The Violent End to the Roman World

In recent years under the direction of the European Union and academic forces in Western Europe and the USA and attempt has been made to essentially re-write history. The motivation for this is simple: when the ancestors of today's Northern Europeans and many Americans took over the former Roman lands a decline in civilization, learning, engineering and knowledge took place. However, today it has become fashionable to replace the theory of the "Dark Ages" with a term known as Later Antiquity which encompasses the gradual change from Roman life to the Middle Ages.

The new theory holds that the Dark Ages never truly existed and that the Early Middle Ages were simply "different" from Roman times and that civilization was in no way inferior. This new way of thinking about the Fall of Rome which has significant political backing is in the opinion of one scholar of Roman History flat out wrong.

Bryan Ward-Perkins, a history professor at Oxford makes a compelling and in my opinion a convincing case that civilization did decline during the period of time when Roman rules was falling and Germanic kingdoms rising in the west. Ward-Perkins book, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, focuses on archaeological evidence to demonstrate a few key points:

1- The Roman Empire in the west was violently conquered by Barbarians
2- The transition from Roman rule to Germanic rule led to a decline in comfort for most citizens of the west
3- The intracity of finished goods such as pottery, coins, and agriculture declined during the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries.
4- The masterful advances brought by Roman Engineering such as aqueducts and roads lay in decay after Rome's fall.
5- The convenience of Roman life was never replicated in the Early Middle Ages.

The book is a brilliant retort to those who seek to re-write history for the sake of making ones ancestors appear more civilized and advanced (as well as less violent) than they in fact were.
The book published by Oxford University Press is a must read for those like me who are curious as to the everyday man and woman's life while Roman civilization collapsed.

Gibbon's Decline and Fall: Volume Three, Pre-Justinian Volume Four

Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume Three races through the events which saw the final dissolution of the Western Empire and the survival of the East. Volume Four begins with an account of some of the consequences of this fall. For the purpose of this analysis they should be tied together.

The reigns of the sons of Theodosius the Great, who had been the last emperor to govern over East and West was a lamentable era for the Empire and indeed for the civilized world. The incompetence of the Emperor Honorius and the feeble Arcadius (who for some reason escapes Gibbon's wrath perhaps because he looks favorable when compared to his brother) provided the Germanic Barbarians with a wonderful opportunity to destabilize Rome.

The General Stilico was entrusted with the care of both boys by a dying Theodosius but soon ran afoul of Arcadius and the East. But the General was skilled in war and diplomacy and he was able to hold the Goths at bay until his arrest and execution on trumped up charges in 408 AD. That opened the door for a Gothic raid on Italy and in 410 Rome was sacked, a shameful episode while Honorius sat at his court in Ravenna totally unconcerned about the plight of the leading city in the world and his capitol.

The Roman legions at the same time also abandoned Britain and failed to properly secure Gaul, where a massive depopulation of cities occurred. The transition from heavily cultured city life enhanced by trade, a system of roads and running water, to rural anarchy with little trade and no culture or learning was an unfortunate bi-product of the collapse of Roman rule in the West. In a hundred years, society literally went from being highly educated and worldly to being warlike, and agrarian. That may seem like an unkind generalization, but the destruction of culture, learning, engineering and trade by the Barbarians is not an unkind myth propagated by people who romanticize Rome. Western Europe arguably had not reached the standard of living and learning of the Roman Empire until a 1,000 years after Rome's sacking by the Goths.

The Western Empire survived feebly after 410 but in reality lost its taxing ability and many provinces realized they were better off cutting deals with the Barbarians rather than being over run and killed by them. This situation while clearly not preferable to the enlightened rule Rome had provided to most of Western Europe for over 500 years was preferable to the sword.

However, the collapse of Roman rule led to a free for all, where the sword, not the laws the Romans had codified through the years or the institutions of government became the ultimate judge. The collapse of the Empire led to an upsurge in previously successful city dwellers into refugees to monasteries. While Christianity had helped in Gibbon's eyes accelerate the decline of Rome, it now provided a sanctuary to those fleeing from the terror created by Barbarian rule. While Gibbon fails to give enough credit to the religion for this, his overall premise about Christianity's role in the fall of the Roman west is accurate.

