Transcript 8.7 VM Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002)

HUI216
Italian Civilization
Andrea Fedi
HUI216 (Spring 2007)
1
Marble Portrait of
Agrippina (ca. 50 CE,
Museo Nazionale, Naples)
Aureus of Agrippina and Nero,
minted in Lyon (France) (ca. 54
CE) HUI216
2
8.1 The life of Nero: chronology of the main
events
• 49 Agrippina marries Emperor Claudius, who
adopts Nero (Agrippina's son from a previous
marriage)
• 53 Nero marries his stepsister Octavia
• 54 Claudius dies (poison?)
• Nero becomes Emperor, before his 17th
birthday
• Seneca and Burrus are his tutors: the first a great
philosopher, originally from Spain, the second a
former military officer
• 55 Britannicus (Claudius's son) dies (poison?)
HUI216
3
8.1 The murder of Agrippina and the life of
Nero: chronology of the main events
• 59-62 Agrippina is killed, Burrus dies, Seneca retires
• Nero is on his own, free to do whatever he likes
• 64 The Great Fire destroys more than half of Rome
• Nero builds his new palace on prime land that was
expropriated after the fire
• 68 Nero kills himself before he is captured by the
soldiers of an opposing faction
• 68-69: the year of the 4 Emperors
• in a short period, these 4 Emperors succeed one another
by defeating the previous Emperor in battle, or by gaining
more support in the army
• the events of this year shows the weakness resulting from
the lack of a clear mechanism of succession in the Roman
Empire
HUI216
4
8.2 Tacitus: how Roman Emperors are chosen
• At noon on the 13th of October, the gates of the
palace were suddenly thrown open, and Nero,
accompanied by Burrus, went forth to the
cohort which was on guard
• There, at the suggestion of the commanding
officer, he was hailed with joyful shouts, and set
on a litter
• Some, it is said, hesitated, and looked around
and asked where Britannicus was; then, when
there was no one to lead a resistance, they
yielded to what was offered them.
HUI216
5
8.2 How Nero becomes Emperor at the age of
17
• Nero is hailed Emperor by a small military unit,
that was guarding the palace
• A gift is promised to the soldiers in Rome, to
encourage them to welcome and support the
new Emperor
• The Senate follows "the voice of the soldiers"
• "…no hesitation in the provinces"
• "Divine honors" are decreed to Claudius
• Claudius's will is not "publicly read," for fear that
it might mention his son Britannicus, legitimate
heir to the throne (even though younger than
Nero himself)
HUI216
6
8.2 The mechanism of accession to the throne
• The mechanism of accession to the throne was not
clearly regulated
• The practice of Kings in other regions dictated that
the firstborn son would succeed his father, but in
Rome that did not always happened, not even
during the monarchy (753-509 BCE)
• This lack of fixed rules allowed Nero and his
mother to act quickly and win the throne
• Nero, after all, was Claudius' stepson, and although he
was barely 16 (it all happened before his 17th birthday),
he was a few years older than Britannicus
• This course of events makes Claudius' death suspicious
HUI216
7
8.3 The murder of Agrippina
• A "long meditated crime" motivated by
• Power and ambition
• Nero rightly suspects that his mother wants a share of
the power that she has procured for her son
• It is not by chance that on the face of Roman coins
produced during the first years of his empire, one can
see not just the face of the Emperor Nero, as
customary, but also the profile of his mother
• The passion for Poppaea
• Nero wants to be free to divorce Octavia and marry
his lover
• Tacitus's narration is framed like a tragedy,
rather than like an accurate and objective
historical narration
HUI216
8
8.3 The murder of Agrippina
• Tacitus, a conservative Republican historian, was
biased, and his narration betrays his political
agenda, in favor of a more powerful Senate, to
keep Emperors from abusing their position, and to
revert to even a limited form of democracy
• Tacitus and other historians, like Suetonius, are
largely responsible for the creation of the
stereotypical image of the decadent Roman empire
that is still so popular
• The real issue is not even whether Nero or Caligula or
Claudius were not as immoral or violent as the senatorial
historians described them, but how much their
personality quirks really affected Empire, which did not
come to an end for another 400 years...
