Idaho Social Studies 9-12.WC.15
The Standard
Analyze the causes and consequences of Diocletian’s reforms and Constantine the Great's establishment of "New Rome" (Constantinople) and the recognition of Christianity as a legal religion.
Idaho Content Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Ancient Rome (c. 500 BC – 500 AD)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how civil wars, border attacks, and money problems led Diocletian to change Roman government and taxation. They trace how a new eastern capital and legal Christian worship changed the empire.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can link succession wars to Diocletian's four-ruler system and explain why his larger government needed more tax revenue. They can use a map to explain Constantinople's location and how it shifted power east. They can distinguish legal Christian worship from Christianity becoming the state religion.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think Diocletian created two permanent empires, rather than a system of four rulers for one empire. They may confuse his persecution of Christians with Constantine and Licinius allowing Christian worship. Some think Constantine made Christianity the state religion, which happened later.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Name one problem Diocletian faced and a reform that addressed it. Then explain one consequence each of Constantinople and legal Christian worship.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Place four counters on a Roman Empire map for Diocletian's rulers, then draw arrows toward borders each ruler could defend.
Write three sentences answering: Why might an emperor choose the Bosporus for a new capital instead of staying in Rome?
Match cards labeled succession wars, four rulers, border attacks, eastern capital, Bosporus trade, and Constantinople; explain each cause-and-response pair.
Compare Constantinople's strait with Brasília's inland site on a map; write one reason each location served its government's goals.
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Related Standards
- 9-12.WC.19
Analyze the impact of Christianity on Classical culture and society and the formation of the Catholic Church.
- 9-12.WC.14
Analyze the reasons for the gradual decline of the Western Roman Empire after the Pax Romana.
- 9-12.WC.26
Analyze the causes and consequences of the Crusades and Reconquista on Christian, Muslim, and Jewish populations.
- 9-12.WC.36
Analyze the causes and consequences of the fall of Constantinople.
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