The Fall of Rome in 476, led to a period of shifting alliances between Barbarian kings. Some kings, like Theodoric of the Ostrogoths were better than others, and respected Roman culture and encouraged city life. Others raped and pillaged the land and terrorized the citizens and accelerated the transition from the enlightened world of Rome to the Dark Ages.

The Eastern Empire based in Constantinople survived the fifth century chaos. But as Gibbon correctly points out, much of this was due to its willingness to buy off the Barbarians and encourage them to move West. Moreover, the Eastern Empire wasn't able to influence events in the West as much as it would have liked as evidenced by Theodoric and Clovis (the Frankish king who in 486 had over run the last vestige of Roman rule in Gaul) working together to dilute the influence of Constantinople over the West.

With the Barbarians in control of the West, and the Romans still controlling modern day Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East, an epic showdown was about to occur as Rome made one last ditch effort to regain its past glory. That will be subject of my next posting.

Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume Two

Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire turns from clever narrative to intense introspection of religion and social troubles within the Roman world in Volume II. Constantine the Great changed the planet forever with his conversion to Christianity something Gibbon clearly feels was motivated by personal ambition and a desire to upset the existing order once he attained power.

Constantine's family didn't persecute Pagans according to Gibbon but used the institutions of the Empire to promote Christianity. Constantine's family began a pattern unique to The Eastern Roman/Greek world through the fall of Byzantium in 1453: that of dueling heirs who often times delved the state into civil war to achieve ultimate victory. Pre-Constantine, pagan Rome had sibling conflicts but rarely if ever Empire wide bloody civil wars between members of the same family. The ascension of Constantine's line also ended the period of time where soldiers and generals ran the Roman world. In the future both through Constantine's line and then the line of Theodosius, generals much like the period from 27BC thru 193 AD worked for the Emperors. Sadly this change to civilian rule and dynastic houses wasn't the best thing for Rome as capable generals such as Stillico and Aetius were eventually killed due to the ineptitude of the Emperor.

In 360 AD, Julian a nephew of Constantius (Constantine's son and survivor of a bloody reign where his brothers and other nephews and cousins were all killed) ascended to the Roman throne. Julian known as a the Apostate by history is clearly Gibbon's favorite Emperor of this period.

Julian was a remarkable man, having been educated in the classics as a youth in Athens and having led the Roman army on a campaign against the Germans in Gaul. His embrace of Paganism and the classical history of Rome is why, according to Gibbon he has been judged harshly by history. Julian led the Roman army into yet another war with the Persians in 363 AD and ended up losing his life, not in battle but perhaps under mysterious circumstances in Mesopotamia.

With Julian's death, the continued rise of Christianity and decline of Paganism accelerated in the Roman world, culminating with Theodosius declaration in 395 AD that Christianity was the official religion of the Empire. This came after the devastating battle at Hadrianople (modern Edirne in Turkey) where Emperor Valens was killed by the Goths, and the Roman legions for centuries invincible seemed pathetically weak and suspect. This set up the final century of misery for Rome, which is discussed in volume three.

Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume One

Edward Gibbon's timeless classic, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, continues to be in the twenty first century the historical standard it was when it was written in the late Eighteenth century. Gibbon's reputation has taken a hit in recent years for his emphasis on the role of Christianity on the fall of Rome and his trashing of Byzantium.

Volume One covers the period of time from the end of the Pax Romana (180 AD) to Constantine's victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge outside Milan in 312 AD. The gist of the volume focuses on a narrative of the confusing third century which saw usurpers and despots claim the Roman throne and breakaway provinces claim their own right to rule the Roman world. After Diocletian ascended to the throne in 284 AD, the Roman world's luster was restored and order prevailed. However, it was Diocletian's persecution of Christians beginning in 297 AD that has undermined the reputation of the last truly great Roman Emperor.