HUI216
9
8.3 Elements of a literary tragedy inside the
narration of the murder of Agrippina
• The sins and the impious behavior of the main
characters justify and prepare the story's
developments
• greed, murder, incest, perversion, simulation and
hypocrisy
• Growing anxiety results from the various
successful crimes, rather than elation and
tranquility (cf. Macbeth)
• The theme of the fight of good vs. evil
• Seneca and some of the senators fight on the side
of democracy, justice and honesty against
Agrippina, Nero and their conniving, criminal
accomplices
HUI216
10
8.3 Elements of a literary tragedy inside the
narration of the murder of Agrippina
• Another typical literary device employed in this
episode is the historian's insistence on the
description of the frame of mind of the main
characters
• Traditional historians usually would not speculate
on the thoughts and feelings of historical figures at
the time of dramatic events
• Unless they could rely on the report of an
eyewitness, they would either be silent or they
would convey those feelings and thoughts by
embellishing and re-creating public speeches
given by those historical figures, under the
pretense that eyewitness existed who could
confirm what they wrote HUI216
11
8.3 Tacitus: the sin of incest, the art of
innuendo
• Consider how Tacitus treats the alleged
incest of Agrippina and Nero, introducing
other sources and eyewitnesses, never fully
supporting or denying the allegations of
incest, all the while giving the impression
that he wants to keep an objective stand
• Cluvius relates that Agrippina in her eagerness
to retain her influence went so far that more than
once at midday, when Nero, even at that hour,
was flushed with wine and feasting, she
presented herself attractively attired to her half
intoxicated son and offered him her person…
HUI216
12
8.3 Tacitus: incest, superstition, verisimile
• Acte, the freed-girl, …told him [=Seneca] that
the incest was notorious, as his mother boasted
of it, and that the soldiers would never endure
the rule of an impious sovereign
• Cluvius's account… is also that of all other
authors, and popular belief inclines to it,
whether it was that Agrippina really conceived
such a monstrous wickedness in her heart, or
perhaps because the thought of a strange
passion seemed comparatively credible…
HUI216
13
8.3 Agrippina's theatrical death: a tragic fate
• Agrippina's death is associated with the idea of
fate, typical of classical tragedies
• First you find the description of the shipwreck,
at night (darkness and evil acts go hand in
hand, in tragedies and in literature)
• Then, after Agrippina's messenger is accused
of being a murderer and is killed, she dies in the
most theatrical way
• …as the centurion bared his sword for the fatal
deed, presenting her person, she exclaimed, 'Smite
my womb!'
HUI216
14
8.3 Agrippina's death: prelude (greed,
ambition) and consequences (guilt, fear)
• Her death apparently had even been
anticipated, as it was written in the stars:
• …when she consulted the astrologers about Nero,
they replied that he would be emperor and kill his
mother. 'Let him kill her,' she said, 'provided he is
emperor.'
• After the crime, only guilt and fear follow
• Where are the political considerations?
• In reality Agrippina and Nero had probably become
estranged, as it happens often to royals, and they
were fighting for power and supremacy
HUI216
15
8.3 After the crime: guilt, panic, hypocrisy,
escape
• [Nero], when the crime was… accomplished,
realized its portentous guilt
• The rest of the night, now silent and stupefied,
now and still oftener starting up in terror, bereft
of reason, he awaited dawn as if it would bring
with it his doom.
• He himself, with an opposite phase of
hypocrisy, seemed sad, and almost angry at his
own deliverance, and shed tears over his
mother's death.
• …he retired to Naples and sent a letter to the
Senate
HUI216
16
8.3 The responsibility and incompetence of the
Senate: the opposition has high moral values,
lacks a plan
• He… told the story of the shipwreck; but who
could be so stupid as to believe that it was
accidental, or that a shipwrecked woman
had sent one man with a weapon to break
through an Emperor's guards and fleets?
• Thrasea Paetus… then walked out of the
Senate, thereby imperiling himself, without
communicating to the other senators any
impulse towards freedom
• Paetus will later commit suicide
HUI216
17
8.3 The consequences of sinful behavior
• Nero… had not omitted a single abomination
which could heighten his depravity, till a few
days afterwards he stooped to marry himself
to one of that filthy herd...
• A disaster followed, whether accidental or
treacherously contrived by the emperor, is
uncertain, as authors have given both
accounts, worse, however, and more
dreadful than any which have ever
happened to this city by the violence of fire.
