Image credit:SchoolMouv, story 6 e __
The great Roman Empire had several times of divisions and several rulers. Indeed, the Emperor Diocletian establishes the duumvirate (government led by two people) then the Tetrarchy (government led by 4 people. The Empire is therefore led by Emperors and co-emperors, Augustus and Caesars. If unity territory was temporarily restored under and by the Emperor Constantine, who was the last to have permanently reigned alone over the Empire, collegiate power remained the preferred way to govern from then on.>e century, at its twilight.
395
Characters
Theodosius the Great
Arcadius
Honorius
Procedure
Theodosius I st , said the Great, was officially the last emperor to rule the united Empire, but it was short-lived. Indeed, the collegial power was largely privileged to direct the empire. Thus, after having shared power with the Emperor Gratian, Theodosius the Great had to get rid of two usurpers, Maximus, in 383, and Eugene, in 394. While he struggled all his life to restore and maintain stability and he uniqueness of the Empire, Theodosius named his younger son Flavius Honorius (already Augustus) co-emperor at the end of his life, as was his older brother Arcadius. From then on, on the death of Emperor Theodosius the Great, in 395, the Empire was officially divided between his two heir sons. The pars occidentalis (western part) goes to Honorius whose capital is Rome, and the pars orientalis (eastern) to Arcadius, with Constantinople as its capital. This split of the great Roman Empire, which some thought temporary, will in reality be definitive this time and will give birth to two empires:the Great Roman Empire of the West and the Great Roman Empire of the East.
Consequences
The division of the Great Roman Empire engenders a weakening of the western part. In 410, Alaric I st , king of the Visigoths, looted Rome and less than a century later the Empire fell into the hands of barbarian peoples, including the leader Odoacer, and was divided into different kingdoms. On the contrary, the Eastern Roman Empire consolidates and will gradually become the great Byzantine Empire which will only decline in 1453 when the Ottomans take over.