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The Fall of Rome: How, When, and Why Did It Happen?

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When Did Rome Fall?

How did rome fall, why did rome fall, christianity, barbarians and vandals.

Decadence and Decay of Rome's Control

Lead Poisoning

Additional references.

M.A., Linguistics, University of Minnesota
B.A., Latin, University of Minnesota

The phrase " the Fall of Rome " suggests that some cataclysmic event ended the Roman Empire, which stretched from the British Isles to Egypt and Iraq. But in the end, there was no straining at the gates, no barbarian horde that dispatched the Roman Empire in one fell swoop.

Instead, the Roman Empire fell slowly as a result of challenges from within and without, changing over the course of hundreds of years until its form was unrecognizable. Because of the long process, different historians have placed an end date at many different points on a continuum. Perhaps the Fall of Rome is best understood as a compilation of various maladies that altered a large swath of human habitation over many hundreds of years.

In his masterwork, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, historian Edward Gibbon selected 476 CE, a date most often mentioned by historians. That date was when Odoacer, the Germanic king of the Torcilingi, deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor to rule the western part of the Roman Empire. The eastern half became the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

But the city of Rome continued to exist. Some see the rise of Christianity as putting an end to the Romans; those who disagree with that find the rise of Islam a more fitting bookend to the end of the empire—but that would put the Fall of Rome at Constantinople in 1453! In the end, the arrival of Odoacer was but one of many barbarian incursions into the empire. Certainly, the people who lived through the takeover would probably be surprised by the importance we place on determining an exact event and time.

Just as the Fall of Rome was not caused by a single event, the way Rome fell was also complex. In fact, during the period of imperial decline, the empire actually expanded. That influx of conquered peoples and lands changed the structure of the Roman government. Emperors moved the capital away from the city of Rome, too. The schism of east and west created not just an eastern capital first in Nicomedia and then Constantinople, but also a move in the west from Rome to Milan.

Rome started out as a small, hilly settlement by the Tiber River in the middle of the Italian boot, surrounded by more powerful neighbors. By the time Rome became an empire, the territory covered by the term "Rome" looked completely different. It reached its greatest extent in the second century CE. Some of the arguments about the Fall of Rome focus on the geographic diversity and the territorial expanse that Roman emperors and their legions had to control.

This is easily the most argued question about the fall of Rome. The Roman Empire lasted over a thousand years and represented a sophisticated and adaptive civilization. Some historians maintain that it was the split into an eastern and western empire governed by separate emperors caused Rome to fall.

Most classicists believe that a combination of factors including Christianity, decadence, the metal lead in the water supply, monetary trouble, and military problems caused the Fall of Rome. Imperial incompetence and chance could be added to the list. And still, others question the assumption behind the question and maintain that the Roman empire didn't fall so much as adapt to changing circumstances.

When the Roman Empire started, there was no such religion as Christianity. In the 1st century CE, Pontius Pilate, the governor of the province of Judaea, executed their founder, Jesus, for treason. It took his followers a few centuries to gain enough clout to be able to win over imperial support. This began in the early 4th century with Emperor Constantine , who was actively involved in Christian policy-making.

When Constantine established a state-level religious tolerance in the Roman Empire, he took on the title of Pontiff. Although he was not necessarily a Christian himself (he wasn't baptized until he was on his deathbed), he gave Christians privileges and oversaw major Christian religious disputes. He may not have understood how the pagan cults, including those of the emperors, were at odds with the new monotheistic religion, but they were, and in time the old Roman religions lost out.

Over time, Christian church leaders became increasingly influential, eroding the emperors' powers. For example, when Bishop Ambrose (340–397 CE) threatened to withhold the sacraments, Emperor Theodosius did the penance the Bishop assigned him. Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion in 390 CE. Since Roman civic and religious life were deeply connected—priestesses controlled the fortune of Rome, prophetic books told leaders what they needed to do to win wars, and emperors were deified—Christian religious beliefs and allegiances conflicted with the working of empire.

The barbarians, which is a term that covers a varied and changing group of outsiders, were embraced by Rome, who used them as suppliers of tax revenue and bodies for the military, even promoting them to positions of power. But Rome also lost territory and revenue to them, especially in northern Africa, which Rome lost to the Vandals at the time of St. Augustine in the early 5th century CE.

At the same time the Vandals took over the Roman territory in Africa, Rome lost Spain to the Sueves, Alans, and Visigoths . The loss of Spain meant Rome lost revenue along with the territory and administrative control, a perfect example of the interconnected causes leading to Rome's fall. That revenue was needed to support Rome's army and Rome needed its army to keep what territory it still maintained.

Decadence and Decay of Rome's Control

There is no doubt that decay—the loss of Roman control over the military and populace—affected the ability of the Roman Empire to keep its borders intact. Early issues included the crises of the Republic in the first century BCE under the emperors Sulla and Marius as well as that of the Gracchi brothers in the second century CE. But by the fourth century, the Roman Empire had simply become too big to control easily.

The decay of the army, according to the 5th-century Roman historian Vegetius , came from within the army itself. The army grew weak from a lack of wars and stopped wearing their protective armor. This made them vulnerable to enemy weapons and provided the temptation to flee from battle. Security may have led to the cessation of the rigorous drills. Vegetius said the leaders became incompetent and rewards were unfairly distributed.