HUI216
18
8.4 Suetonius (circa 110 CE), Life of Nero
(transl. by J.C. Rolfe): the Golden House
• Its vestibule was large enough to contain a colossal
statue of the Emperor 120 feet high; and it was so
extensive that it had a triple colonnade a mile long
• There was a pond too, like a sea, surrounded with
buildings to represent cities, besides tracts of country, . . .
fields, vineyards, pastures and woods, with great
numbers of wild and domestic animals
• There were dining-rooms with fretted ceilings of ivory,
whose panels could turn and shower down flowers and
were fitted with pipes for sprinkling the guests with
perfumes
• The main banquet hall was circular and constantly
revolved day and night, like the heavens
HUI216
19
8.4 The first Roman Emperors
• Augustus 27 BCE14 CE
• Tiberius 14-37
• Caligula 37-41
• Claudius 41-54
• Nero 54-68
• Galba 68-69, Otho
69, Vitellius 69
•
•
•
•
•
•
Vespasian 69-79
Titus 79-81
Domitian 81-96
Nerva 96-98
Trajan 98-117
Hadrian 117-138
HUI216
20
8.4 Optional readings on Nero and Tacitus
• Nero's Golden House (Domus aurea)
• Pictures of the archeological site of Nero's palace
• read more about Nero
• Nero, his family, the court
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/nero.shtml
• http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/nero.html
• The great fire of Rome
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_rome/index.html
HUI216
21
8.5 Claudio Monteverdi's opera on Nero
• With the following excerpts from Monteverdi's opera I
would like to help you understand the opera's themes,
and the image of the Roman Empire that it conveys
• This opera was staged in Venice in 1642 or '43, and
Venice, as a Republic, also "prided itself on its direct
lineage from the Roman republic, retaining the values
that had been so distorted as classical Rome moved from
republican strength to imperial decadence, a decadence
still apparent, it was felt, in the Rome of the early 17thcentury" (Tim Carter, "Towards the creation of genre:
Monteverdi's Poppea," p. 18)
• There is a thesis clearly at work throughout this opera:
when the state is in the hands of a tyrant, immorality
thrives, especially near the source of power, at the court,
while the fate of the whole state must also decline
HUI216
22
8.5 Monteverdi's Poppea: Nero the immoral
tyrant
• It is not surprising that, even before Nero appears on the
scene, at the beginning of the first act he is introduced
(during the conversation that takes place between two
Roman soldiers) as a most hateful character, who has no
regard whatsoever for the sanctity of marriage, neglects the
care of the empire at a critical historical juncture, and favors
those like him who lack moral values and self-control
• Second soldier:
• Our Empress
consumes herself with weeping,
and Nero neglects her for Poppaea.
Armenia's in revolt,
yet he ignores it.
Pannonia's up in arms and he makes light of it.
As far as I can see,
the empire's going from back to worse.
HUI216
23
8.5 Monteverdi's Poppea: the tyrant affects the
moral stability of single individuals
• First soldier:
• One might add that our Prince robs everyone
to line the pockets of a few. The innocents suffer
while criminals are doing very nicely.
• The introduction of the historical details of the decadence of
Imperial Rome gives the author of the libretto an
opportunity, later on in the first act, to discuss more generic
moral and political issues, when Arnalta, Poppaea's old
nurse and confidant, tries to warn her about the dangers of
dealing with evil princes:
• To have dealings with princes is perilous.
Love and hate count for nothing with them:
their emotions are governed by pure self-interest.
Nero's love for you is a but a fancy;
if he abandons you, you can't complain:
it would only make matters worse.
HUI216
24
8.5 Monteverdi's Poppea: tyranny may corrupt
the souls of the subjects
• POPPAEA
• No, no, I fear no setback at all.
• ARNALTA
• A great man honors you with his mere presence,
and, having filled your house with wind,
pays in nothing but reflected glory.
Your good name's gone if you admit:
Nero beds me.
The vice of self-aggrandizement gets you nowhere:
I prefer the sins that yield returns.
You can never deal with him on equal terms,
and if your goal is marriage
you're asking for disaster.
• POPPAEA
• No, no, I fear no setback at all.
HUI216
25
8.5 Monteverdi's Poppea: power and personal
whims
• Following suggestions coming from the historical sources,
the opera presents the suicide of Seneca as the simple
result of Nero's almost childish desire to free himself of his
tutors, his only reasonable counselors
• Power has all to do with personal whims and the
satisfaction of one's ego, rather than with politics or the
care of the well-being of the community
• NERO: Hey! One of you
make haste to Seneca; tell him
he must kill himself this evening.
I insist that my power to act depends on me,
not on the whims and sophistry of others!
I could almost be tempted
to disown my spirit
if I believed it base enough
to be ever subject to another's promptings.
Poppaea, be of good heart:
today will bring you prove of Cupid's power.
