Sophia Elahi RPC Blog

This week in class, I spent a lesson learning about the Visigoths and their brief, but catastrophic history with the Romans.  When the Romans ruled the world as the strongest empire, they had many admirers, one being the “barbarians”, like the Visigoths.  In this essay, I am going to describe their history and how the Visigoths contributed to the end of the Roman Empire.

“Barbarians” were Germanic tribes that lived outside of Rome.  Despite their label, they were very developed, but not as advanced as Rome was.  The leaders of these tribes held a lot of respect for the Romans and their knowledge and hoped to join the empire through the army.  The various Germanic tribes tried to become a part of the Roman empire, but was rejected every time.

In 376 AD, a tribe known as the Huns attacked and looted the different Germanic tribes.  A certain tribe, known as the Visigoths, desperately asked to join Rome for protection against the Huns.  The Eastern emperor, Valens, allowed the Visigoths in, but not as guests.

Their weapons and children were taken from them, and the Visigoths were treated like animals.  Many families had to make the hard decision of selling their children into slavery for food.

One of the Roman generals was afraid of the Visigoths rising against the Romans as revenge for their poor treatment.  In an attempt to suppress the hostile feelings, the general invited the leader of the Visigoths to a dinner where he would be murdered.

When the Visigoth leader heard of the assassination plan, he urged his people to rebel.  Driven by their hatred for the Romans, the Visigoths destroyed Thrace (modern-day Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey).  Valens took up arms against the barbarians, but was defeated in the Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD.

Valen’s successor, Theodosius, incentivized the Visigoths to stay calm by giving them army assignments.  But after his death, the Visigoth emperor, Alaric, pillaged Italy in 395 AD.  Theodosius’ successor did not believe in appeasing the Visigoths, leading to the beginning of the Visigoth Rebellion.

Once the Visigoths realized that they would not get the treatment they were used to, they attacked the Romans again.  In a desperate attempt to protect his land, the Roman emperor started pulling troops from the Rhine River frontier, allowing Vandals and other hostile tribes into Rome.  Troops from Britain were also moved to Thrace to fight the various Germanic tribes that had invaded the empire.

By 410 AD, the Visigoths managed to fight their way through Rome to its capital.  Alaric requested to ‘sight-see’ once there.  But when his request was denied, and out of anger, he allowed his men to pillage the city until there was nothing left.  Satisfied, the Visigoths move to Sothern Gaul, then onto Spain where they settled down and created their own kingdom that survived until 711 AD, when the Muslims came along and defeated them.

As you can see, there was no lost love between the Romans and the Visigoths.  While I always believe there are two sides to every story (especially in history), I still think that Valens doomed his empire when he ordered his men to treat the Visigoths to be treated so inhumanly.

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This week in class, Mr Woods briefly talked about how Christianity departed from the ideals of Greek and Roman religion.  Besides the obvious differences, there were some subtle ones as well that made people start to like Christians over those who still followed the Greek and Roman ways.  In this essay, I am going to talk about these differences. 

The Christians started to gain popularity because of how kind they were. For example, if a Christian helped a poor man on the street by giving him money, the Christian wouldn’t expect anything back in return and they certainly wouldn’t brag about how great of a person they are for doing  a good deed.  But if a person who still followed the Greek and Roman way helped a poor man, they would expect something in return, like a debt that’s expected to be repaid.   This was part of Greek and Roman culture, and was considered normal.  Charity was never truly charity.

The Christians did not participate in infanticide or suicide, something that was very common before Christianity.  The Christians preached about being kind and compassionate to everyone, a complete opposite of what the Greeks and Romans believe in.  If you have ever heard any story about Greek or Roman gods, the common theme is always getting revenge or plotting the downfall of an enemy.

As you can see, compared to the Greek and Roman ideals, the Christians were kind and gentle.  Many started to favor the Christians and their religion which was more caring and empathetic than the tough, ‘dog-eat-dog’ mentality of the Greek and Roman religions.

