Key Terms and Dates
This list will be updated at least once a week,
usually
immediately before or after each lecture. These terms are listed
to help you better understand the material presented and to study for
your
exams--but it is your responsibility to get the definitions from
lectures
and readings.
Weeks 1 & 2: Romans and
Barbarians
pagan
barbarian
Roman
Hellene
Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
curia
curiales = curials = decurions
colonus, coloni (pl.)
Goths
comitatus
limes
Sassanid Persians = Sassanians
Marcommanic wars
Severan rulers
Diocletian
tetrarchy
foederati
annona or annona militaris
Dates - Political History (Bold-faced names are those
regarded
as legitimate Roman emperors)
*161-180 Marcus Aurelius
193-211 Septimus Severus
193-235 Severan rulers
235-284: military anarchy; age of "soldier-emprerors"
*249-251 Decius
Persecution of Christians
253-260 Valerian
260 Shapur I captures Antioch
260-268 Postumus [usurper in Gaul]
270-275 Aurelian
*284-305 Diocletian
287 Maximian co-emperor
293 Galerius & Constantius “Caesars” (establishment
of tetrarchy)
*303 Persecution of Christians starts (“Great Persecution”)
305 Diocletian & Maximian abdicate; Galerius &
Constantius “Augusti”
306 Constantius dies
Week 3:
The Religious World of the Roman
Empire; Christianity Before Constantine
syncretism
imperial cult
mystery religions
Mithraism, Mithra
Palestinian Judaism (Saducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots)
Diaspora Judaism
Septuagint
Antioch
Alexandria
Rome
Carthage
bishops
Eucharist [=Lord's Supper]
Origen of Alexandria
Emperor Decius (249-251)
Emperor Diocletian (284-305)
martyrdom
saints
Perpetua
Week 4: Pagan Piety
& Philosophy
pietas = piety
Epicureans
Stoicism
Neoplatonism
Plotinus (204-270)
Porphyry (c. 232-c. 305)
ascetic, asceticism
the One
Weeks 4-5:
Constantine, Christianity & Greco-Roman Culture; Church & State
Constantine
Eusebius of Caesarea
‘Edict of Milan’
Arianism, Arian controversy
Council of Nicaea
Nicene Creed
homoousious
Athanasius of Alexandria
caesaropapism
Ambrose of Milan
Theodosius I
Dates - 4th century
305-11 Galerius (in east)
306-37 Constantine (306-24 in west)
308-24 Licinius (in east)
*312 Battle of Milvian Bridge
313 ‘Edict of Milan’
324 Constantine defeats Licinius; becomes sole emperor
*325 Council of Nicaea (First Ecumenical Council)
*330 Dedication of Constantinople
337-61 Constantius II, son of Constantine
*361-3 Julian ‘the Apostate’
364 Jovian cedes Nisibis to the Persians
364-75 Valentinian I (in west)
364-378 Valens (in east)
*378 Battle of Adrianople
*379-95 Theodosius I
*381 Council of Constantinople (=Second Ecumenical Council)
Weeks 5-6: Christian
Monasticism
Anthony of Egypt
anchorite, anchoritic monasticism
coenobite, coenobitic monasticism
Pachomius
Basil of Caesarea
Benedict of Nursia (=St. Benedict)
Rule of St. Benedict (=Benedictine Rule)
Palladius, Lausiac History
Melania
Macrina
Weeks
6-7:
Emperor Julian & Fourth-Century Paganism
Julian "the Apostate"
Constantius
Libanius (314-93)
Ammianus Marcellinus
Nisibis
Serapeum
Theodosius I
Ambrose of Milan
Symmachus (c.340-c.402)
Marius Victorinus
Late Roman Government, Economy
& the Military
patronage
Alamanni
Battle of Strasbourg
Visigoths (=Tervingi)
Ostrogoths
Huns
Battle of Adrianople (378)
Emperor Valens (364-378)
foederati
Alaric
Week 8:
Latin Christian Culture: Elites & Popular Piety
rhetors
Jerome
Augustine
cult of saints
relics
translation of relics
pilgrimage
St. Martin of Tours
The East Roman Empire
(c.400)
Constantinople
Ephesus
Antioch
Libanius of Antioch (314-393)
John Chrysostom (347-407)
Cappadocian Fathers:
Basil of Caesarea (330-379)
Gregory of Nazianzus (329-c.390)
Gregory of Nyssa (c.331-c.395)
Ephrem the Syrian (c.306-373)
Edessa
Stilicho
Alaric
MIDTERM EXAM
Week 9 (after midterm):
imago dei
Apocryphal Acts
