Week #6 Daily #2

Question: How did the Roman Empire change after the Era of the Soldier Emperors.


Answer: The Era of the Soldier Emperors was also called the crisis of the third century because it was a time in Roman history where the leadership of the empire was very unorganized.  There were many soldiers/generals that were fighting for the throne and none of them lasted long.  Some of the soldiers either lasted a few months, weeks, or days.  After this went on for a while, a general named Diocletian took control and changed the ruling system.  His plan was to have four rulers, or better known as the Tetrarchy to govern the entire empire.  Two of the men would be like presidents and the other two vice presidents.  As it turned out, his plan did not work out as well as he planned.  The men fought over the amount of power each one had and that had a big impact on their people.  After the big battle between Constantine and Maxentius, two major events happened.  Constantine made Christianity legal and changed the capital of the Roman Empire.  He thanked God for helping him win the battle and made Christianity a legal religion to practice.  The new capital, Constantinople (or present day Istanbul), was named after Constantine himself.  The Roman Empire split into two parts-- east and west.  The Eastern Roman Empire spoke Greek and the Western Empire spoke Latin.  The East grew very prosperous and was soon known as the Byzantine Empire.  In conclusion, there was a huge turn of events after the rule of the Soldier Emperors because the ruling system changed and the empire split into two.