Transcript The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

History of the Ancient and
Medieval World
“The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”
Edward Gibbon (1776*)
Walsingham Academy
Mrs. McArthur
Room 107
*"Another damned, thick, square, book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?"
(William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, upon receiving the second volume from the author, 1781)
“The Decline”: Problems of Success
(and the theories)
•Decadence and Disease
•Size and complexity
•Role of the “Other” (barbarians everywhere)
•Christianity: Being Number One
•Imperial Overstretch
Decadence and Disease
•The problems of wealth: luxury, escapism,
pleasure seeking
•Fewer Romans: Falling birth rate
•Ill Romans: e.g. lead poisoning, epidemics.
Size and Complexity
•Maintaining far-flung infra-structure (roads,
aqueducts)
•Problems of communication and
coordination
Imperfect Solution = Division (Diocletian)
late 3rd century AD
“The Other”: Barbarians in our midst
•Were all barbarians the same?
•What impact did they have?
•Can we manage without them?
Atilla
“Rome did not fall, it was transformed.”
Barbarian Invaders
Christianity: Being Number One
•4th Century: Triumph of Christianity
(from 5 to 30 million believers)
•The Price of Success: Controversies and
Heresies
Imperial Overstretch
•Can cultures become exhausted? What
happens when many are “bored?”
•When things come unstuck: retreat and
division
•Retreat from Britain (407 A.D.)
•Portions of empire lost to Roman control
•What happens when there seems to be a
loss: of will, of confidence, of shared vision?
“The Fall”: Defining Moments
(in the West!*)
•410 A.D. Barbarian, Alaric, sacks Rome
•476 A.D. Barbarian (Odoacer) deposes last
“Roman” Emperor
*The Roman Empire lives on for another 1000 years in the East!
It is known as the Byzantine Empire.
Conclusion: Did Rome “fall?”
By the 5th century, something big and
centralized had indeed broken up in the West.
But Rome’s culture and many of its images
lived on-in religion, languages, customs, law.
Rome did not “fall;”
it morphed into a new world
order in western Europe.
Assignment 1
• Read text, pp. 149 and 151
• Based on your reading and the viewing
(notes) of the lecture, answer the 10
questions (photocopy.)
Reminder: Multimedia Project due 1/14
– Electronic and hardcopy (covers)
– 1-page letter, hardcopy
Assignment 2
Prepare to write an in-class essay:
A synthesis of the different explanations for
Rome’s fate in the period of Late Antiquity.
Reminder: Multimedia Project due 1/14
– Electronic and hardcopy (covers)
– 1-page letter, hardcopy