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Rome
(Page 2)
Augustus' successors,
Tiberius,
Caligula,
Claudius and
Nero, continued to expand the civil service and provincial
administration (14-68 AD). In the civil war of 68-9 AD, provincial armies successively
made
Galba,
Otho and
Vitellius emperors.
Vespasian and his sons
Titus and
Domitian
restored stability.
Rome reached the peak of its prosperity
under
Trajan,
Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius and
Marcus Aurelius, but decline set in during the
reign (180-92 AD) of
Commodus. Civil war followed his murder and the
Praetorians began to
exercise the dominating influence in the choice of emperors.
Septimius Severus established a new
dynasty (193 AD) supported by the army, and under
Caracalla, his son, Roman citizenship was
extended to free men throughout the empire. Military anarchy followed the murder (235
AD) of
Alexander Severus and provincial armies made emperors in rapid succession. The borders
came under increasing pressure from the
Sassanids in
Persia, and from the
Alemanni, the
Franks and the
Goths in the north. The capable emperors
Claudius II,
Aurelian and
Probus
halted these incursions.
During the reign (284-305 AD) of
Diocletian, the
empire was divided into four administrative units.
Constantine I, who moved its capital to
Constantinople (330 AD), temporarily reunited it.
Christianity,
which had proliferated throughout the empire, won toleration (313 AD) and became official
(380 AD) under
Theodosius I.
On Constantine's death (337 AD) the split
between east and west reappeared. It became final on the death (395 AD) of
Theodosius I,
Arcadius inheriting the east (Byzantine Empire) and
Honorius the west. To deal with
mounting barbarian attacks, the capital of the Western Roman Empire was moved to
Ravenna
(402 AD).
Rome was sacked by the
Visigoths under
Alaric I (410 AD) and by the
Vandals under
Genseric (455 AD).
Pope Leo I prevented
Attila from
sacking it and papal influence over the city began to increase. The last Roman emperor,
Romulus Augustulus was deposed (476 AD) by
Odoacer. The Roman Empire had brought urban
civilization and a high degree of material prosperity as well as Roman law, the Latin
language and the Christian religion to a large part of Europe.
Rome now came to be disputed between
the Byzantine Empire and the barbarians, and later between the papacy and the Holy Roman
Empire. As capital of the
Papal States (after 756 AD), it became the spiritual center of
Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was several times devastated by invading armies
but began to recover in the second half of the 15th century and became a center of the
Renaissance. It became the capital of
Italy in 1871.
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Sources: Article is scheduled to be reviewed.
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