Gregory Aldrete

Yeah. I mean, even lawyer isn't quite the right word. Romans didn't have true lawyers, but they had people you would hire to do legal stuff or give you legal advice. But anyway. No, the price edict is actually really fascinating because it's this long list of stuff. And you can see, you know, a good pair of shoes, a bad pair of shoes, how much each costs.

And you can see the relative value of things, right? So what was food versus clothing? What was going to the barber versus hiring a doctor? All that kind of stuff. So it's a really fun document to just mess around with. But anyway, so Diocletian stabilizes basically the empire and these other guys as well and gives it a new lease on life.

And you can see the relative value of things, right? So what was food versus clothing? What was going to the barber versus hiring a doctor? All that kind of stuff. So it's a really fun document to just mess around with. But anyway, so Diocletian stabilizes basically the empire and these other guys as well and gives it a new lease on life.

And you can see the relative value of things, right? So what was food versus clothing? What was going to the barber versus hiring a doctor? All that kind of stuff. So it's a really fun document to just mess around with. But anyway, so Diocletian stabilizes basically the empire and these other guys as well and gives it a new lease on life.

Um, so it seems by the end of the third century that Rome is, is gonna continue. And then as we go into the fourth century, you have the really dramatic thing where Constantine comes along and converts to Christianity. And at the time he converts, you know, the percentage of Christians in the empire is small, you know, 10% at most, something like that. Who knows? But it's, it's quite small.

Um, so it seems by the end of the third century that Rome is, is gonna continue. And then as we go into the fourth century, you have the really dramatic thing where Constantine comes along and converts to Christianity. And at the time he converts, you know, the percentage of Christians in the empire is small, you know, 10% at most, something like that. Who knows? But it's, it's quite small.

Um, so it seems by the end of the third century that Rome is, is gonna continue. And then as we go into the fourth century, you have the really dramatic thing where Constantine comes along and converts to Christianity. And at the time he converts, you know, the percentage of Christians in the empire is small, you know, 10% at most, something like that. Who knows? But it's, it's quite small.

And all of a sudden you have this weird thing where now the emperor belongs to this new religion. What does this mean? Um, You can debate a lot how sincere Constantine's conversion was.

And all of a sudden you have this weird thing where now the emperor belongs to this new religion. What does this mean? Um, You can debate a lot how sincere Constantine's conversion was.

And all of a sudden you have this weird thing where now the emperor belongs to this new religion. What does this mean? Um, You can debate a lot how sincere Constantine's conversion was.

It's a little bit of a weird thing where he clearly is using it as a way to fire up the troops before a crucial battle to say, hey, I just had this dream and this god promised us victory if we put his magic symbol on our shields. And this would be okay except that he had done this a couple times before. So one time it was Helios, the sun god. One time it was another god.

It's a little bit of a weird thing where he clearly is using it as a way to fire up the troops before a crucial battle to say, hey, I just had this dream and this god promised us victory if we put his magic symbol on our shields. And this would be okay except that he had done this a couple times before. So one time it was Helios, the sun god. One time it was another god.

It's a little bit of a weird thing where he clearly is using it as a way to fire up the troops before a crucial battle to say, hey, I just had this dream and this god promised us victory if we put his magic symbol on our shields. And this would be okay except that he had done this a couple times before. So one time it was Helios, the sun god. One time it was another god.

Even after he converts, he continues to mint coins and stuff with other gods on them. He continues to worship other gods. But he also kind of seems sincere in his conversion. It's just – I think the question is how much does he understand his new religion maybe more than is it sincere? Yeah. But that's a real turning point.

Even after he converts, he continues to mint coins and stuff with other gods on them. He continues to worship other gods. But he also kind of seems sincere in his conversion. It's just – I think the question is how much does he understand his new religion maybe more than is it sincere? Yeah. But that's a real turning point.

Even after he converts, he continues to mint coins and stuff with other gods on them. He continues to worship other gods. But he also kind of seems sincere in his conversion. It's just – I think the question is how much does he understand his new religion maybe more than is it sincere? Yeah. But that's a real turning point.

So now as you go into the fourth century, we have this thing with Constantine, the new religion. And the other thing that happens is the empire is really just too big to govern effectively. It's that thing we're talking about. It's too large. The communication is too slow. And it starts to naturally fragment. And at times, they try systems where they split it into four.

So now as you go into the fourth century, we have this thing with Constantine, the new religion. And the other thing that happens is the empire is really just too big to govern effectively. It's that thing we're talking about. It's too large. The communication is too slow. And it starts to naturally fragment. And at times, they try systems where they split it into four.

So now as you go into the fourth century, we have this thing with Constantine, the new religion. And the other thing that happens is the empire is really just too big to govern effectively. It's that thing we're talking about. It's too large. The communication is too slow. And it starts to naturally fragment. And at times, they try systems where they split it into four.

So under Diocletian, he tries the tetrarchy where he splits the empire into four and you actually have sort of four emperors working together as a team. More commonly, it just splits east-west. So from that point on, you really start to have the history of the Western Empire going in one direction, the Eastern Empire in the other.