Charissa,+Xavier,+and+Noah

**The Roman Empire of the fourth century A.D. extended entirely around the basin of the Mediterranean Sea, including modern Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and North Africa. When Theodosius died in 395 A.D, he left the Roman Empire to his two sons, Honorius and Arcadius. Honorius took the West and Arcadius the East. But like other emperors who had been brought up at court, neither of them was very good at ruling, or even very interested. Historians generally agree that the Roman Empire began its decline at the end of the reign of the last of the Five Good Emperors, Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161–180). The rulers that followed in the next century had little or no idea of how to deal with the problems facing the empire. Most, like Aurelius’ son Commodus, were brutal and incompetent. They left the empire greatly weakened. Most people think a combination of reasons such as Christianity, decadence, lead, monetary trouble, and military problems caused the fall of Rome. **
 * __Reasons for Rome's Decline __**



**Roman Republic started out as what historians call a 'Hegemonic Empire'.That means that the Romans controlled a small area of land with their legions. Legions are heavy infantry armed with throwing spears, short swords and large shields. Surrounding this region are small client states known as sea lanes. These were smaller kingdoms that relied on Rome for protection and in return paid tribute and also supplied the legions with food and auxilia (auxiliary troops). Auxiliary troops were cavalry, men armed with bows and slings, so on. **   **There are many theories on why Rome fell. Some experts believe that Rome fell when it was split in two. Other reasons for Rome’s decline were a result of Christianity. However I think that the reason for Rome’s decline was a result of failed military campaigns. Slowly after a while Rome would eventually fall. If you kept losing wars slowly your empire would begin to fall. **

**When Rome was split in two some experts believed this weakened Rome’s military. With two separate armies if one emperor didn’t want to send his armies to aid the other the other would surely lose. If one emperor didn’t want to send his armies back to the other then the other would be destroyed. They both would need to cooperate to win wars. **  **One emperor might not want to risk his power to help his neighbors. If you were losing wars to people you consider barbarians you would be afraid too. The Romans would also take to much time paying attention ****to them and they would be pen to attacks from other people.**   <span style="background-color: white; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">