The Roman Empire, with its powerful — and sometimes bizarre — leaders, magnificent buildings, luxurious clothing, and bloody amusements, has long fascinated people. Politicians and historians have closely studied the reasons for its successes and have even more closely analyzed the weaknesses that led to its eventual collapse. From the third century onward, the Western Roman Empire slowly disintegrated. Scholars have long seen this era as one of the great turning points in Western history, a time when the ancient world was transformed into the very different medieval world. During the last several decades, however, focus has shifted to continuities as well as changes, and what is now usually termed “late antiquity” has been recognized as a period of creativity and adaptation, not simply of decline and fall.

The two main agents of continuity in late antiquity were the Christian Church and the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. Missionaries and church officials spread Christianity within and far beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, bringing with them the Latin language and institutions based on Roman models. The Byzantine Empire lasted until 1453, a thousand years longer than the Western Roman Empire, and preserved and transmitted much of ancient Greco-Roman law, philosophy, and institutions. The main agents of change in late antiquity were groups the Romans labeled barbarians migrating into the Roman Empire. They brought different social, political, and economic structures with them, but as they encountered Roman culture and became Christian, their own ways of doing things were also transformed. ■

Reconstruction Under Diocletian and Constantine

How did Diocletian and Constantine try to reform the empire?

The Growth of the Christian Church

How did the Christian Church become a major force in Europe?

Barbarian Society

What were the key characteristics of barbarian society?

Migration, Assimilation, and Conflict

What were some of the causes and consequences of the barbarian migrations?

Christian Missionaries and Conversion

How did the church convert barbarian peoples to Christianity?

The Byzantine Empire

How did the Byzantine Empire preserve the legacy of Rome?