HUI216
26
8.5 Monteverdi's Poppea: Nero, the monster
• Even those who act as accomplices to Nero, and execute
his orders, feel a very natural and human repulsion for the
behavior and the devilish decisions of such a wicked man
• A freedman, sent by the Emperor to inform Seneca that he
should take his own life, confesses that he cannot bear to
be the messenger of such cruel and irrational orders
• (The tyrant's commands
are quite irrational
and always involve violence or death.
I must convey them, and although
I am only the innocent mouthpiece,
I feel tainted by the evil
I am required to communicate.)
Seneca, I am sorry to have found you,
even though I sought you.
HUI216
27
8.5 Monteverdi's Poppea: the immoral
conclusion
• The conclusion of the opera appears to be a bit unusual, in
that Nero and his lover, Poppaea, sing together on stage
celebrating their success against all enemies and the
realization of their dream of love
• The extraordinary thing is that two characters who have
committed so many sins are allowed to close the story on
the sensuous notes of their (temporary) triumph: so, does
crime really pay?
• It is obvious, rather, given the standards and the restrictions
of the genre, that this conclusion implied the widespread
knowledge that the audience must have had of the actual
historical conclusion of the events in the story, with
Poppaea murdered and Nero killing himself right before
being captured by his opponents
HUI216
28
8.5 Monteverdi's Poppea: the final duet
• POPPAEA, NERO
• I gaze at you,
possess you,
press you to me,
clasp you;
no more pain,
no deathly grief,
O my life, my treasure.
I'm yours,
yours am I,
my dearest, say you love me too.
You are the idol
of my heart,
oh yes, my love,
my heart, my life, oh yes.
HUI216
29
8.5 Petrolini's Nero: Mussolini?
• In 1930, Italian actor/comedian Ettore Petrolini
(1886-1936) acted as Nero in a surreal theatrical
parody, that famous director Alessandro Blasetti
shot directly on the stage to produce a movie
• Some suggested that Mussolini might have been
the target of this satirical representation of the
Roman tyrant, especially in the scene in which
Nero speaks to the people of Rome
• For more info, if you can read Italian, and images,
see
• http://www.theatrelibrary.org/petrolini/nerone.html
HUI216
30
8.6 Causes of the fall of the Roman empire
• The fall of the Roman empire cannot be
explained citing a few specific events or a single
problem
• During the years some bizarre reasons have
reached the media and have made their way into
Internet pages of dubious value
• E.g., that the Romans suffered from lead poisoning
caused by plates and pots
• That the growing number of Christians made it difficult
to find good soldiers, willing to fight aggressively
enough
• That sexual "perversions" and homosexuality caused
a significant drop in the number of births
HUI216
31
8.6 Recent attempts to explain the fall of the
Roman empire
• In 2001 The New York Times published an article
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/20/science/20ROME.ht
ml?ex=1057723200&en=bf70fdba313d4be4&ei=5070;
registration required), in which the incontrovertible fact
that malaria had become more common at the end of the
Empire (because fewer resources were available to
maintain aqueducts and to drain marshy lands) was
linked to the fall of the Empire (as if barbarians who
moved through those same regions were immune from
this disease, or were not affected in equal measure)
• We don't really need fantastic theories to explain the end
of the Roman empire, because we have a fair number of
official documents and sufficient knowledge of the variety
of problems that affected Roman society and its economy
towards the end
HUI216
32
8.6 The beginning of the end: Commodus
• The emperor Commodus (180-192) initiated some of
the political trends and strategies that in the long
term caused serious problems in Roman society
• He offered lavish gifts to the Praetorian Guard (the elite
soldiers and veterans who were responsible for the security
of the imperial family and of the capital), to insure their
loyalty and support
• He had real or potential opponents murdered, a practice
that became all too common during the 3rd century CE
• Commodus himself was assassinated
• During the 3rd century, instead of succession by
family lineage or adoption, you have the Praetorian
Guard selling the imperial title to the highest
bidder, or the provincial armies supporting the
imperial plans of their generals
HUI216
33
8.6 Septimus Severus (193-211 CE)
• He was the commander of a provincial army and
succeeded Commodus
• Raised the soldiers' pay to gain their loyalty
• Enlisted more troops in the army to better defend the borders
of the empire
• there were frequent attacks by Germans in Central/Eastern Europe
and by Persians in the Middle East
• From this point on, no further expansion of the empire
was possible
