Diocletian

• he rules from 284 - 303
• it's cool to persecute Christians
• Rome needs a big army (400,000 strong)
• Rome needs a big government (20,000 officials)

Constantine

• rules from 306 - 337
• it's cool to BE a Christian
• conversion to Christianity

via a cross in the sky (conquer by this!)

• 313 - his Edict of Milan proclaims

freedom of worship

• built a new capital in the East
• Byzantium, soon to be known as Constantinople

life in the Fourth Century

• country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection

• new farming system: peasants work for elite landlords on large farms

• peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by the landlords

• paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land, in exchange for endless back-breaking work (such a deal!)

• landowners hold local power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire

• foreshadowing feudalism