Wealthy estate owners hired their own troops to protect them from any disruptions. * The Post Roman Economy • Rome in the Dark Ages • Late in the fourth century, Rome began to experience increased threats from surrounding Germanic tribes. • These tribes, like the Vandals, Goths, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons, were looking for land and being pushed out of their own by other groups like the Huns. • These tribes moved into Roman territory by different means. • Some were violent and unresponsive to native Roman culture (like the Anglo-Saxons), but some became assimilated, adopting many Roman practices (like the Franks). • Around 410, Rome was overtaken by a Visigoth named Alaric. • Visigoths were a tribe that came from southern Scandinavia. • This marked the beginning of a change in the Roman economy. * The Post Roman Economy • Rome in the Dark Ages • Remember, up until this time, Rome's economy had shifted from its early years of being farming-based to becoming largely dependent on imports and exports to its surrounding territories. • Additionally, a portion of all grain production was collected by the city to help feed the poor. • As Rome came under attack from the Visigoths, Carthage, a major supplier of grain, was overtaken by the Vandals. • This meant much of Rome's grain supply stopped. • The low grain supply affected both Rome and the rest of Italy. • Agricultural technologies involving water power and horse power were not yet adopted by the Romans because, until now, they had no need for it. * The Post Roman Economy • Rome in the Dark Ages • They had such a large population of slaves to create their products, especially grain, that no new technology was needed to increase efficiency. • But now Rome's economy was in serious trouble.