There was several differences from the eastern and western parts of the empire such as the west speaking latin and the east speaking greek.The west was roman catholic and the east worshipped Orthodox.The east thrived over time while the west declined. Ater the west fell the eastern still continued to exist as the Byzantine empire. The west was economically weak and agriculture production led to higher food prices.The west would buy goods from the east but was in depth.To make up for lack of money they used less silver in the coins.The price in many items increased and later the germanic tribes disrupted the flow of trade mainly in the west. Political amateurs were in control which didn’t help which led to the fall of rome. Army generals also
The economy of Rome was suffering. Rome had a great deal of money but they didn’t know what to use it for. Too much money was being used to provide protection and keep unity in the empire. Cities began to crumble that became poor and some cities even began to lose control. The senate became dishonest and then they started giving away their spots in office. Some people murdered or assassinated the emperors (Doc. A), and that’s when city revolts fired up and citizens of Rome started rebelling against government. The civilizations economic rottened.
The Byzantine and Han Dynasty both became successful in similar and yet different ways. Han China and Byzantine empire both rose from of the fall of previous empires. When it came to both the Byzantine empire and the Han Dynasty they both valued their social classes differently. They also had very similar and different aspects when it came to family life. They also had different styles of governments that had some similar aspects.
The Romans used commerce to consolidate the provinces and territories of their vast empire. Being a part of the Empire was of great economic benefit to almost all of the members; insomuch as the Romans built roads and protected sea routes, and inasmuch as the Roman Empire was so large, the Roman Empire’s subjects benefited from what amounted to a massive free trade zone. Roman commerce was a major factor in preserving the Empire for so long.
In addition to political and social structure, both civilizations share the same economy. Byzantine and Islamic civilization use similar approaches to promote their economy. They have engaged in trading with other civilizations. Byzantine was a large exporter of grain and silk. Their
The Byzantine Empire and Western Europe originally were part of the Roman Empire, but by the middle Ages(medieval times), they were very different, even though they did share some common traits, but by the 300's, the Byzantine Empire had far surpassed Western Europe in trade and economics and political unity, while both empires were having arguments over religion.
Economic troubles were a major contribution to the fall of these empires. The economic troubles included taxation which was out of control at the time. In the Roman Empire, the taxes going up led to the poor being charged more and becoming unstable and unable to pay the taxes the government demanded. Which then led to the lower-class people to flee when rumored that the tax man was in the village. In the Han Dynasty also had tax money missing then would go to the lower- class and try to get their money but like in the Roman Empire the lower-class would also flee the countryside when rumored that the tax man was a certain village. This led to these empires to be financially short. Trade was also a contribution to the economic troubles these empires were having at the time. The Roman empire was affected by trade more than
After this keeps happening Rome puts a tariff on all imported goods. Now Rome has not conquered much land so they are very low on gold so they can’t make many gold coins. Coins were started to be made of other things and people to barter instead of trade money. After that inflation occurs and the prices go up and the value of the products goes down. Then the crops start to stop and the farming decreases which caused a large famine.
With less conquering of lands, gold income decreased, which meant gold coins grew smaller, and sometimes didn’t even have gold in them. Prices of products went up, which caused inflation(prices go up and value goes down). People also bartered instead of exchanging money, which meant there was a limited money flow in the empire. Because of droughts, less crops yield and farming decreased. This created financial difficulties for farmers and merchants, and many moved into
Comparing and contrasting the society of the early medieval Western Empire with that of the Byzantine Empire. The Western Empire and The Byzantine Empire were originally part of the Roman Empire. By the Middle Ages both Empires were vastly different, though they shared common traits. The Western Empire and the Byzantine Empire had very different government structures. The Byzantine Empire was ruled by an Emperor but alternatively to direct rule, the Byzantine used civil service to effectively run the empire. The Western Empire was ruled by a Holy king. The Byzantine Empire had a continuous tradition of emperors reaching back to the east and west split of Roman Empire. The last western emperor was Romulus Augustulus, who abdicated in 476. Three
After reading the text book about the Roman Empire. I found that the Roman Empire was divided into two parts. The Western half, ruled by Rome, fell to the tribal Germanic peoples in the 5th century. The Eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire, until it began to decline in power, the Byzantine Empire was one of the leading civilizations in the world. The first Christian emperor became sole ruler of the Roman Empire. He set up his colony of Byzantium. The city, renamed Constantinople after its founder, It became the capital of the Byzantines after the Roman Empire was formally divided.