In addition, as time went on, Roman citizens, including soldiers and their families living outside of Italy, identified with Rome less and less compared to their Italian counterparts. They preferred to live as natives, even if this meant poverty, which, in turn, meant they turned to those who could help—Germans, brigands, Christians, and Vandals.

Some scholars have suggested that the Romans suffered from lead poisoning. Apparently, there was lead in Roman drinking water, leached in from water pipes used in the vast Roman water control system; lead glazes on containers that came in contact with food and beverages; and food preparation techniques that could have contributed to heavy metal poisoning. The lead was also used in cosmetics, even though it was also known in Roman times as a deadly poison and used in contraception.

Economic factors are also often cited as a major cause of the fall of Rome. Some of the major factors described are inflation, over-taxation, and feudalism. Other lesser economic issues included the wholesale hoarding of bullion by Roman citizens, the widespread looting of the Roman treasury by barbarians, and a massive trade deficit with the eastern regions of the empire. Together these issues combined to escalate financial stress during the empire's last days.

Baynes, Norman H. “The Decline of the Roman Power in Western Europe. Some Modern Explanations.” The Journal of Roman Studies , vol. 33, no. 1-2, Nov. 1943, pp. 29–35.
Dorjahn, Alfred P., and Lester K. Born. “Vegetius on the Decay of the Roman Army.” The Classical Journal , vol. 30, no. 3, Dec. 1934, pp. 148–158.
Phillips, Charles Robert. “Old Wine in Old Lead Bottles: Nriagu on the Fall of Rome.” The Classical World , vol. 78, no. 1, Sept. 1984, pp. 29–33.

Gibbon, Edward. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: Strahan & Cadell, 1776.

Ott, Justin. "The Decline and Fall of the Western Roman Empire." Iowa State University Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations . Iowa State University, 2009.

Damen, Mark. "The Fall of Rome: Facts and Fictions." A Guide to Writing in History and Classics. Utah State University.

Delile, Hugo, et al. “ Lead in Ancient Rome's City Waters. ” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , vol. 111, no. 18, 6 May 2014, pp. 6594–6599., doi:10.1073/pnas.1400097111

Reasons for the Fall of Rome
The End of the Roman Empire
Impact of the Huns on Europe
The Great Roman Emperor Theodosius I
Timelines and Chronologies of Roman Emperors
A Short Timeline of the Fall of the Roman Empire
Biography of Justinian I, Emperor of Byzantine
The Hun-Driven Barbarian Invaders of the Roman Empire
Timeline of the Period of the Dominate
A Brief History of Rome
Defining the Middle Ages
Albania - The Ancient Illyrians
Introduction to Byzantine Architecture
Key Events in Italian History
Valens and the Battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis)
Roman Timeline

The Fall of the Roman Empire

Rome was not built in one day; so too, the mighty Roman Empire did not fall in a day – it covered hundreds of years. Why did Rome fall? Just like the human body is inevitably subject to growth, decay, and death it is the same with nations. History is replete with such examples without a single exception. The fall of an empire or nation is a natural phenomenon. The other causes are incidental like the disease that brings about the death of a human body.

One of the causes of the fall of Rome was the Barbarian invasions – they marched through the very roads Rome had built to reach and subjugate them. But Rome since the time of Augustus had been battling the German tribes. Why should they suddenly overpower Rome in the 6 th century? The barbarian invasions during the 3 rd and 4 th centuries were far fiercer but they were pushed back leaving behind scant traces of their marauding. The fact is that the Barbarians were no match to the Roman army. Thus it can be said that the Barbarians won in the 6 th century not because of their superior strength but because of the weakness of the Romans 1 .

The second cause is the decay in the structure of Roman society. Three distinct tribes divided into ten clans each made up Roman society in the early stages. This tribal character continued during the days of the Republic. The system allowed for stability and self-government. Self-government entails self-discipline by subordinating self-interest for the welfare of the family and then of the society as a whole. Without discipline self-government is impossible.

Originally the plebeians were not part of the government because they did not belong to the tribes that originated in Rome; neither could they take part in the religion of the state that comprised of family gods. The king was a sort of high priest. This led to the voluntary exile of the plebeians for a short time to the Sacred Mountain because “ no hereditary religion attaches us to this sit ” 2 . But later after many years of struggle, they became part of the Roman administration but at the cost of Rome no longer being tribal-based. It became more wealth-based.

Things took a turn for the worse with Rome following expansionist policies. Foreign influence gnawed into Roman society. When Sulla conquered Greece it was followed by a reverse invasion of Greek literature, philosophy, and manners. But Greece of those days had become degenerate. More destructive was the influence from the east – the Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian Empires with their proletariat demoralized culture that attracted the urban elite of Rome.

The third vital cause was the change in the Roman army too had changed. The conquests led to Rome setting up garrisons in distant places where the soldiers were posted for many years. Consequently, they forgot their loyalties towards Rome and directed it more towards the local garrison commander 3 .

At home, the army became degenerate with the introduction of public games. The worst damage was done to slavery that swelled into an institution. Roman administration could not manage the slaves it took in. Society became dependent on slaves. The administration became too much occupied with huge bands of slaves, extremely dissatisfied, living in squalid conditions. Corn came to be freely distributed leading to transforming the self-respecting working class into beggars. The land came to be neglected and the condition of the soil worsened. Farmers were overtaxed while others were overindulged. The granaries of Rome became the deserts of Africa today.

Bibliography

Bowersock, David. 1996. “The Vanishing Paradigm of the Fall of Rome.” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49: 31-42.