• The Roman economy had to do without the considerable
income produced by conquests
• To reduce the existing deficit Severus debased the
coinage (=decreased the amount of silver or gold
contained in the coins)
• As a result, obviously, prices were raised
HUI216
34
8.6 Septimus Severus (193-211): trade deficit,
the mines, hyperinflation
• Trade deficit was another problem of Roman
economy at this juncture
• Every year there were hundreds of millions of sesterces
in imports from India and China (spices, gems, silk etc.),
all paid in gold/silver; but few or no exports from the
empire were directed to those regions
• The limits of the Romans' mining technology
made the shortage of silver and gold worse
• Since they were unable to extract minerals deep
underground, some of their existing mines ceased
producing enough precious metals
• Inflation soon became hyperinflation
HUI216
35
8.6 Diocletian (284-305 CE): his temporary
solutions
• 235-284 CE: out of 22 emperors, 20 were
murdered
• Diocletian managed to come up with a
temporary fix for some of the empire's problems
• To stop inflation Diocletian introduced fixed
wages/prices, and heavier taxes
• In so doing, Diocletian produced economic
stagnation and a loss of social mobility
• a black market economy and other forms of social
disorganization followed
• the social order insured by the government is
reduced to the bare essentials
• the State vs. the citizens: shared goals, antagonism
HUI216
36
8.6 Diocletian (284-305 CE): political reforms
• Under Diocletian the Senate lost most of its
remaining power
• Senators became high-ranking administrators
loyally offering their services/expertise to the
State
• Other vestiges of republican democracy
were also suppressed
• The emperor was called Dominus (Lord),
and he was clearly identified as the sole
ruler in legal and political documents
• The emperor now wears a crown, sits on a
throne
HUI216
37
8.6 Diocletian: living conditions in the rural
areas
• He enlarged the army with barbarian recruits,
trying to assimilate the Germans
• Small farmers are forced to stay on their lands and
never leave, first because of their debts (the
money they owe to big landowners is usually
repaid with labor), then thanks to specific laws,
meant to protect the interests of the affluent
landowners and to insure that strategic areas of
the empire are not depopulated
• To pay taxes and/or debts small farmers give their rich
patrons a part of their produce and provide services to
them (cf. the textbook, Chap. 1)
HUI216
38
8.6 Diocletian: reduced mobility, the Empire
divided
• Fewer investments and diminished mobility
produce a localization of the economy
• This is the beginning of medieval Feudalism
• Money gradually disappears from circulation
and the barter system is expanded
• The empire is divided in 2 parts (East/West),
with 2 emperors
• Diocletian becomes the emperor of the Eastern
empire, the wealthiest and the most important
strategically
• The 2 emperors have vice-emperors who are
supposed to learn the trade and succeed their
superiors
HUI216
39
8.6 Constantine (305-337 CE)
• He eventually reunited the two sections of the empire
under his command
• With the edict of Milan (313), he guaranteed freedom
of cult for the Christians
• Constantine himself, according to tradition, converted
to Christianity, either out of a sincere personal desire,
or driven by political reasons
• He might have seen the Christians as a relatively small
group, compared to the population of the empire, but also a
group with fairly strong convictions, willing to support him
without ever wavering, once he chose their side
• Constantine ordered the execution of his own son
Crispus and of Fausta, Constantine's wife
• http://www.roman-emperors.org/fausta.htm
HUI216
40
8.6 Constantine's donation
• Constantine moves the capital of the empire to
Constantinople (later called Byzantium, now
Istanbul), in the Spring of 330 CE
• Constantine's donation
• Following the transfer of the imperial court to
Constantinople, the authority of the Bishop of Rome (the
Pope) naturally increased
• a new political position: the Church becomes one of the political
agencies of the Empire
• the custom of leaving part or all of one's inheritance (especially
land) to the Church (Patrimonium Sancti Petri)
• Finally during the early Middle Ages a legend was
created, together with a forged document to support it,
i.e. that Constantine had officially donated Rome and its
HUI216
41
suburbs to the Popes
8.6 Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom)
HUI216
42
8.6 The end
• After 395 the empire is divided again, and it
remained divided until the end
• Eastern empire
• It has more economic resources, more homogeneous
traditions
• It includes Turkey, Greece, the Middle East, Egypt etc.
• Western empire
• It includes Italy, France, West Germany, Spain, Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia etc.
