CHANGE IN EUROPE: 200-800 A.D.   Term Paper ID:24739 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Overview of developments in politics, economics, religion, culture, world views; focuses on Roman Empire & Christianity.... More...

5 Pages / 1125 Words 3 sources, 10 Citations, MLA Format $20.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Overview of developments in politics, economics, religion, culture, world views; focuses on Roman Empire & Christianity. Paper Introduction: Change in Europe: 200 to 800 AD This paper will discuss the driving force of change in Europe from 200 to 800 AD. The main emphasis of this paper will be that change was the most significant force in Europe during this time period, rather than continuity. In 200 AD, the Roman Empire had reached its zenith in terms of geographical area. In the south, Roman influence and control extended to the southern regions of what is now Algeria. In the east, the garrison town at Dura-Europos overlooked the Euphrates River. And in the north, the Roman army had established an outpost in Scotland. These outlying points marked the vague boundaries of the Empire, and the furthest reaches of Roman culture. Roman culture and society defined the world within these boundaries (Brown 11-12). However, Eur Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The Western Empire and church was ruled by the old Romanaristocracy; the Eastern Empire and church was ruled by a bureaucracy whichdrew its members from all segments of society, representing a sort ofintellectual elite (Brown 137-148). The main emphasis of this paper will be that change was themost significant force in Europe during this time period, rather thancontinuity. In 2 AD, the Roman Empire had reached its zenith in terms ofgeographical area. The inland regions,however, were connected by a network of roads which proved inadequate forestablishing much trade. Confessions. In the east, the garrisontown at Dura-Europos overlooked the Euphrates River. They began expressing a beliefthat every individual had something within himself which was infinitelyvaluable but not related to the physical world. The members of this ruling class felta kinship towards each other, but not towards the people they governed.The term "barbarian" had come to mean not only the primitive societieswhich loved on the other side of the frontier, but also the illiteratepeasantry which lived within the boundaries of the Empire. These villages wereforced to provide for themselves using the food and resources immediatelyavailable to them (Brown 12-13). The western church was dominated by the militant (VanDam 7-178), while the Eastern Church was dominated by the ideal ofconsensus. The cost of maintaining a great empire came largely from maintainingland routes between the inland regions. Cities andtowns located along the Mediterranean coast maintained close contact witheach other, trading along the established sea routes. The Western provinces, although lost to theGoths, maintained some sort of Roman culture for centuries. The supremacy attained byChristianity in the Empire was largely the result of a revolution inreligious and spiritual thought in the Mediterranean during the Second andThird Centuries. Such maintenance included thegarrisoning of troops in various provinces and moving those troops to otherareas when needed. The first major change to affect the Empire was the rise ofChristianity in the Third and Fourth Centuries. Constantinople rivaled Rome in greatness throughout theFourth Century and then separated itself from the Western Roman Empire inthe Sixth Century. Roman culture and society defined the world within theseboundaries (Brown 11-12). However, they had to live in regionsinhabited by people who spoke only Celtic, Punic, Libyan, Lycaonian,Phrygian, Cappadocian, Aramaic, or Syriac (Brown 15). In particular, the Mediterranean region consistedof relatively isolated fertile plains and river valleys surrounded bymountains and hostile highlands. The reason forthis was that the peasantry in the outlying regions of the Empire did notshare the culture of Rome or speak Latin or Greek. The persecution of Christians during the Second and Third Centurieswas a natural reaction of people to religious revolution. Christianityrepresented a threat to the traditional structure of society, since itrejected the traditional religious thought. Through the Second Century AD, the Empire was ruled by men whosecultural outlook remained focused upon Rome and Greece. The two halves quickly acquired distinct cultures andoutlooks, even with regard to the Christian churches which existed withintheir boundaries. As a result, the great cities of thisperiod arose along sea routes; the inland villages were prevented fromgrowing by their inability to efficiently import food. Although the Roman administrators were tolerant of local cultures andreligious practices, they excluded from their world anyone who did notconform to Roman culture. This need for trade dictated the structure of the Empire. Christianity appealed to the masses because it offered a smallcommunity to people who felt lost in the large and impersonal world of theEmpire. Thismeant that the local inhabitants were forced to provide food and othernecessities for the administrators and soldiers, in addition to trying tosustain themselves at a level just above starvation (Brown 13). The administratorsand governors who ruled the provinces came from an aristocracy which wasuniform in its culture and language. It also included local administrators who kept order inthe provinces