Ferrill, Arther. 2009. The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation . New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Tainter, Joseph. 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies . NY: Princeton Uni Press.

Ferrill, Arther. 2009. The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation . New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd. p. 115.
Tainter, Joseph. 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies . NY: Princeton Uni Press. pp. 165-166.

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History Cooperative

The Fall of Rome: When, Why, and How Did Rome Fall?

The fall of Rome and of the Western Roman Empire was a complex process driven by a combination of economic, political, military, and social factors, along with external barbarian invasions. It took place over several centuries and culminated in the deposition of the last Roman emperor in 476 CE.

Table of Contents

When Did Rome Fall?

The generally agreed-upon date for the fall of Rome is September 4, 476 AD. On this date, the Germanic king Odaecer stormed the city of Rome and deposed its emperor, leading to its collapse.

But the story of the fall of Rome is not this simple. By this point in the Roman Empire timeline , there were two empires, the Eastern and Western Roman empires.

READ MORE: The Foundation of Rome: The Birth of an Ancient Power

Whilst the western empire fell in 476 AD, the eastern half of the empire lived on, transformed into the Byzantine Empire, and flourished until 1453. Nevertheless, it is the fall of the Western Empire that has most captured the hearts and minds of later thinkers and has been immortalized in debate as “the fall of Rome.”

The Effects of the Fall of Rome

Although debate continues around the exact nature of what followed, the demise of the Western Roman Empire has traditionally been depicted as the demise of civilization in Western Europe. Matters in the East carried on, much as they always had (with “Roman” power now centered on Byzantium (modern Istanbul), but the West experienced a collapse of centralized, imperial Roman infrastructure.

Again, according to traditional perspectives, this collapse led to the “Dark Ages” of instability and crises that beset much of Europe. No longer could cities and communities look to Rome, Roman emperors , or formidable Roman army ; moving forward there would be a splintering of the Roman world into a number of different polities, many of which were controlled by Germanic “barbarians” (a term used by the Romans to describe anyone who wasn’t Roman), from the northeast of Europe.

Such a transition has fascinated thinkers, from the time it was actually happening, up until the modern day. For modern political and social analysts, it is a complex but captivating case study, that many experts still explore to find answers about how superpower states can collapse.

How Did Rome Fall?

Rome did not fall overnight. Instead, the fall of the Western Roman Empire was the result of a process that took place over the course of several centuries. It came about due to political and financial instability and invasions from Germanic tribes moving into Roman territories.

The Story of the Fall of Rome

To give some background and context to the fall of the Roman Empire (in the West), it is necessary to go as far back as the second century AD. During much of this century, Rome was ruled by the famous “ Five Good Emperors ” who made up most of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty. Whilst this period was heralded as a “kingdom of gold” by the historian Cassius Dio , largely due to its political stability and territorial expansion, the empire has been seen to undergo a steady decline after it.

There were periods of relative stability and peace that came after the Nerva-Antonine’s, fostered by the Severans (a dynasty started by Septimius Severus ), the Tetrarchy , and Constantine the Great . Yet, none of these periods of peace really strengthened the frontiers or the political infrastructure of Rome; none set the empire on a long-term trajectory of improvement.

Moreover, even during the Nerva-Antonines, the precarious status quo between the emperors and the senate was beginning to unravel. Under the “Five Good Emperors,” power was increasingly centered on the emperor – a recipe for success in those times under “Good” Emperors, but it was inevitable that less praiseworthy emperors would follow, leading to corruption and political instability.

Then came Commodus , who designated his duties to greedy confidants and made the city of Rome his plaything. After he was murdered by his wrestling partner, the “High Empire” of the Nerva-Antonines came to an abrupt close. What followed, after a vicious civil war, was the military absolutism of the Severans, where the ideal of a military monarch took prominence and the murder of these monarchs became the norm.

The Crisis of the Third Century

Soon came the Crisis of the Third Century after the last Severan, Severus Alexander , was assassinated in 235 AD. During this infamous fifty-year period the Roman Empire was beset by repeated defeats in the east – to the Persians, and in the north, to Germanic invaders.

READ MORE: Ancient Persia: From the Achaemenid Empire to the History of Iran

It also witnessed the chaotic secession of several provinces, which revolted as a result of poor management and a lack of regard from the center. Additionally, the empire was beset by a serious financial crisis that reduced the silver content of the coinage so far that it practically became useless. Moreover, there were recurrent civil wars that saw the empire ruled by a long succession of short-lived emperors.

Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

In 293 AD the emperor Diocletian sought to find a solution to the empire’s recurrent problems by establishing the Tetrarchy, also known as the rule of four. As the name suggests, this involved splitting the empire into four divisions, each ruled by a different emperor – two senior ones titled “Augusti,” and two junior ones called “Caesares,” each ruling their portion of territory.

Such an agreement lasted until 324 AD, when Constantine the Great retook control of the whole empire, having defeated his last opponent Licinius (who had ruled in the east, whereas Constantine had begun his power grab in the northwest of Europe). Constantine certainly stands out in the history of the Roman Empire, not only for reuniting it under one person’s rule and reigning over the empire for 31 years but also for being the emperor who brought Christianity to the center of the state infrastructure.

READ MORE: How Did Christianity Spread: Origins, Expansion, and Impact

Many scholars and analysts have pointed to the spread and cementing of Christianity as the state religion as an important, if not fundamental cause for Rome’s fall.

