Chapter Summary
After the rule of the Five Good Emperors (96-180) the strength of the Roman Empire declined, but the empire did not collapse. With the reign of Diocletian, Rome entered a period of rejuvenation in which the empire was divided in half. Diocletian also "Orientalized" the empire by assuming Near Eastern styles: he ruled from Nicomedia and ruled as dominus, or lord. Constantine continued the tendencies of Diocletian with one important exception: it was Constantine who converted to Christianity and made Christianity the favored religion of the Roman Empire. It was perhaps this single event, which was neither Roman nor medieval, that ushered in an age that historians call Late Antiquity. The major cultural trend of this period was Christianity; this chapter traces its early history through the emergence of the Byzantine Empire under Justinian.
One must ask why Christianity was able to spread and triumph in the wake of Rome's fall. The lives and teachings of Jesus and St. Paul are of obvious importance; so, too, is the New Testament. But Christianity appeared in a world that was religiously fragmented. Judaism, for instance, was divided over interpretations of the Covenant. The emergence of Christianity is not the story of a religious faith that appeared out of nothing and from nowhere. Rather, Christianity appeared and triumphed in a world that was, in all essentials, still pagan. Yet Christianity was able to convert pagans. The martyrs showed others the strength of their faith; lower- and middle-class people, shackled by their "debt" to Rome, found some measure of solace in this religion of comfort and eternal salvation; women found that the doors of the Church were open to them; and the organization of the Church gave strength to a religion the Romans had considered to be "just another mystery cult."
In the fourth century, serious doctrinal disputes arose over the interpretation of the New Testament. At the Council of Nicea (325), Arianism was denounced as heresy and Christian dogma was established, resulting in a fixed set of beliefs to which all Christians had to ascribe. Meanwhile, the doctrine of the Petrine Succession stipulated that the pope ought henceforth be considered the Bishop of Rome, thus lending organizational strength to the Church. The monastic movement appeared and attracted men (and eventually women) to the life of a religious community. St. Basil and St. Benedict were tireless in their efforts to achieve some kind of rule for the monastic orders, thus insuring their existence and prominence in medieval society. Perhaps the society of Late Antiquity needed a religion of comfort; it was at this time that the last vestiges of the Roman world nearly disappeared. In 410, Rome was sacked by Alaric, a German barbarian. The Romans simply refused to defend themselves any longer.
Finally, Late Antiquity was also the period of the great Church FathersSt. Jerome, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine. Their task was nothing less than setting Christianity on a firm philosophical basis and establishing a coherent theology. Since the New Testament was written in Greek, it became necessary to understand that language, and to do that, the Church Fathers had to familiarize themselves with the classical tradition of learning. What resulted was a curious amalgamation of Greek and Christian ideas, best illustrated by Augustine's City of God.