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This week in class, I spent two lessons learning about monks when monasteries and monasticism first became popular.  Mr. Woods showed me that the monks, who seemed insignificant, actually impacted modern-day European society in subtle, yet big ways.  In this essay I am going to talk about these impacts.

The monks started out as people who wanted to reach a certain level of piety by sacrificing their normal lives.  But over time, they became helpers and teachers to those who lived around them. 

When the government started to falter and taxations became high, the monasteries became places of knowledge for those who wanted to learn real life skills like agriculture and metallurgy.  The monks copied religious and secular documents to preserve them for future generations to read and learn from, and they helped the locals with harvesting their crops and other things that required them to do physical labor.  Because of how involved the monks became in physical labor, people stopped viewing physical work as something to be ashamed of doing.

As you can see, the monks started as people who were seeking a divine life and ended up as helpers to the societies around them.  They helped in big ways, like in the preservation of agriculture and religious texts, and in small ways, like changing people’s views on physical labor. Many historians believe that if the monks never stepped in, we would not have the texts or agricultural knowledge that we do today.

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It is no secret that during the years when Christianity was introduced in Rome, it was extremely hard for Christians to live their lives.  In this essay, I am going to talk about what it was like to live as a Christian during the reign of Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117) and Emperor Constantine (r. 306-337).

As evidence, a letter circa 112 AD from Pliny the Younger, a magistrate, to the Emperor Trajan asking him how he should go about his task. Pliny, at that time, was tasked with the job of finding and persecuting Christians. In Trajan’s response letter he reminded Pliny of their policy, which was effectively “don’t ask, don’t tell.” 

Christianity was considered illegal, but the Roman authorities did not actively go out “hunting” for Christians.  If someone was accused of being a Christian, they would be investigated and executed if found guilty. Despite not being hunted for, Christians were still extremely careful in fear of being seen and reported.  From Pliny’s letter, we can see how the Christians had to sneak around to pray and meet.

There is a story that Mr. Woods shared in Lesson 62 that showed how the Romans viewed Christianity during the reign of Trajan.  In the story, a man found his wife in bed with another man.  After that incident, he then found out that she was a Christian.  He told her to continue her affair with the other man because the shame of having a cheating wife was not as humiliating as having a Christian wife.

The persecution of Christians continued until 312 AD when Emperor Constantine halted all executions and punishments.  A year later, in 313 AD, Constantine passed the Edict of Milan, which accepted Christianity as a Roman religion.  Constantine himself was baptised before his death and declared Sunday as a holy day of rest.

As you can see, merely being a Christian during those years was fraught with danger.  If Constantine had not come into power, who knows how long the persecution of Christians may have lasted?

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This week in class, I learned about the very beginning of Christianity.  A very different topic from the Greek and Roman topics I have been learning about prior to this week.  While watching my video lessons, I noticed that despite all of the differences, there are a few similarities between Christianity and Greek/Roman religion.  In this essay I am going to discuss these similarities.

I am sure that you cannot think of many commonalities between the two religions, and I cannot blame you.  Christianity is a monotheistic religion, meaning followers only believe in and worship one God.  On the other hand, Greek and Roman religions are polytheistic, meaning followers believe in and worship multiple gods.

Despite this, there are a few similarities.  For example, both religions require patience and prayer and are very focused on delivering justice.  Both religions have sets of rules for followers to live by.  But that is where the similarities end.

The Greeks view their gods as strong warriors and attributed human characteristics to them.  The Greeks are very focused on fierceness and strong warriors, which carried over to their religion.  On the other hand, Christians view God as omnipotent and loving.  Their teachings focus on love and peace, very different from the rough view of the Greeks.

As you can see, there a few similarities between Christian and Greek beliefs, but overall, the two religions are very different.  How funny it is that the two religions are so different from one another despite Greek works being heavy influencers over Christian morality.

Thanks for reading!