The purpose of discussion forum is to encourage you to debate and consider the questions of the week in depth – to provide the same opportunities that you might have in a class to teach and learn from each other.

For each module, you’ll receive fifteen to twenty questions, and you should write 100 to 150-word answers on TWO questions. I’ll be looking for clarity, specific information, and evidence that you are reading and learning from fellow students.

Please also be aware that you will not receive full credit for your post if you primarily summarize what others have already written.

It makes sense to try to limit your post to 150-words to give your fellow students the possibility of also responding to the question.

Your post should add some substantive point to the discussion. For example, you could make reference to an event, individual, quote, or movement from the textbook; you could interpret the evidence in a new and different way from the existing posts; you could ask a question about something that you found puzzling or confusing; you could link evidence in other posts to the larger questions for the week, or you could ask an insightful question that spurs students to think more deeply about the material.

Here are some tips if you feel that what you have written has already been discussed.

I hope that you also see these discussion questions as prompts that will allow you to write answers to the question but also to comment on what you found most interesting in the chapter.

*Please put the number of words at the bottom of your post. Please do not include your quote in your word count.

Please remember that these contributions must be in your own words. Even for these informal assignments, as well as quizzes, a student who uses another’s words without proper attribution is committing plagiarism.

Finally you might consider “liking” posts that are well-written or lead you to think about the material in new ways.

Please post under the discussion thread of the question that you are answering

Here are the questions for this week:

1. Consider the mosaic of Theodora, explain what this mosaic reveals about this period and why our authors use it to begin this chapter’s readings.

2. How did the ancient west transform into the medieval west? Why did the eastern Roman Empire develop in a radically different direction?

3. What choices did late Roman emperors make to preserve the Roman Empire?
Choice: “an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.”

4. What role, our authors ask, “did economics and outsiders play in the transformation of the late Roman World”?

5. Why did the Germans migrate into the Roman Empire? Should they be held responsible for the end of the empire in the west? What does map 6.1 reveal, as our authors ask, about “natural geographic weaknesses of the Late Roman Empire”?

6. The section “Investigating the Past” considers Edward Gibbon’s explanation for the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” He wrote, “the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness.” Explain this point and the extent to which you think Gibbon was persuasive.
Immoderate: “not sensible or restrained; excessive.”

7. Why is early Christianity best viewed as “christianities” rather than as a single Christian religion? What were some of the differences in belief that divided early Christians?

8. What does map 6.2 reveal about the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire? Where did it spread first and why?

9. How did Diocletian attempt to reform and reinvigorate Rome? Why did his efforts ultimately fail to hold the empire together?

10. Why was Constantine’s 312 decision such an important turning point in the history of the West?

11. Why was the Council of Nicaea a triumph for Constantine? How did the council shape the future of Christianity?

12. Why did the future of the Early Middle Ages lie with the west Germans instead of with the east German tribes? What was the impact of that shift on European history?

13. Was Justinian’s legacy mostly negative or positive for the eastern Roman Empire? What about the old Roman west? Explain the factors you are considering in your assessment judgment.

14. What medieval traits are present in this period 180-565?