Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
According to historians, the key to the establishment, survival and fall of historical societies is their use of resources and surplus income (Perkin 2002). Except for the most primitive, no society "would be able to afford the protection, law and order, administration, defense, spiritual advice, personal services, cultural production" and other essentials without "the extraction, by the elite, of products surplus to immediate requirements, such as food, arms, luxuries and other goods and services produced by farmers" (Perkin 2002).
Moreover, before conquerors, such as the Romans, are able to take over a society, it must already be organized and to make it worth the effort of the conquerors, the society must also be at a level of material production (Perkin 2002).
The fall of early empires was due to the fact that the elites were greedy and took more than their share of income and resources, resulting in internal malaise, depression, rebellion and possible conquest by external forces (Perkin 2002). In an article from "History Today," Harold Perkin explains that "Surplus extraction, without which civilization and decent human life are impossible, can too easily slip into exploitation and so lead to self-destruction" (Perkin 2002). This certainly applies to the rise and fall of the Roman empire.
Like the Greeks, the early Romans were awed by fire and believed in Vesta, the goddess of fire and had a sacred temple of fire tended by four females, the Vestal Virgins (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).The legend of the Vestal Virgin, the greatest legend among Romans, begins with a Vestal Virgin giving birth to twin boys, Romulus and Remus, fathered by the god Mars (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).Romulus killed Remus, and became Rome's first king, populating his city, Romulus, with people gathered from other countries (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).After a long reign, he vanished into a thunderstorm and became a god, reappearing and declaring that Rome would be the capital of the world and that other would be helpless against the Roman arms (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).This legend dates the founding of Rome at 735 BCE, however, there...
ere is evidence that Rome was already a collection of villages in the 1000 BCE (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).
Romans were organized around tribal clans and in 600 BCE Etruscan chieftains conquered Rome, from which the Romans learned to grow grapes and olives, adapted an alphabet and learned military organization (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).Then the leading Roman patrician families took power and ruled as members of the Senate, making Rome a republic (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).Later, representatives from Greece and other states appealed to the Roman Senate for help in settling local disputes, thus resulting in a new role for Rome that would lead it to become the world's greatest empire (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).
As wealthy Romans invested abroad, loaned money at high interest rates, and created slave plantations, Roman financial operations became greater than the Greeks and Near Easterner (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).Rome was soon spending eighty percent of its budget on its military, increase in fraud rose as luxury items were imported from the east, however, since slaves did most of the work, freeman were poor and unemployed (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).Family feuds and violence were frequent, there was no medical professionals, and life expectancy was around forty years (http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm).
By the fourth century A.D., the Roman Empire extended "extended entirely around the basin of the Mediterranean Sea, including modern Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and North Africa" (http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/uc_dorrington1.htm).The Empire also included Iberia, which is today modern Spain and Portugal, Gaul, modern France, the areas know as modern England, with the northern borders of the empire extending to the Rhine and Danube Rivers (http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/uc_dorrington1.htm).The Romans had "brought stability, prosperity, and order to the civilized West...excellent roads connected the far reaches of the empire with the capital at Rome" which improved all communications and trade (http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/uc_dorrington1.htm).Emperors held absolute authority, which worked well…
Works Cited
Dorrington, Adrian. "The Fall of Rome." http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/uc_dorrington1.htm.(accessed 11-14-2003).
Gibbon, Edward. "General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West."
Medieval Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gibbon-fall.html.(accessed 11-14-2003).
Gibbon, Edward. "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume1/cntnt29.htm.(accessed 11-14-2003)
The Roman Empire." Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/timeline/index.html.(accessed 11-14-2003).
Smitha, Frank E. "The Rise of Ancient Rome." The Ancient World. http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch15.htm.(accessed 11-14-2003).
Fall of the Roman Empire Due to Christianity The fall of Roman Empire due to Christianity The research paper first makes a brief general overview of the ancient Roman Empire mainly looking at its' leadership structure, division of regions, senatorial and equestrian order in the empire, the religious history detailing its earlier religious practices and beliefs. The highlights or the transformations that took place before the empire finally collapsed shall also be
C However, the road infrastructure, the cultural achievements, as well as other aspects of Roman influence were only possible as a result of strong and constant policies undergone by the Empire. In this sense, it was clear for Rome that the army was of crucial importance. Therefore, all soldiers enlisted in the Roman army benefited from the same rights and advantages as the ones being stationed in the Capital, for
Roman Empire could be related to its downfall. The Roman Empire, as stated by the greatest historian Edward Gibbon, "...comprehended the fairest part of the earth and the most civilized portion of mankind..." (Goode, 1998); its disintegration was caused largely by the underlying parasites, than what surfaced in historical records. Modern scholars have taken up the task of questioning some previously avoided reasons that set forth a quiet process
E. The voices who argue that America should and could be an imperial superpower, but lacks sound practical judgment. The thesis of this paper is that the history of the Roman Empire can be matched to that of the United States in terms of economy, political power, as well as aspirations. In this sense, present day America is very similar to fourth of even fifth century Rome; this poses one stringent
fall of the Roman Empire? The decline and eventual fall of the Roman Empire happened in the third century. Rome had made many enemies and grew from a revered unchallenged leader of the Mediterranean to a rather weary empire surrounded by a myriad of enemies. Rome experienced a number of significant military defeats over the time. The most significant contributor to the fall of the empire though was the economic
Fall of the Roman Empire Towards the 5th century, the Roman Empire scrambled to ruins as one of the greatest world super powers. Since then, the reasons for the fall of the empire remain a controversial topic prompting the rise of various popular explanations for its decline. Historians have blamed the collapse of this great empire on differing factors such as social complexity, natural disasters, climate change and military failures just