Trade played an important role during the classical era, especially the Silk Road. People from China trade silk and pottery with the western area, and also the Roman Empire trade the iron weapon to the east. Trade system helped both two empire boost their economy, since local people were now able to have goods that come from other countries, it made the local people’s more meaningful, it helps the culture to spread as well. People had better social basis to improve their life quality, so the trade system really enhanced people’s life in the past even today. However, since it is a really crucial role, the decline of it must lead to a serious result such as the decline of both empire. Chinese merchants used to trade pottery, silk along the Silk Road, but the Huns invaded to the northern part of China. The Huns took up the place, and killed a huge amount of population, thus the Han could not develop the trade. To be specific, the most famous war is the one that Han retorted Huns, it began in 129 BCE and lasted for about 44 years. This war ceased the peace for a long time, merchants were not able to trade while the war happened in the city so severely. In the same manner or way, the decline of the trading affected Roman Empire as well. However, decline in trade affected Rome more than Han China. The Roman’s economy heavily relied on trading, since the trade routes became compromised, bandits
As Rome was facing attacks from the outside there was an even deeper problem happening from within and it was their economy. Rome’s constant war and overspending in building its empire was becoming costly. As their treasury depleted they decided to impose hard taxation to account for the new expense they were generating. Which actually caused many people who were apart of the upper class to move to the countryside to avoid the oppressive taxes(Andrews) . Another economic problem is that inflation began to occur. Marcus Aurelius increased the copper content of the silver coins and then after that there was even more severe inflation on it way(Starr 144-145). A third problem with the economy, also politically, was that there was an ever growing expansion of bureaucracy. The expansion of their government caused more and more officials to have to be paid. Not to mentions cities already were having a hard
Eastern Europe had begun its transition from the Eastern Roman Empire into the Byzantine empire with the penetration of Christianity into all aspects of life. Both the Byzantine and Islamic Empires were defined by their use of monotheistic religion in governing their empires. They both used religion in their own ways as justification to spread their governorship. But their laws however were not the same, Byzantine laws were based off of romans and Christianity, However the Islamic caliphates laws were based off The Holy Book Quran. The Byzantine built churches so the people could worship and learn about the religion of Christianity where the Islamic Caliphates used the Sharia law where equal punishment is given to criminals. The difference between the two empires was that the Islamic Caliphates believed that the ruler should be related to prophet Muhammad. Whereas the Byzantine Empire believed that whoever was the most dedicated to the religion of
Though both had similar roots, they both took these similar bases & formed it into their own way. Both the Byzantine Empire and Ancient Roman have similar aspects, but each one made it unique. To better understand the similarities and differences of the Byzantine Empire and Ancient Romans one must look at each civilization’s cultural ideas, religion, & dependence on lower class.
The difference of religion had a huge impact on both of the empires. Christianity in the Byzantine Empire was the most popular religion in the world with Islam right after. Judaism is a monotheistic religion and while most Christians believe they are monotheistic as well, many Muslims think upon Christians as polytheistic because they believed both God and Jesus are gods. In comparison, both empires were ruled by a pope. The Byzantine Empire was impacted through Christianity because the pope was the head of the empire, such as Constantine who became pope in 708. The Islamic Caliphate was also impacted through Islam because they too were ruled by a pope. This meant if you had a religious ruler, many people of the empire would follow suit and either convert or become more involved in the religious practices that the emperor/pope would do. Both religions were quite simple. Islam has no official clergy, and follows only one single sacred text, the Koran. However, Muslims do believe in the validity of the Old Testament. Muslim's