• United only under the Romans, quickly falls apart without
the support and constant supervision of the central
administration
• New "barbarian" tribes move to Europe from Asia
• Franks, Saxons, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals (to their
practices we owe the word vandalism), the Huns
HUI216
43
8.6 The end
• The Visigoths sack Rome in 410, an event that is
interpreted as a clear sign of the impending doom
• Attila's Huns invade Italy in 453
• The Visigoths eventually settle in Spain, the
Vandals in Africa, the Franks in France, the Saxons
in Britain, the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Huns in
Hungary
• Odoacer, leader of a Germanic tribe, deposes the
last Roman emperor in the West, Romulus
Augustus (476), and becomes King of Italy under
the authority of the Eastern Roman Empire
• Valerio Massimo Manfredi, The Last Legion (L'ultima
legione): book published in 2002, motion picture to be
released in 2007
HUI216
44
8.7 Quotes from Valerio Massimo Manfredi,
The Last Legion (2002)
• The Empire defended itself for centuries against the
barbarian attacks. Many emperors were elected to the
dignity of their rank by their soldiers at the front, and
died at the front, sword in hand, without ever having
seen Rome or discussed any matter whatsoever with
the Senate.
• The attack was often multilateral, coming in waves
from various directions, and waged by many
populations at once. This is why the great wall was
built, at such expense, extending from the mountains
of Britannia to the deserts of Syria. Over three
thousand miles long! Hundreds of thousands of
soldiers were recruited. As many as thirty-five legions
were called up at once, with nearly half a million men!
HUI216
45
8.7 V.M. Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002)
• No expense, no sacrifice seemed too great to the
Caesars in order to save the empire, and
civilization with it, but in doing so they did not
realize that costs had become intolerable, and that
the taxes they levied to cover them impoverished
the farmers, the breeders, the craftsmen,
destroying trade and even reducing the number of
births! Why put children into the world to have
them live in misery and deprivation?
• Eventually, it became impossible to stave off the
invasions, so our leaders imagined that they could
settle the barbarians peaceably within our own
borders and recruit them into our army so they
could fight off other barbarians . . .
HUI216
46
8.7 V.M. Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002)
• Everything has its price in this world, my son. If a
people attain a high level of civilization, a certain
level of corruption is bound to develop as well. I'm
not saying that it's in a barbarian's nature to be
corrupt, but before long they develop a taste for fine
clothing, refined foods, perfumes, beautiful women,
luxurious dwellings. All of this costs money, lots of
money, the kind of money that only corruption can
produce.
• Civilization means laws, political institutions,
guaranteed rights. It means professions and trades,
streets and communications, rites and solemnities;
science, but art as well. Great art; literature and
poetry like that of Virgil, whom we've read so many
times together.
HUI216
47
8.7 V.M. Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002)
• "Being part of a civilization gives you a particular
pride, the pride of participating in a single collective
endeavor, the greatest that man has ever
attempted to achieve."
• "But ours -- I mean, our civilization -- is dying, isn't
it?"
• "Yes," replied Ambrosinus, and he fell into a long
silence.
HUI216
48
8.7 Gold coins with the names of Romulus
Augustus and of Eastern Roman Emperor
Zeno
HUI216
49
8.8 Europe and the Mediterranean after the fall
of the Roman empire (c. 500 CE)
www.fsmitha.com/h3
/Map01.gif
HUI216
50
8.9 Final remarks on the fall of the Roman
Empire
• The decline of a complex political and military organization
such as the Roman Empire cannot be attributed to a single
cause but rather to the simultaneous insurgence of several
crises
• The Roman Empire, after all, had reached the peak of its
expansion between the first and the second century of the
common era, but was able to survive and keep most of its
territories until the fifth century, and even then the Eastern
Roman Empire remained strong enough to live on
• Compared to other famous examples of very large Empires
created during antiquity, for example that of Alexander the
Great, the Roman Empire had the advantage of a relatively
slow development, and had also the benefits of highly
organized administrative and military systems
HUI216
51
8.9 Final remarks on the fall of the Roman
Empire
• The multiplication and the compounding of
problems is what brought the empire to its knees
• Romans had to deal with the internal political problems
and the instability caused by the lack of a clear
mechanism for succession
• At the same time they were facing increasing problems
in the economy (which could not be adjusted with
revenue procured by new conquests)
• All the while they had to maintain a large army and long
defense lines (on the Danube River alone Roman
garrisons and watchtowers extended for 1000 miles), to
keep barbarians from invading their territories
• Lack of flexibility, quick adaptive process, resources
HUI216
52
8.9 Aldo Schiavone, The End of the Past: Ancient
Rome and the Modern West. Cambridge: Harvard
UP, 2000