The Rule of Constantine

Constantine’s reign however, as well as his enfranchisement of Christianity, did not provide a wholly reliable solution to the problems that still beset the empire. Chief amongst these included an increasingly expensive army, threatened by an increasingly dwindling population (especially in the west). Straight after Constantine, his sons degenerated into civil war, splitting the empire in two again in a story that really seems very representative of the empire since its heyday under the Nerva-Antonines.

There were intermittent periods of stability for the remainder of the 4 th century AD, with rare rulers of authority and ability, such as Valentinian I and Theodosius . Yet by the beginning of the 5 th century, most analysts argue, things began to fall apart.

The Fall of Rome Itself: Invasions from the North

Similar to the chaotic invasions seen in the Third Century, the beginning of the 5 th century AD witnessed an immense number of “barbarians” crossing over into Roman territory, caused amongst other reasons by the spread of warmongering Huns from northeastern Europe.

This started with the Goths (constituted by the Visigoths and Ostrogoths ), which first breached the frontiers of the Eastern Empire in the late 4 th century AD.

Although they routed an Eastern army at Hadrianopolis in 378 AD and then turned to blunder much of the Balkans, they soon turned their attentions to the Western Roman Empire, along with other Germanic peoples.

These included the Vandals , Suebes , and Alans, who crossed the Rhine in 406/7 AD and recurrently laid waste to Gaul, Spain, and Italy. Moreover, the Western Empire they faced was not the same force that enabled the campaigns of the warlike emperors Trajan , Septimius Severus , or Aurelian.

Instead, it was greatly weakened and as many contemporaries noted, had lost effective control of many of its frontier provinces. Rather than looking to Rome, many cities and provinces had begun to rely on themselves for relief and refuge.

This, combined with the historic loss at Hadrianopolis, on top of recurrent bouts of civil discord and rebellion, meant that the door was practically open for marauding armies of Germans to take what they liked. This included not only large swathes of Gaul (much of modern-day France), Spain, Britain, and Italy, but Rome itself.

Indeed, after they had plundered their way through Italy from 401 AD onwards, the Goths sacked Rome in 410 AD – something that had not happened since 390 BC! After this travesty and the devastation that was wrought upon the Italian countryside, the government granted tax exemption to large swathes of the population, even though it was sorely needed for defense.

A Weakened Rome Faces Increased Pressure from Invaders

Much the same story was mirrored in Gaul and Spain, wherein the former was a chaotic and contested war zone between a litany of different peoples, and in the latter, the Goths and Vandals had free reign to their riches and people. At the time, many Christian writers wrote as though the apocalypse had reached the western half of the empire, from Spain to Britain.

The barbarian hordes are depicted as ruthless and avaricious plunderers of everything they can set their eyes upon, in terms of both wealth and women. Confused by what had caused this now-Christian empire to succumb to such catastrophe, many Christian writers blamed the invasions on the sins of the Roman Empire, past and present.

Yet neither penance nor politics could help salvage the situation for Rome, as the successive emperors of the 5 th century AD were largely unable or unwilling to meet the invaders in much decisive, open battles. Instead, they tried to pay them off or failed to raise sufficiently large armies to defeat them.

The Roman Empire on the Verge of Bankruptcy

Moreover, whilst the emperors in the west still had the rich citizens of North Africa paying tax, they could just about afford to field new armies (many of the soldiers in fact taken from various barbarian tribes), but that source of income was soon to be devastated as well. In 429 AD, in a significant development, the Vandals crossed over the strait of Gibraltar and within 10 years, had effectively taken control of Roman North Africa.

This was perhaps the final blow from which Rome was unable to recover. It was by this point the case that much of the empire in the west had fallen into barbarian hands and the Roman emperor and his government did not have the resources to take these territories back. In some instances, lands were granted to different tribes in return for peaceful coexistence or military allegiance, although such terms were not always kept.

By now the Huns had begun to arrive along the fringes of the old Roman frontiers in the west, united behind the terrifying figure of Attila. He had previously led campaigns with his brother Bleda against the Eastern Roman Empire in the 430s and 440s, only to turn his eyes west when a senator’s betrothed astonishingly appealed to him for help.

He claimed her as his bride in waiting and half of the Western Roman Empire as his dowry! Unsurprisingly this was not met with much acceptance by the emperor Valentinian III , and so Attila headed westwards from the Balkans laying waste to large swathes of Gaul and Northern Italy.

In a famous episode in 452 AD, he was stopped from actually besieging the city of Rome, by a delegation of negotiators, including Pope Leo I. The next year Attila died from a hemorrhage, after which the Hunnic peoples soon broke up and disintegrated, to the joy of both Roman and German alike.

Whilst there had been some successful battles against the Huns throughout the first half of the 450s, much of this was won by the help of the Goths and other Germanic tribes. Rome had effectively ceased to be the securer of peace and stability it had once been, and its existence as a separate political entity, no doubt appeared increasingly dubious.

This was compounded by the fact that this period was also punctuated by constant rebellions and revolts in the lands still nominally under Roman rule, as other tribes such as the Lombards, Burgundians, and Franks had established footholds in Gaul.

Rome’s Final Breath

One of these rebellions in 476 AD finally gave the fatal blow, led by a Germanic general named Odoacer, who deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus . He styled himself as both “dux” (king) and client to the Eastern Roman Empire. But was soon deposed by the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great .

