LECTURE OUTLINE FOR HISTORY  203

Prof. Martha Carlin

Week 1: Tuesday

 

Introduction to course:

         Discuss syllabus, required textbooks and online readings, grading and deadlines, exams and research
         paper, discussion sections, expectations.

IMPORTANT: We need to be able to contact you via your UWM e-mail address.  If you use another Internet Service Provider instead (e.g., Yahoo! or Hotmail), you must put a Forward command on your UWM e-mail address immediately, so that your UWM e-mail will be forwarded to the e-mail address that you actually use.  To do this, go to to  http://www.panthermail.uwm.edu and follow the directions there for forwarding mail.

A NOTE ON ABBREVIATIONS AND DATES:

    A number of standard abbreviations are commonly used by historians, and you need to be familiar with them.  They include:

        i.e. (Latin, "id est") = "that is" (often used to signify, "in other words").
        e.g.  (Latin, "exempli gratia") = "for example"  

       "BC" and "AD" are terms used in a dating system that was devised by early Christian monks, and which was based
                    on the presumed date of the birth of Jesus.  The religiously-neutral terms "BCE" and "CE" are often used
                    in place of the Christian terms "BC" and "AD."
        BC ("before Christ") = BCE ("Before the Common Era").  Dates are expressed as, e.g., 4 BC or 4 BCE.
        AD (Latin, "anno domini" or "in the year of the Lord") = CE ("Common Era").  The Latin version is used before
                    the date; the English version is used after the date as, e.g., AD 4 or 4 CE.
        c. = circa = "around"   Thus,  c. 4 BCE means "around 4 BCE."

       Since there is no "Year 0," the first century BCE (or BC) runs from 1 BCE (or BC) to 100 BCE (or BC);
        the  second century BCE (or BC) runs from 101 BCE (or BC) to 200 BCE (or BC), and so on. 

        Similarly, the first century CE (or AD) runs from 1 CE (or AD 1) to 100 CE (or AD 100);
        the second century CE (or AD) runs from 101 CE (or AD 101) to 200 CE (or AD 200); and so on.



Discussion of THE ROMAN EMPIRE (origins to 3rd century CE):

     Click here for an Interactive map of the Roman Empire

    Augustus, Julius Caesar's grand-nephew and adopted son, becomes 1st emperor (31 BCE - 14 CE)
            Origins of Christianity in Judaea (Roman Palestine), 1st century  CE
    Empire reaches its zenith in the 2nd century CE; encircles entire Mediterranean basin and extends beyond
    Empire falls into chaos in the 3rd century CE:
            attacks by Germans and Persians; collapse of all Roman frontiers
            bloody competition among "barracks" emperors for imperial throne
            plague, spiralling taxation, currency debasement, and inflation
            rise of mysticism, Neoplatonism, and Christianity


Thursday:

The late Roman Empire:

    Restoration of order by Diocletian (284-305 CE):

            division of the Roman empire into Eastern Empire and Western Empire, ruled by a Tetrarchy of
                2 Augusti and 2 Caesares from new capitals
            divinization of  the office of the emperor and diminishment of the Senate
            reorganization of the army, paid for by high taxation
            recoinage and imposition of strict wage and price controls to reduce inflation
            occupations become hereditary
            persecution of Christians leads to subsequent heresy of  DONATISM

    CONSTANTINE:
            312   adopts Christian symbols at Battle of Milvian Bridge and defeats rival to become
                     emperor of Western Empire
            313  Edict of Milan legalizes Christianity within both halves of the Empire
            324  defeats rival to become emperor of entire Empire; moves imperial capital to CONSTANTINOPLE
            325  assumes authority over Church and convenes Council of Nicaea to confront heresy of
                        ARIANISM; issues NICENE CREED

    Emperor Theodosius the Great makes CHRISTIANITY THE ROMAN STATE RELIGION
            (391); at his death (395) the division of the Roman Empire into an Eastern Empire and a
            Western Empire becomes permanent.

    In the 5th century both the Eastern and Western Empires are assailed by attacks and invasions. The
            Eastern Empire (with its capital at Constantinople) survives.  Rome itself is sacked twice: by the
            Visigoths in 410, and by the Vandals in 455, and the Western Empire crumbles; the last Western Emperor
            is deposed by a barbarian general in 476.

Online readings:

"Why study history from primary sources?":
    Necessity of using primary ("eyewitness") sources when studying history; secondary sources alone are inadequate.

Letters of Sidonius Apollinaris:
    Examples of important primary sources, describing country-house life among the wealthy in 5th-century Gaul,
    during the transition from Roman power to Germanic kingship, and describing one of these Germanic kings:
    Theodoric II, King of the Visigoths.  (Click here for a banquet scene from the 6th-century Vienna Genesis.)