Acts of Paul & Thecla
Marcella
Hypatia of Alexandria
Weeks 10-11:
Augustine of Hippo
Monica
Manichaeism, Manichees
Donatism, Donatist Controversy
Marius Victorinus
The "Quiet" Fall of the Western Roman Empire; Barbarians & the Fall of Rome
Visigoths
Alaric
Athaulf
Galla Placidia
Vandals
Huns
Attila
Ostrogoths
Theodoric
Odoacer
magister militum = master of soldiers
Edward Gibbon
Sidonius Apollinaris
Week 11:
Meanwhile in the East...; East West Tensions
Theodosius II (408-450)
Pulcheria
Theodosian Code
Nestorius, Nestorianism
Theotokos
Cyril of Alexandria
Council of Ephesus (431) = Third Ecumenical Council
Monophysite [=1 nature], Monophysitism
Council of Chalcedon (451) = Fourth Ecumenical Council
Leo I
Tome of Leo
Gelasius I
papacy
Dates (5th Century)
394
Theodosius I dies; Aracadius (East) & Honorius (West)
408-450 Theodosius II (East)
410
Roman troops leave Britain
Alaric & Visigoths sack Rome; Augustine begins City of God
418
Settlement of Visigoths in southern Gaul; Visigothic Kingdom of
Toulouse
425
Valentinian III (West)
434-53 Attila & the Huns
threaten East & West
428
Vandals begin occupation of N. Africa; take Carthage (439)
455
Vandals sack Rome
474
Zeno (East)
476
Romulus Augustulus (West) deposed; Western Empire falls to Odoacer
491
Anastasius (East)
493
Theodoric the Ostrogoth kills Odoacer (at behest of Emp. Zeno) &
becomes
ruler of Italy
c.500 Clovis
converts to Christianity
Week 12:
The New Barbarian World; Clovis & the Franks
Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy
Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse & Spain
Anglo-Saxons
Franks
Clovis
Childeric
Merovingian Dynasty
Week 13: The Reign of Justinian
Justin I
Justinian (reigned 527-65)
Theodora
Nika Revolt
Hagia Sopha=St. Sophia
Corpus Iuris Civilis = Body of Civil Law = Justinianic Law Code
Belisarius
Antonina
Khusro I
Procopius
Lombards
Ravenna
Ravenna mosaics
Dates
518 Justin I
527-565 Justinian
527 Persian wars
529 Justinian closes Academy in Athens
532 Nika Revolt
533 Peace treaty with Persia
533-4 Codification of laws
Beliarius recaptures N. Africa from Vandals; returns in triumph
536 Belisarius invades Italy
540 Ravenna captured
Persians invade; sack of
Antioch
541 Plague begins
546-9 Ravenna mosaics (San Vitale, San Apollinare in Classe)
548 Death of Theodora
554 End of war in Italy
561 Peace with Persia
563 Rededication of St. Sophia
565 Death of Justinian; Justin II becomes emperor
Weeks 14-15
The Decline of Romanitas in the West
Salic law
wergeld
cult of St. Martin
Vulfolaic the Langobard (Lombard)
trivium (=grammar, rheoric, logic)
quadrivium (=arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music)
"transmitters"
Boethius (d. 525)
Cassiodorus (d.580s)
Vivarium
Isidore of Seville (d.636)
Pope Gregory I (c.590-604)
Shrinking Borders: From East Roman to Byzantine Empire
Maurice (582-602)
exarch, exharchate
Phocas
Heraclius (610-41)
Slavs & Avars
Ctesiphon
Zoroastrianism
Nestorian Christians
Khusro II
"True Cross"
Anitochus Strategos
Shrinking Borders, Pt. II: Rise of Islam
Muhammad
Mecca
Medina
ka'aba
Hijra (Hegira)
Islam
Battle of Yarmuk (636)
Umayyad Caliphate
Dates
565 Death of Justininian; Justin II, Justinian’s nephew
580 onwards Slavs invading Balkans
582 Maurice
590 Gregory the Great pope
602 Phocas
610 Heraclius overthrows Phocas
614 Persians besiege & capture Jerusalem; True Cross
taken to Ctesiphon
617 Persians take Alexandria (grain supply lost)
622 The Hegira: Muhammad moves from Mecca to Medina
626 Persians, Slavs & Avars besiege Constantinople
627 Persians defeated
628 Khusro II assassinated by his nobles
631 Heraclius restores True Cross to Jerusalem; returns
in triumph to Constantinople
632 Muhammad dies
635 Arabs take Alexandria
636 Battle of Yarmuk; Byzantines defeated
637 Jerusalem surrendered to Arabs by the Patriarch
642 Arabs take Egypt