Henceforth, from 493 AD the Ostrogoths ruled Italy, the Vandals North Africa, the Visigoths Spain and parts of Gaul, the rest of which was controlled by Franks, Burgundians, and the Suebes (who also ruled parts of Spain and Portugal). Across the channel, the Anglo-Saxons had for some time ruled much of Britain.

There was a time, under the reign of Justinian the Great when the Eastern Roman Empire retook Italy, North Africa, and parts of Southern Spain, yet these conquests were only temporary and constituted the expansion of the new Byzantine Empire, rather than the Roman Empire of Antiquity. Rome and its empire had fallen, never again to reach its former glory.

Why Did Rome Fall?

Since the fall of Rome in 476 and indeed before that fateful year itself, arguments for the empire’s decline and collapse have come and gone over time. Whilst the English historian Edward Gibbon articulated the most famous and well-established arguments in his seminal work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , his inquiry, and his explanation, are only one of many.

For example, in 1984 a German historian listed a total of 210 reasons that had been given for the fall of the Roman Empire, ranging from excessive bathing (which apparently caused impotency and demographic decline) to excessive deforestation.

Many of these arguments have often aligned with the sentiments and fashions of the time. For instance, in the 19 th and 20 th centuries, the fall of Roman civilization was explained through the reductionist theories of racial or class degeneration that were prominent in certain intellectual circles.

Around the time of the fall as well – as has already been alluded to – contemporary Christians blamed the disintegration of the empire on the last remaining vestiges of Paganism, or the unrecognized sins of professed Christians. The parallel view, at the time and subsequently popular with an array of different thinkers (including Edward Gibbon) was that Christianity had caused the fall.

The Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of Rome

The immediate cause of the empire’s fall was the unprecedented number of barbarians, aka those living outside Roman territory, invading the lands of Rome.

Of course, the Romans had had their fair share of barbarians on their doorstep, considering they were constantly involved in different conflicts along their long frontiers. In that sense, their security had always been somewhat precarious, especially as they needed a professionally manned army to protect their empire.

These armies needed constant replenishment, due to the retirement or death of soldiers in their ranks. Mercenaries could be used from different regions inside or outside the empire, but these were almost always sent home after their term of service, whether it was for a single campaign or several months.

As such, the Roman army needed a constant and colossal supply of soldiers, which it began to increasingly struggle to procure as the population of the empire continued to decrease (from the 2 nd century onwards). This meant more reliance on barbarian mercenaries, which could not always be as readily relied upon to fight for a civilization they felt little fealty towards.

Pressure on the Roman Borders

At the end of the 4 th century AD, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Germanic peoples, migrated westwards towards the Roman frontiers. The traditional (and still most commonly asserted) reason given for this is that the nomadic Huns spread out from their homeland in Central Asia, attacking Germanic tribes as they went.

This forced a mass migration of Germanic peoples to escape the wrath of the dreaded Huns by entering Roman territory. Therefore, unlike in previous campaigns along their northeastern frontier, the Romans were facing a prodigious mass of peoples united in common purpose, whereas they had, up until now, been infamous for their internecine squabbles and resentments. This unity was simply too much for Rome to handle.

Yet, this tells only half of the story and is an argument that has not satisfied most later thinkers who wanted to explain the fall in terms of the internal issues entrenched in the empire itself. It seems that these migrations were for the most part, out of Roman control, but why did they fail so miserably to either repel the barbarians or accommodate them within the empire, as they had previously done with other problematic tribes across the frontier?

Edward Gibbon and His Arguments for the Fall

Edward Gibbon was perhaps the most famous figure to address these questions and has, for the most part, been heavily influential for all subsequent thinkers. Besides the aforementioned barbarian invasions, Gibbon blamed the fall on the inevitable decline all empires faced, the degeneration of civic virtues in the empire, the waste of precious resources, and the emergence and subsequent domination of Christianity.

Each cause is given significant stress by Gibbon, who essentially believed that the empire had experienced a gradual decline in its morals, virtues, and ethics, yet his critical reading of Christianity was the accusation that caused the most controversy at the time.

The Role of Christianity According to Gibbon

As with the other explanations given, Gibbon saw in Christianity an enervating characteristic that sapped the empire not only of its wealth (going to churches and monasteries) but also its warlike persona that had molded its image for much of its early and middle history.

Whilst the writers of the Roman Republic and early empire encouraged manliness and service to one’s state, Christian writers impelled allegiance to God and discouraged conflict between his people. The world had not yet experienced the religiously endorsed Crusades that would see Christians wage war against non-Christians. Moreover, many of the Germanic peoples who entered the empire were themselves Christian!

Outside of these religious contexts, Gibbon saw the Roman Empire rotting from within, more focused on the decadence of its aristocracy and the vainglory of its militaristic emperors, than the long-term health of its empire. Since the heyday of the Nerva-Antonines, the Roman Empire had experienced crisis after crisis exacerbated in large part by poor decisions and megalomaniacal, disinterested, or avaricious rulers. Inevitably, Gibbon argued, this had to catch up with them.

Economic Mismanagement of the Empire

Whilst Gibbon did point out how wasteful Rome was with its resources, he did not really delve too heavily into the economics of the empire. However, this is where many recent historians have pointed the finger, and is with the other arguments already mentioned, one of the main stances taken up by later thinkers.

