Justinian

The Eastern Roman Empire (The Byzantine Empire) was small after the barbarians took over the land. The Byzantine Empire was Constantinople and a little bit of land around the Aegean Sea. Then Justinian, the Emperor, made it bigger.

Justinian was the son of farmers. When he grew up, he did not want to be a farmer. He asked his parents if he could go to Constantinople and live with his uncle Justin, commander of the palace guard. His parents said, "OK." He went on a long adventure to Constantinople. When he got there he went to school. School was tough for him. He helped his uncle then his uncle became Emperor. His uncle adopted him because he really liked him. Justinian's uncle died so Justinian became emperor.

Justinian wanted to take back the Roman Empire. Was he successful? Yes, he was. Justinian had a problem. People had different laws in each part of the Empire. Justinian made a set of laws that everyone had to follow. He called the laws The Code of Justinian.

Barbarians and Attila the Hun

Name some barbarian groups:

Vandals, Huns, Visigoths

What happened to the Western Roman Empire?

It was defeated by the Vandals and the Visigoths?

What year do we say is the end of the Western Roman Empire?

476AD

Did the Eastern Roman Empire try to save them? Why or why not?

No, the Eastern Emperor was afraid that his city would be attacked if his soldiers left because he did not have enough soldiers, neither did the Western.

Who were the Huns?

The Huns were from Asia. They were nomads. People said their only home was on the back of a horse.

Who was Attila the Hun?

He was a greedy warrior. The Eastern Roman Emperor paid him to leave. Then Attila went to take the Western Empire. Honoria, the WRE's sister, sent him a letter asking him to save her from having to mary a weak man she did not love. Attila thought she wanted to mary him but she didn't. He made it South of the Alps and the Pope came to talk to him.

What did the Pope say that convinced Attila to leave and not go into Rome?

The Pope gav him a gift of gold and said there was no food in Rome and disease was everywhere.

Attila never married Honoria.

From Diocletian to Constantine

Diocletian Constantine's vision

The Roman Empire was way too big. Diocletian figured they needed another emperor to help. So, what diocletian did is he split the Roman Empire into two pieces, the West and the East. Diocletian ruled the East and another ruler ruled the West. They were worried that other people would not obey them, so they told people they were gods. Because Christians worshipped one God, Diocletian persecuted them. He persecuted them by hurting them, putting them in prison, and making it illegal to be Christian.

But then....after Diocletian retired people stopped persecuting Christians. 7 people shouted that they wanted to be ruler. But Constantine won. He saw a vision of a flaming, firey cross. Then he told his soldiers that all of them must have the letters of Christ's name and a cross on their shields. Then they went into battle and they won. Constantine became the ruler and a Christian. Constantine moved the capitol to Byzatium and then he renamed it Constantinople.