Gibbon spends the last two chapters of volume one discussing Christianity and its origins. The author makes an impassioned defense of Roman paganism and its impact on developing the culture and knowledge of the Roman world. Gibbon also spends much of these chapters stating that the persecution of Christians by Roman authorities while unjust has been greatly exaggerated throughout history. In Volume Two, he picks up with this theme and follows it through the reign of Constantine's family. Shortly I will review that work as well.

What is apparent is that unlike many modern historians who simply write narratives, or others that simply right cause/affect type books, Gibbon's emphasis on primary sources leads him to interweave both together. Very few works give you an explanation not only of when events happened by why actually they happened, and what the background was that created an environment for this to happen. David McCullough, much celebrated these days in the United States is the worst violator of this principle. His major works, including the now re-created John Adams has very little background material discussed in it. McCullough's Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Harry Truman is one of the least substantial works about the great former President, I have read. Yet, McCullough always fascinates and impresses me as a TV host and as former narrator of Ken Burns' PBS specials. In other words, McCullough is a very good TV historian turned poor author. Trained historians and those simply fascinated by history like myself need to give Gibbon a re-read if for no other reason, to understand his methodology.

Marcus Aurelius: Transitional Emperor

The period between 98 AD and 161 AD represented the apex of Roman power and the period from 193 AD to 284 AD was a period of outright administrative chaos. But the period in between was one of intense contradiction and the beginning of the long decline of the Roman Empire, a decline that would not culminate until the late 5th century. What to make of this 33 year period between the apex and the beginning of the fall?

Marcus Aurelius is a famous figure in European history. He was learned, philosophical emperor whose humanity is legendary. He also ended up making war throughout his reign and even though it was not acknowledged at the time his years as Emperor sowed the seeds for Rome's decline. Some of it was simply bad luck: After defeating the Parthians in AD 166, the Roman army returned west with the plague, and a percentage of the Roman population perished even in what were the best of times (unlike the plague of 1347-1348).

Marcus also faced the first full scale Barbarian threat to the northern frontier in well over a hundred years. This threat was a harbinger of the almost constant instability in what is now Germany from the mid 200s until the mid 400s. Marcus also left the empire to his incompetent son Commodus, who is regarded as one of the worst emperors in Roman history, after several successive emperors who had "adopted" a non blood line but capable successor.

The life of Marcus Aurelius is chronicled in the work of Anthony Birley, a historian. The work written in 1966 (when he was only 29) is an outstanding and timeless look at the contradictions in Marcus' reign and the successes of humanity he brought to the empire.

Factors Leading to the Fall of the Roman World

The late Michael Grant wrote in the early 1990s an excellent book that looked more at the societal reasons behind the collapse of the Roman world particularly in the west between the years AD 375 and AD 476. Unlike most works on the fall of Rome, this particular book is not written as a chronological narrative so it is easier to digest from a social standpoint.

Here are Grant's Thirteen factors leading to Rome's Fall:

1- The Generals against the state
2- People against the army
3- Poor against the state
4- Rich against the state
5- The middle class against the state
6- The people against Bureaucracy
7- The people against the Emperor
8- Ally against Ally
9- Race against Race
10- Drop outs against society
11- The state against free belief'
12- Complacency against self help
13- This world against the other world

In the upcoming few weeks I'll explore a number of these topics in greater detail based not only on Grant's writing but those of other historians that studied the time including Gibbon.

More Roman Empire Related Reading and Watching

My Roman Empire obsession of late is hitting new heights. I often times go through these phases every few years when I go into a mode where every free moment I am attempting to re-read or re-watch a special about Rome.

Here are some outstanding resources I have been utilizing recently.


DVD's

• Rome in the First Century A.D./ PBS DVD
• Rome: Power and Glory/ Narrated by Peter Coyote (an outstanding six program narrative about the history of Rome from the founding until the fall in A.D. 476)
  
• Julius Caeser's Rome/ History Channel (A compilation of several programs on the nework about Rome both during Caeser's time and after.

BOOKS

• The Fall of the Roman Empire by Michael Grant
• Sick Caesars by Michael Grant
  
• Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire VOL 1 thru 3, by Gibbons

PODCASTS

• The History of Rome Podcast by Mike Duncan