It has been well noted that Rome did not really have a cohesive or coherent economy in the more modern developed sense. It raised taxes to pay for its defense but did not have a centrally planned economy in any meaningful sense, outside of the considerations it made for the army.

There was no department of education or health; things were run on more of a case-by-case, or emperor-by-emperor basis. Programmes were carried out on sporadic initiatives and the vast majority of the empire was agrarian, with some specialized hubs of industry dotted about.

It did however have to raise taxes for its defense and this came at a colossal cost to the imperial coffers. For example, it is estimated that the pay needed for the whole army in 150 AD would constitute 60-80% of the imperial budget, leaving little room for periods of disaster or invasion.

Whilst soldier pay was initially contained, it was recurrently increased as time went by (partly because of increasing inflation). Emperors would also tend to pay donatives to the army when becoming emperor – a very costly affair if an emperor only lasted a short amount of time (as was the case from the Third Century Crisis onwards).

This was therefore a ticking time bomb, which ensured that any massive shock to the Roman system – like endless hordes of barbarian invaders – would be increasingly difficult to deal with, until, they couldn’t be dealt with at all. Indeed, the Roman state likely ran out of money on a number of occasions throughout the 5 th century AD.

Continuity Beyond the Fall: Did Rome Really Collapse?

On top of arguing about the causes of the Roman Empire’s fall in the West, scholars are also racked in debate about whether there was an actual fall or collapse at all. Similarly, they question whether we should so readily call to mind the apparent “dark ages” that followed the dissolution of the Roman state as it had existed in the West.

Traditionally, the end of the Western Roman empire is supposed to have heralded the end of civilization itself. This image was molded by contemporaries who depicted the cataclysmic and apocalyptic series of events that surrounded the deposition of the last emperor. It was then compounded by later writers, especially during the Renaissance and Enlightenment, when the collapse of Rome was seen as a massive step backward in art and culture.

Indeed, Gibbon was instrumental in cementing this presentation for subsequent historians. Yet from as early as Henri Pirenne (1862-1935) scholars have argued for a strong element of continuity during and after the apparent decline. According to this picture, many of the provinces of the Western Roman Empire were already in some way detached from the Italian center and did not experience a seismic shift in their everyday life, as is usually depicted.

Revisionism in the Idea of “Late Antiquity”

This has developed in more recent scholarship into the idea of “Late Antiquity” to replace the cataclysmic idea of the “Dark Ages. One of its most prominent and celebrated proponents is Peter Brown, who has written extensively on the subject, pointing to the continuity of much Roman culture, politics, and administrative infrastructure, as well as the flourishing of Christian Art and literature.

According to Brown, as well as other proponents of this model, it is therefore misleading and reductionist to talk of a decline or fall of the Roman Empire, but instead to explore its “transformation.”

In this vein, the idea of barbarian invasions causing the collapse of a civilization has become deeply problematic. It has instead been argued that there was an (albeit complex) “accommodation” of the migrating Germanic populations that reached the empire’s borders around the turn of the 5 th century AD.

Such arguments point to the fact that various settlements and treaties were signed with the Germanic peoples, who were for the most part escaping the marauding Huns (and are therefore posed often as refugees or asylum seekers). One such settlement was the 419 Settlement of Aquitaine, where the Visigoths were granted land in the valley of the Garonne by the Roman state.

As has already been alluded to above, the Romans also had various Germanic tribes fighting alongside them in this period, most notably against the Huns. It is also undoubtedly clear that the Romans throughout their time as a Republic and a Principate, were very prejudiced against “the other” and would collectively assume that anybody beyond their borders was in many ways uncivilized.

This aligns with the fact that the (originally Greek) derogatory term “barbarian” itself, derived from the perception that such people spoke a coarse and simple language, repeating “bar bar bar” repeatedly.

The Continuation of Roman Administration

Regardless of this prejudice, it is also clear, as the historians discussed above have studied, that many aspects of Roman administration and culture did continue in the Germanic kingdoms and territories that replaced the Roman Empire in the West.

This included much of the law that was carried out by Roman magistrates (with Germanic additions), much of the administrative apparatus, and indeed everyday life, for most individuals, will have carried on quite similarly, differing in extent from place to place. Whilst we know that a lot of land was taken by the new German masters, and henceforth Goths would be privileged legally in Italy, or Franks in Gaul, many individual families would not have been affected too much.

This is because it was obviously easier for their new Visigoth, Ostrogoth, or Frankish overlords to keep much of the infrastructure in place that had worked so well up until then. In many instances and passages from contemporary historians, or edicts from Germanic rulers, it was also clear that they respected much about Roman culture and in a number of ways, wanted to preserve it; in Italy for instance the Ostrogoths claimed “The glory of the Goths is to protect the civil life of the Romans.”

Moreover, since many of them converted to Christianity, the continuity of the Church was taken for granted. There was therefore a lot of assimilations, with both Latin and Gothic being spoken in Italy for example and Gothic mustaches being sported by aristocrats, whilst clad in Roman clothing.

Issues with Revisionism

However, this change of opinion has inevitably been reversed as well in more recent academic work – particularly in Ward-Perkin’s The Fall of Rome – wherein he strongly states that violence and aggressive seizure of land was the norm, rather than the peaceful accommodation that many revisionists have suggested .

He argues that these scant treaties are given far too much attention and stress when practically all of them were clearly signed and agreed to by the Roman state under pressure – as an expedient solution to contemporary problems. Moreover, in quite typical fashion, the 419 Settlement of Aquitaine was mostly ignored by the Visigoths as they subsequently spread out and aggressively expanded far beyond their designated limits.