• Schiavone suggests that European civilization
practically began anew in the Middle Ages and that it
bore little resemblance to the Roman culture of the
ancient era
• The European modernity that evolved in the West was
influenced more by a society and culture that arose
subsequent to the collapse of the Roman Empire than
by institutions, ideas, and technologies from the period
of the classical Roman past
• Thus, for Schiavone, the crisis of the Roman Empire
not only brought to an end a vast economic, political,
and imperial hegemony it also was responsible for a
cultural and epistemic break between ancient and
modern societies in the West
• http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2000/2000-08-23.html
HUI216
53
8.10 More suggested readings
• Click on the following link if you want to and look at
various interactive maps of the Roman Empire,
which allow you to see the areas of the empire in
different periods
• http://www.roman-emperors.org/Index.htm
• If you're interested, you can click on the next link,
and then with a little bit of patience you can find
information and more links regarding the Emperors
that were mentioned in this presentation:
• http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm
HUI216
54
8.11 Valerio Massimo Manfredi, The Last
Legion (2002): the beginning
• The year is 476: we are in the Italian Northwest, inside
the camp of an elite Roman military unit, organized and
trained in the traditional way
• At dawn, the camp receive the visit of a group of
barbarians, sent by Odoacer to relieve the Roman
commander of the Legion of his duties
• When the commander declares that he will take order
only from Flavius Orestes, chief of the imperial armies
and father of the young Emperor Romulus, a bloody fight
ensues
• It appears that Odoacer, who until then had been fighting
on the side of the Romans against other barbarians,
plans to destroy the powerful Legion (whose soldiers are
mostly Roman citizens from Italy and the provinces, with
the addition of a few chosen, very loyal foreigners),
before capturing the imperial family, so that he can take
over the Empire
HUI216
55
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): Aurelius
• A veteran of the Legion, Aurelius, is dispatched to
Piacenza to alert the 13-year-old Romulus and his
parents
• In Piacenza, before the arrival of reinforcements from
Ravenna, the Villa of the imperial family is attacked by
Wulfila, one of Odoacer's Lieutenant
• Wulfila strikes Orestes mortally, while Romulus, his
mother Flavia and his tutor, the Briton Ambrosinus, are
captured and taken on a three-day journey to Ravenna
• Aurelius gets to the imperial villa just in time to hear the
last words of the dying Orestes, who orders him to save
his son and the Roman Empire: "I beg you, legionnaire...
save my son, save the Emperor. If he dies, Rome dies. If
Rome dies, everything is lost."
HUI216
56
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): Odoacer
• In Ravenna, Odoacer, a great admirer of the Roman
Empire since his youth ("The Empire was the only world
worth living in, for a human being"), receives Romulus
and his mother inside a Roman Palace, sitting on the
sculpted ivory throne of the last Caesars
• He claims that Orestes deserved to die because he did
not keep his promise, that he would place a third of Italy
under his command
• He accuses the Romans of being a race weakened by
centuries of immorality, power and corruption, and
declares that he alone has the skills required to be a real
leader, all the qualities that the child Emperor Romulus
lacks. He then asks Flavia to marry him, a move that
would give his authority the semblance of legitimacy.
• Flavia, despite her difficult position, rejects this offer.
Showing all her contempt for Odoacer, she compares the
barbarians to smelly wild animals
HUI216
57
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): first
attempt to rescue Romulus
• In the middle of the next night Ambrosinus is awakened
by Aurelius, who has used the sewer system to enter the
well guarded palace
• Aurelius tries to rescue the Emperor and his mother,
together with the tutor, but the guards sound the alarm
• While trying to protect her son, Flavia is murdered by
Wulfila, and before Aurelius can get too far from the
palace, he is wounded and Romulus is recaptured
• Odoacer decides to confine Romulus to a secluded
place, easier to control: the island of Capri. He will then
send back the imperial insignia to Constantinople, to the
Eastern Roman Emperor, in exchange for the titles of
Roman patrician and chief General of the West
HUI216
58
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): Livia
• While Romulus and his tutor Ambrosinus are being taken
to the Bay of Naples, to be transferred by ship to Capri,
Aurelius slowly recovers from his wounds, thanks to the
cures of Justin, once a renowned physician before Italy
was ravaged by the barbarians, and the attentions of
Livia, a strong, beautiful woman who has spent years
hiding from the barbarians in the lagoons along the
shores of the Adriatic Sea, where Venice will one day be
• Livia and Aurelius embark on a dangerous mission to
save Romulus, and insure his safe passage into the
territories controlled by the Eastern Roman Empire
• While they travel south to follow the barbarians who are
escorting the young Emperor, a romantic relationship
develops between them
HUI216
59
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): the
