Red Baron's Blog: Der Untergang des römischen Reiches

The Fall of the Roman Empire is a lurid statement, and simply false, as some knowledgeable fellow travelers in our group pointed out on our way to the Trier exhibitions.

Synopsis of the decline and change of the western part of the Roman Empire
Click to enlarge.

In fact, as seen in the synoptic representation, several reasons contributed to the slow disintegration, decline, and change of the Roman Empire.

Red Baron will not describe the three Trier exhibitions separately but will give his overall view that may not coincide with some expert opinion.

At the end of the third century, it became clear to Emperor Diocletian that the vast Empire comprising the Mediterranean, extending from Britannia to the Persian border and crumbling at its edges, could no longer be governed from central Rome. The Empire needed a more efficient administrative structure and a clear succession plan.

Residing on the Dalmatian coast in Spalatum (today Split), Diocletian elevated Maximian to co-emperor in 285, entrusting him with the administration of the western half of the Empire.

The Roman Tetrarchy, a reign of four emperors, was born when in 293, Diocletian and Maximian, in their position as Augusti, appointed Constantius and Galerius as junior emperors (Caesares) and presumptive successors.

Here are the four of the first Roman tetrarchy. They are replicas of the porphyry statues from 1204, now in St. Mark's, Venice.

Augustus Diocletian embraces Caesar Galerius.

Augustus Maximian embraces Caesar Constantius.

The installation of the first Roman tetrarchy and the division of power was as follows:

A Diocletian (284-305) Orient
C Galerius (293-305) The Danubian provinces from Noricum to the mouth of the Danube

A Maximian (285-305) Occident with Italy, Spain, and Africa
C Constantius (293-305) Gaul and Britannia

Constantine's second Wife, Empress Fausta, with nimbus and precious jewelry.
A secco painting on plaster from the Constantine Basilica in Trier before 330.

Constantius took up his seat of government in Augusta Treverorum (Trier). When he died as early as 306, the army in Britain acclaimed his son Constantine as emperor.

Constantine's rise on the shield set a precedent for Maximian's son Maxentius only a few months later. During riots in Rome, his troops offered him the title of Caesar in Italy.

Constantine's mother, St. Helena, with the holy cross found in Jerusalem.
Sandstone with remains of setting around 1680.

Maxentius, however, was regarded as a usurper by his three fellow emperors. Constantine marched to Rome and, under "in this sign thou shalt conquer*," defeated Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 313.

*In hoc signo vinces. The character of the cross appeared to him before the decisive battle.

Constantine's head in bronze from the 3rd century.
Replica with gilding.

So Constantine took it all in the west. Subsequently, he, with Augustus Licinius in the east, issued the Edict of Milan that everyone has the freedom to choose a deity according to his will and worship it. We have decreed this so that it may not appear that any cult or religion is being subjugated by us.

This officially ended the persecution of Christians in the Occident.

Replica of the decoration of a sarcophagus from the 4th century with biblical motifs:
Adam and Eve, the Good Shepherd, and the Three Youths in the Furnace of Fire.

Constantine's goal was to cement the disintegrating Empire with a unified religious worldview taking the Christians to the task. According to Constantine's conception, the state and Church should be one. So Church representatives soon took over state tasks, such as jurisdiction. In return, Constantine freed the priests from state burdens such as taxes. As expected, unscrupulous, power-hungry men soon forced their way into the ecclesiastical offices.

A panel made of ivory from the 5th to the 6th century with the representation
of a procession of relics, i.e., showing the transfer of a relic to a new church building.

Later, the great teacher of the Church, Jerome (347-420), commented resignedly on the religious development, "The more the Church gains power, the more it loses Christian virtues." He consequently withdrew to the Holy Land and led a monastery in Bethlehem.

The power in the hands of the princes of the Church did not agree with the smoldering disputes about faith, whereby the most crucial question: Is Jesus equal to God (homousios) or only similar to God (homoiusios), was fought out among patriarchs and bishops with hard sticks.

For Emperor Constantine, these were just idle squabbles about inscrutable things. He was not interested in or understanding dogmatic and Christological problems, especially when they endangered imperial unity. Again and again, the emperor admonished that his goal was, above all, that a single faith, pure love, and piety be preserved among the happy people of the Catholic Church.

Baroque emperor Constantine.
Sandstone with remains of a frame around 1680.

Finally, in 325, the pagan emperor summoned a council to his summer residence in Nicaea. To avoid disputes in the run-up to the negotiations, the unbaptized Constantine presided over the assembly of 318 bishops (after the 318 servants of Abraham). At the council, the Roman chief shepherd Pope Silvester was represented by only two presbyters.

The result of the negotiations is the sentence in the Creed, known to all of us, that the Son is true God from true God, begotten, not created, of one being with the Father.

This decision was not further explained or justified because the pagan emperor forbade any theological discussion. With the acceptance of the formula of faith, for Constantine, the dispute was over because what pleased 318 bishops is nothing other than the will of God.

The official declaration of the 318 bishops reads, "The holy apostolic and catholic church curses those who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, that he was not before he was generated, that he was made or created from nothing or a substance or essence, that he was changeable and mutable."

With this statement, the ancient Church lost its innocence when it not only cursed the Arians but began their bloody persecution. Not a good sign of unity.

Tombstone from the 5th century with a Christ monogram for Batimodus,
who was taken in peace at 50.

They gave wood shavings and snail purple into the grave.

In the 19th century, not only historians but the bourgeoisie situated the decline of the Empire in the decadency of Roman life. In 1883 John William Waterhouse painted Augustus Honorius occupying himself instead with the well-being of his guinea fowls than with ruling. Who does not think of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's hilarious play Romulus the Great, where hens lay eggs on stage?