Aside from these issues with the narrative of “accommodation,” the archaeological evidence also demonstrates a sharp decline in standards of living between the 5 th and 7 th centuries AD, across all of the western Roman Empire’s former territories (albeit under varying degrees), strongly suggested a significant and profound “decline” or “fall” of a civilization.

READ MORE: Ancient Civilizations Timeline: The Complete List from Aboriginals to Incans

This is shown, in part, by the significant decrease of post-roman finds of pottery and other cookware across the West and the fact that what is found is considerably less durable and sophisticated. This rings true for buildings as well, which began to be made more often in perishable materials like wood (rather than stone) and were notably smaller in size and grandeur.

Coinage also completely disappeared in large parts of the old empire or regressed in quality. Alongside this, literacy and education seem to have been greatly reduced across communities and even the size of livestock shrunk considerably – to bronze-age levels! Nowhere was this regression more pronounced than in Britain, where the islands fell into pre-Iron Age levels of economic complexity.

READ MORE: Prehistory: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic Periods, and More

Rome’s Role in the Western European Empire

There are many specific reasons given for these developments, but they can almost all be linked to the fact that the Roman Empire had kept together and maintained a large, Mediterranean economy and state infrastructure. Whilst there was an essential commercial element to the Roman economy, distinct from state initiative, things like the army or the political apparatus of messengers, and governor’s staff, meant that roads needed to be maintained and repaired, ships needed to be available, soldiers needed to be clothed, fed, and moved around.

When the empire disintegrated into opposing or partially opposed kingdoms, the long-distance trade and political systems fell apart too, leaving communities dependent on themselves. This had a catastrophic effect on the many communities that had relied upon long-distance trade, state security, and political hierarchies to manage and maintain their trade and lives.

Regardless, then, of whether there was continuity in many areas of society, the communities that carried on and “transformed” were seemingly poorer, less connected, and less “Roman” than they had been. Whilst much spiritual and religious debate flourished still in the West, this was almost exclusively centered around the Christian church and its widely dispersed monasteries.

Later Models in Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire: An Eternal Rome?

However, it can also be pointed out, quite rightly, that the Roman Empire may have fallen (to whatever extent) in the West, but the Eastern Roman Empire flourished and grew at this time, experiencing somewhat of a “golden age.” The city of Byzantium was seen as the “New Rome” and the quality of life and culture in the east certainly did not meet the same fate as the west.

There was also the “Holy Roman Empire” which grew out of the Frankish Empire when its ruler, the famous Charlemagne, was appointed emperor by Pope Leo III in 800 AD. Although this possessed the name “Roman” and was adopted by the Franks who had continued to endorse various Roman customs and traditions, it was decidedly distinct from the old Roman Empire of antiquity.

These examples also call to mind the fact that the Roman Empire has always held an important place as a subject of study for historians, just as many of its most famous poets, writers, and speakers are still read or studied today. In this sense, although the empire itself collapsed in the West in 476 AD, much of its culture and spirit is still very alive today.

How to Cite this Article

There are three different ways you can cite this article.

1. To cite this article in an academic-style article or paper , use:

8 Reasons Why Rome Fell

By: Evan Andrews

Updated: September 5, 2023 | Original: January 14, 2014

The Course of Empire. Destruction, 1836. Found in the collection of New York Historical Society.

1. Invasions by Barbarian tribes

The most straightforward theory for Western Rome’s collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s “barbarian” groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire’s borders. The Romans weathered a Germanic uprising in the late fourth century, but in 410 the Visigoth King Alaric successfully sacked the city of Rome.

The Empire spent the next several decades under constant threat before “the Eternal City” was raided again in 455, this time by the Vandals. Finally, in 476, the Germanic leader Odoacer staged a revolt and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustulus. From then on, no Roman emperor would ever again rule from a post in Italy, leading many to cite 476 as the year the Western Empire suffered its death blow.

2. Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor

Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars and overspending had significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor. In the hope of avoiding the taxman, many members of the wealthy classes had even fled to the countryside and set up independent fiefdoms.

At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome’s economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work. But when expansion ground to a halt in the second century, Rome’s supply of slaves and other war treasures began to dry up. A further blow came in the fifth century, when the Vandals claimed North Africa and began disrupting the empire’s trade by prowling the Mediterranean as pirates. With its economy faltering and its commercial and agricultural production in decline, the Empire began to lose its grip on Europe.

3. The rise of the Eastern Empire

The fate of Western Rome was partially sealed in the late third century, when Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves—the Western Empire seated in the city of Milan, and the Eastern Empire in Byzantium, later known as Constantinople. The division made the empire more easily governable in the short term, but over time the two halves drifted apart. East and West failed to adequately work together to combat outside threats, and the two often squabbled over resources and military aid.

As the gulf widened, the largely Greek-speaking Eastern Empire grew in wealth while the Latin-speaking West descended into an economic crisis. Most importantly, the strength of the Eastern Empire served to divert Barbarian invasions to the West. Emperors like Constantine ensured that the city of Constantinople was fortified and well guarded, but Italy and the city of Rome—which only had symbolic value for many in the East—were left vulnerable. The Western political structure would finally disintegrate in the fifth century, but the Eastern Empire endured in some form for another thousand years before being overwhelmed by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s.