sword of Caesar
• In Capri, inside the Villa of the Emperor Tiberius,
Romulus finds the mythical sword of Julius Caesar,
whose blade was forged with the metal from a
meteorite
• The sword had been removed from his original
location, inside a Roman temple, and hidden, so
that it would not be stolen by the barbarians
attacking the city
• Aurelius manages to free some of his comrades,
whom he finds imprisoned in Misenum, inside the
empty reservoir of the Aqua Augusta aqueduct
• With their help, he reaches the island of Capri
HUI216
60
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002):
Constantinople
• After Romulus is rescued and brought back to the Italian
peninsula, Ambrosinus tries to convince Aurelius that
Constantinople is a snake pit, where power, greed and
corruption produce incessant fighting within the court
• Romulus there would become a defenseless political
pawn, easily manipulated and dispensed with, if the logic
of power so required
• Before Romulus can be put on a ship to Constantinople,
former Eastern Emperor Zeno comes back into power
and, to strengthen his position, decides to establish an
alliance with Odoacer
• If he were to offer protection to Romulus, his new ally
would withdraw his support
HUI216
61
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002):
Britannia
• Hunted down by the barbarians led by Wulfila, Aurelius
and his small group of heroes finally listens to the
suggestions of Ambrosinus, who has a different plan
• Romulus shall be taken to England, where he will grow
into the powerful and just leader that the Britons so
desperately need, oppressed as they are by the various
Saxon warlords
• His destiny will be similar to that of the young son of
Aeneas: he will be the founder of a new, great civilization
• After all, as Ambrosinus remarks when Romulus is saying
that it is all over, that their world is no more, "Rome is an
ideal and ideals cannot be destroyed." And he adds that
Rome's identity does not relate to one race, one people
or a single ethnic group
HUI216
62
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): the
collapse of the Empire
• To appear to be in control of the situation, Wulfila takes
another boy, similar in height and weight to Romulus, and
replaces all the guards in Capri, pretending that Romulus
has never left the custody of the barbarians. This move
should avoid the risk of rebellions, until he can find and kill
the real Romulus
• Trying to reach the Alps, Livia can see firsthand the results
of the devastation caused by the attacks of the barbarians
• Bridges and roads have been destroyed or are in disrepair,
and the local communities that survive intact in a few urban
settings, protected by city walls, live in isolation, too
concerned with self-preservation to think about Italy and the
Empire. Already the common Latin language is changing
into a variety of local dialects
HUI216
63
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): Merlin
• Traveling on land across Switzerland, Germany
and France, Aurelius and the others finally get a
ship and reach England
• There they establish contacts with the locals,
thanks to Ambrosinus, also known as Merlin, and
they settle in the abandoned camps of the last
Roman legion of Britannia, whose standards bear
the image of a dragon
• When they prepare to fight their last battle against
Wulfila, who has caught up with them, Aurelius
puts under his corset, as a good luck charm, a
small parchment scroll with the words written by
the last great poet of Rome, Rutilius Namatianus
HUI216
64
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): Rutilius
Namatianus and his poetic verses on Rome
• Listen, O fairest queen of your world, Rome, welcomed
amid the starry skies, listen you mother of men and mother
of gods, thanks to your temples we are not far from heaven.
You do we chant, and shall, while destiny allows, forever
chant. None can be safe if forgetful of you. Sooner shall
guilty oblivion overwhelm the sun that the honor due to you
leave my heart; for your benefits extend as far as the sun's
rays, where are the waves of the circling Ocean-flood. . . .
You, Rome, Africa has not kept away with its scorching
sands nor did the Bear [the far north], armed with native
cold, repulse you. As far as habitable nature has stretched
toward the poles, so far has earth opened a path for your
valor. For nations far apart you have made a single country;
under your dominion conquest has meant profit for those
who did not know justice; and by offering to the vanquished
a share in your own law, you have made a city of what was
before a world . . .
HUI216
65
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002):
Pendragon
• After the final, victorious battle, Aurelius and
Livia adopt Romulus, who will become the
king of the Britons under the name of
Pendragon
• His son will be the famous King Arthur, and
the legendary sword of Julius Caesar, thrust
into a stone, will be known as Excalibur
• With the birth of these legends, the story told
by the narrator and by Merlin, comes to an
end
HUI216
66
8.11 Manfredi, The Last Legion (2002): final
comments
• The inclusion of various theories, cultural
and historical elements
• the descriptive approach of modern cinema
• A reduction of complex, separate
phenomena/events/cultures, is conducted
secretly behind the scenes
• The need for evidence is replaced by
conspiracy theories
• from myth to reality and back (see Eco's
Pendulum)
HUI216
67