Under the Romans Greece was at first treated fairly well, and much of
the old municipal life was left. Hellenic culture fascinated the
conquerors. Greek teachers poured into Rome, and Athens became the
university for wealthy Roman youths. Little by little, however, the
government became more oppressive. In the Mithradatic War the Greeks
rose in a revolt which led to a devastating march of Sulla across the
country and to the storming of Athens and the massacre of its
inhabitants. Greece was then exposed to the exactions of the Roman
officials on the one hand, and to the ravages of pirates on the other.
In 267 B. C. the Goths swept across the land, destroyed many towns, and
captured Athens, from which they were dislodged by the forces of the
historian Dexippus.
In internal affairs the tendency during the following centuries was to
more and more centralize rule on the part of the Romans. The Emperor
Hadrian attempted to improve the condition of the Greeks by giving them
rights equal to those of Roman citizens, by reforming the administration
of justice, and by paying attention to roads and buildings.
Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, took the important step of
changing the capital from Rome to Byzantium, which he solemnly dedicated
in 333 A. D. and called, after himself, Constantinople. The Emperor,
having been the political head of the pagan religion, naturally assumed
the same direction of the Christian faith, and, in the opposition of the
orthodox Church to the Arianism of the first Christian Emperors the
people found a vent for the national feeling which chafed against the
despotism of an alien court. Theodosius the Great (378-395) first
established Christianity as the religion of the state. His sons,
Arcadius and Honorius divided the Roman dominions between themselves,
and Constantinople became the capital only of the Eastern Empire. At
this time a great danger threatened Greece from Alaric, king of the West
Goths, who invaded Greece in 396 and occupied Athens. Though the city
and country were pillaged by the Goths, Alaric strictly protected the
honor of Greek women and religious edifices.