18.2 The near east: a.d. 301 to 400  (Page 2/3)

(3) PEASANTS AND CRAFTSMEN. This was the most numerous group but it had no power and no chance to rise in rank. The great majority were peasants, almost at the level of serfdom.

In the ruling class there was much family intermarriage, father-daughter and brother- sister marriages being common. After Shapur II, there began a decline in royal power and many dynastic disputes, raging over 1 1/2 centuries. In addition there were frequent wars with the Byzantine branch of the remains of the Roman Empire and in 395 large hordes of Huns crossed the Don, then the Caucasus and entered Persia, driven perhaps by famine. They took thousands of prisoners for later sale as slaves and drove off many herds of cattle. One group crossed the Euphrates and were beaten back by Romans, another retreated from Ctesiphon as the Persian army approached and a third group ravaged Asia Minor and Syria. (Ref. 119 , 48 , 127 )

ASIA MINOR: ANATOLIA

In this and the next century it is of value to the reader to study the sections on ASIA MINOR, THE BALKANS, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY AND ITALY all together, as the interactions between these areas is almost continuous.

Our paragraph about Byzantium in the last chapter closed with the ascension of Diocletian to the throne of the eastern portion of the Roman Empire, as he gave Maximian control of the western portion. Both of these men abdicated in A.D. 305. The Roman political and military scenes become very complicated from this point on, with the two halves of the empire ruled sometimes by one man, but at other times two or four shared the power as co-emperors, west and east. The designation of various generals as Caesars and prefectures does not help in the clarification. We shall try to give only the salient points, and avoid getting bogged down in minute details. Constantius and Galerius succeeded Diocletian and Maximian, but Constantius died a year later and his son, Constantine, was proclaimed emperor by his troops, while just shortly thereafter Maxentius, son of Maximian, seized power in Italy. Constantine overthrew Maxentius just outside Rome in 312, making himself master of the West and eleven years later he took over the East, also. Thus, by 323 he had become the sole emperor and his inauguration was given in Constantinople in 330 after he had spent four years constructing it on the site of ancient Byzantium. Known subsequently as Constantine the Great this man in the meantime waged war all across southern Europe, in Greece and the East and since many of his soldiers were already Christians, he used their crosses as his battle ensignia. Finally he became an avowed Christian although he attended no rituals and it is possible that his conversion was more of a political maneuver than a spiritual one. Its effects were nevertheless far reaching and promoted the spread and organization of the Church throughout the Roman domain. (Ref. 137 , 48 , 127 , 222 )

Constantine gave the Church vast estates and buildings, empowered bishops to make slaves of Roman citizens and permitted civil suits to be transferred to bishops' courts if either party so desired. (Ref. 213 )