The Emperor

the late Roman emperor Constantine, exercises offered by Peter Jenny’s The Artist’s Eye uses art as an exploratory aide to decipher a more profound meaning to the text than what meets the untrained eye. When comparing Jenny’s exercise of Constellations in Chapter 7 to Eusebius’ biography there must be a connection between the two texts, an understanding of the biography in its intended form, and an analysis…

Politics were one of the reasons responsible for the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Rome was run by many greedy and cruel emperors that had adopted the throne through assassination or through inheritance (father to son). Lacking a system to replace the emperor, Rome was faced with new emperors unfit to rule. In addition, Praetorian Guards would assassinate emperors…

During the early Roman Empire period in 330 A.D. Constantine the Great became the first emperor of the Roman Empire. He relocated Rome's capital to the far east of Byzantine. He also renamed it Constantinople which was named after him. Many people called it the New Rome. Constantine gave the city a new political status of power. Byzantium’s studied from Greek and Roman culture to keep their government organized. Not knowing their empire was on a decline they were forced to divide it into Eastern…

Emperor Asoka’s challenged the adherents in his domain and beyond to follow Buddhist teachings more closely through the example of his own life, his edicts and the message of Dharma. The effects of his contributions involving the spread of Buddhism continue to impact the Sanga or worldwide community of faith. Asoka (304–232 BCE) was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty. Eight years after his coronation, he invaded Orissa, overcame the opposition and became responsible for killing thousands…

most probably directed towards the emperor or any other major government official. In document 6, Emperor Wu of the Tang dynasty had written decree on Buddhism. In the edict, he had said that Buddhism “has poisoned the customs of our nation.” This one phrase had already described the deep contempt of the religion. He states that the religion would and has caused many people to stop working. Instead of working and providing food, people were begging for food. Emperor Wu does not only hate the…

I was drawn closer to the ruckus of the court room. It wasn’t the peculiar defendant’s case or Emperor Claudius’s visit that caught my attention, it was the alluring, musical voice. I dragged my hands along the stone walls of the basilica until I passed the stench of the audience and drew near enough to the jury to hear their creaking wooden benches. I leaned against the wall near the edge of the room while in line with the defendant’s voice which sounded close. Unlike most prisoners who came,…

and is where he built Constantinople and saw the wealthy rise of economy with it as the western empire was slowly falling apart. With the death of them two, civil wars began to break out between the legions as each one wanting its commander to be emperor. The civil wars were not only weakening the military,…

Throughout the fourth century, the Roman Empire saw many different changes to how its government functioned. As Christianity grew and steadily became interwoven into the empire, it influenced these changes. The imperial bureaucracy, the army, the emperor, and the concept of the empire all were shaped by the Christian religion. Christian doctrine helped to legitimize these different organizations and people while creating a firm foothold for itself within the empire. The expansiveness of the…

naturally politically adept and ambitious. Arriving at court as a teenager, she became the emperor's favorite concubine. She used her political savvy, timed with the mysterious disappearances of her competitors to rise from concubine to empress. The emperor was weak, and enthralled by her charm, so Wu was the real power behind the throne. For her all her unsavory traits however, she was a fair and competent ruler who would initiate major improvements in China. stabilized empire, centralized…

many foreign invaders. There were many political problems in Rome right before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. First off the position of an emperor was Inherited, so several of the emperors were unfit, greedy, cruel rulers. The legions paid off the Praetorian Guard to assassinate the emperor many times. Since they had no way of replacing the emperor it was basically a free for all. Legions fought legions and the legion who won got to put their general on the throne. Civil wars broke out…