midterm is changed to 15th of october from 13th

marcus aurelius 161-180AD
	stoic
	166AD, roman ambassadors to han court of china
	army exposed to smallpox or measles in parthia
	great pestilence lasted 15 years and killed 25-33% of population in roman empire
	germanic peoples pushing to become part of roman empire
	tried to allow them in by giving them land so they would provide soldiers
	he left the empire to his son, commodus (commode == toilet)
	empire began to faulter afterward
	the part centered on italy, gual, spain, germania began to fall first
	reasons for collapse: plagues, bureaucracy, economic breakdown, invasions, loss of morals/pursuit of knowledge, inept leadership/succession, economic inequality, apathy, legions
	reasons for fall of rome
		plagues 251-266AD
			alexandria lost 2/3 of pop
			in rome, 5K died in one day
			loss of manpower
			barbarian tribes allowed in
		bureaucracy/govt
			imperial bureaucracy
			emperors grew in power
			senate weakened
			161AD, govt as large as modern nation's
			bread and circuses, expense of dole growing
			once a month to once a day by marcus aurelius
			$100mil/year spent on games
		economic breakdown
			tax farming - taxation until region is poor with as few people as possible to pocket as much as possible
			coinage devalued - trade suffered, inflation
		germanic invasions
			LOTS OF THEM from 254-600AD
		leadership/succession
			praetorian guard - secret service/green burrets, elite, best
			emperors -> dictators
			senate loses power
			cult of personality - authoritarian dictatorship, obsessed with hold on power, encourages mediocrity
		diocletian 284-305AD
			defeated barbarians
			reconstituted empire
			senate council of rome
			oriental despotism, kissing hem
			divided empire into 4 prefectures, 4 officials to admin each
			2 augustuses and 2 caesars
			tetrarchy
			capital at nicomedia
			froze all prices
			froze people in place, serfdom
			abdicated in 305, died in 311
		constintine the great 312-337AD
			rejected many of diocletian's reforms, faught maxentius at battle of milvian bridge in 312, vision and victory, became christian, edict of milan 313, religious toleration
			despotism tightened
			constantinople, nova roma
			covenant of nic....
		end of an empire
			east and west divided by 400AD
			rome sacked in 410 and 455
			476, last of caesars, romulus augustulus, dethroned by odoacer
			germans cared little