and ensured that they stayed under the control of Rome. The change which occurred between 2 and 8 was the shift in culturewithin the boundaries of the Empire away from Roman. Change in Europe: 2 to 8 AD This paper will discuss the driving force of change in Europe from 2 to 8 AD. By the Sixth Century AD, Constantinople was importing 175,2 tons of grain from Egypt (Brown 12). They dismissed anyone who could not conform as"barbarians;" they treated outsiders who chose not to participate, such asJews, with varying degrees of contempt and hatred; they often summarilyexecuted anyone who had conformed but then voluntarily dropped out, such asChristians (Brown 14-17). It was not only thatthe governors of the Empire lost control over the outlying provinces; itwas that these outlying provinces then took on the cultures of thesocieties which took control of them. The educatedadministrators governed in Latin or Greek, obeying codes of behavior sharedby other educated Roman aristocrats. The Greek and Roman religioustraditions had created a system in which society closely depended upon theactions of the gods. This egalitarianism ironically appealed to both the poorand the wealthy (Brown 65-68). The RomanEmpire depended upon grain shipments from Africa throughout most of itsexistence. London: Penguin Books, 1961.Van Dam, Raymond. The Easternprovinces, however, became much more oriental in culture, especially afterthey became Islamic (Brown 189-2 3). The demands and relations of the Christian community wereexplicit. Instead, it resembled the structure of the ancientworld, consisting of individual city-states and small villages which had to"forage" for their food. However, this was never enough to sustain most of the cities;therefore, they also depended upon trade for additional food. Each year at harvest time, city-dwellerswould take everything they could from the rural farmers for the comingyear. Works CitedBrown, Peter. Norton & Co., 1971.Saint Augustine. The new thought, which focused upon an otherworldlypersonal relationship between the individual and the One God disrupted thetraditional view of Greco-Roman world and man's place in that world (Brown5 -51). The World of Late Antiquity: AD 15 -75 . Philosophers and even leaders became dissatisfied withtraditional Roman and Greek religious thought, which was based uponnumerous gods who controlled the world. However, European society at this time did not resemble the modernworld in structure. In particular, this happened more inthe East than in the West. TheChristian church was also egalitarian in its philosophy. New York: W.W. Another major change during this time was the rise of the EasternRoman Empire. In the south, Roman influence and control extended tothe southern regions of what is now Algeria. Berkeley: U of California P, 1985. These outlying pointsmarked the vague boundaries of the Empire, and the furthest reaches ofRoman culture. Christian clergy were often seen as the only united group in atown or village, organizing food supplies and burying the dead. At a time whenthe aristocracy was becoming increasingly rich and focusing its spending onitself, the Christians were preaching that class boundaries were artificialand unnecessary. The reason for the inadequacy was not the roadnetwork itself, but the inefficiency of land travel in comparison to seatravel in pre-industrial times. Leadership & Community in Late Antique Gaul. And in the north, theRoman army had established an outpost in Scotland. This personal attributewas directly related to the need for a personal relationship to the one"God." Christian thought dovetailed neatly with this revolution inreligious thought (Brown 49-54; Saint Augustine). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

Many of our Papers can be Downloaded From This Site!

PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT!

Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). You may place orders for custom research over the phone during office hours. E-mail requests can be made to our graduate and undergraduate department any time, and will be reviewed during office hours. You may also contact customer service any time through e-mail, and we will review your message during business hours. A great many papers can be downloaded right from this site, but not all of them. If you would like to know if a particular paper is downloadable, just look in the description for: "Available for Internet Download: Y" or "Available for Internet Download: N" If you wish to purchase a paper which is NOT available for immediate download, you will need to make other shipping arrangements. Also, please be aware that these orders are processed Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). If you place your order after 4:45pm on Friday, it will not be processed until the following Monday morning. We charge $8 per page for all of our pre-written reports, plus shipping (and tax for California residents). However, the highest cost of any ONE report is $136, or 17 pages. Please, take a moment. Make sure you have chosen the report you want or need BEFORE you complete your order. If you are not sure, allow us to help you. We do not offer refunds or exchanges, so it is important for you to let us answer your questions during office hours. Reports which are e-mailed or downloaded are in Microsoft Word format. We are making more reports available for e-mail delivery faster than we can update our listings. Please call to check on the status of particular reports. There are many other shipping options which are listed on the Checkout page.