4. Overexpansion and military overspending

At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates River in the Middle East, but its grandeur may have also been its downfall. With such a vast territory to govern, the empire faced an administrative and logistical nightmare. Even with their excellent road systems, the Romans were unable to communicate quickly or effectively enough to manage their holdings.

Rome struggled to marshal enough troops and resources to defend its frontiers from local rebellions and outside attacks, and by the second century, the Emperor Hadrian was forced to build his famous wall in Britain just to keep the enemy at bay. As more and more funds were funneled into the military upkeep of the empire, technological advancement slowed and Rome’s civil infrastructure fell into disrepair.

5. Government corruption and political instability

If Rome’s sheer size made it difficult to govern, ineffective and inconsistent leadership only served to magnify the problem. Being the Roman emperor had always been a particularly dangerous job, but during the tumultuous second and third centuries it nearly became a death sentence. Civil war thrust the empire into chaos, and more than 20 men took the throne in the span of only 75 years, usually after the murder of their predecessor.

The Praetorian Guard—the emperor’s personal bodyguards—assassinated and installed new sovereigns at will, and once even auctioned the spot off to the highest bidder. The political rot also extended to the Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence. As the situation worsened, civic pride waned and many Roman citizens lost trust in their leadership.

6. The arrival of the Huns and the migration of the Barbarian tribes

The Barbarian attacks on Rome partially stemmed from a mass migration caused by the Huns’ invasion of Europe in the late fourth century. When these Eurasian warriors rampaged through northern Europe, they drove many Germanic tribes to the borders of the Roman Empire. The Romans grudgingly allowed members of the Visigoth tribe to cross south of the Danube and into the safety of Roman territory, but they treated them with extreme cruelty.

According to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman officials even forced the starving Goths to trade their children into slavery in exchange for dog meat. In brutalizing the Goths, the Romans created a dangerous enemy within their own borders. When the oppression became too much to bear, the Goths rose up in revolt and eventually routed a Roman army and killed the Eastern Emperor Valens during the Battle of Adrianople in A.D. 378. The shocked Romans negotiated a flimsy peace with the barbarians, but the truce unraveled in 410, when the Goth King Alaric moved west and sacked Rome. With the Western Empire weakened, Germanic tribes like the Vandals and the Saxons were able to surge across its borders and occupy Britain, Spain and North Africa.

7. Christianity and the loss of traditional values

The decline of Rome dovetailed with the spread of Christianity, and some have argued that the rise of a new faith helped contribute to the empire’s fall. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity in 313, and it later became the state religion in 380. These decrees ended centuries of persecution, but they may have also eroded the traditional Roman values system. Christianity displaced the polytheistic Roman religion, which viewed the emperor as having a divine status, and also shifted focus away from the glory of the state and onto a sole deity.

Meanwhile, popes and other church leaders took an increased role in political affairs, further complicating governance. The 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon was the most famous proponent of this theory, but his take has since been widely criticized. While the spread of Christianity may have played a small role in curbing Roman civic virtue, most scholars now argue that its influence paled in comparison to military, economic and administrative factors.

8. Weakening of the Roman legions

For most of its history, Rome’s military was the envy of the ancient world. But during the decline, the makeup of the once mighty legions began to change. Unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Roman citizenry, emperors like Diocletian and Constantine began hiring foreign mercenaries to prop up their armies. The ranks of the legions eventually swelled with Germanic Goths and other barbarians, so much so that Romans began using the Latin word “barbarus” in place of “soldier.”

While these Germanic soldiers of fortune proved to be fierce warriors, they also had little or no loyalty to the empire, and their power-hungry officers often turned against their Roman employers. In fact, many of the barbarians who sacked the city of Rome and brought down the Western Empire had earned their military stripes while serving in the Roman legions.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Ancient Rome — The Fall of the Roman Empire

The Fall of The Roman Empire

Categories: Ancient Rome

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Published: Dec 5, 2018

Words: 732 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Works Cited

Fall of the Roman Empire. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/
Gibbon, E. (n.d.). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vol. 2).
Wasson, D. (2014). Diocletian. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Diocletian/
Theodosius I. (n.d.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theodosius-I-Roman-emperor
Cameron, A. (2013). The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford University Press.
Ward-Perkins, B. (2006). The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization. Oxford University Press.
Heather, P. (2006). The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History. Pan Books.
Goldsworthy, A. (2009). How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower. Yale University Press.
Bury, J. B. (2011). History of the Later Roman Empire : From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. Dover Publications.
Ward, J. (2018). Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar. St. Martin's Griffin.

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The Rise And Fall Of Ancient Rome, A Nutshell History Of Rome

Are you looking for a quick overview of the history of Ancient Rome? The Roman civilization lasted from around 753 BC to 476 AD, encompassing the founding of Rome, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire.

While it’s tough to condense so much history into a short summary, I’ve done my best to provide a concise history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

The history of Ancient Rome can be divided into three parts. Rome began as a monarchy, transitioned to a republic, and then became a vast and powerful empire until it came crashing down.

Along the way, you’ll encounter fascinating stories of myths, legends, rivalries, civil wars, and some truly outrageous emperors. There were both conquests and defeats, battles and butchery, brutality and debauchery. All in all, Ancient Rome was a fascinating period in history.

Ready to step back in time?

History of Ancient Rome

1. foundation myth of rome.

So how did Rome begin? Like all great empires, Rome needed a foundation, or creation, myth.

People like to know where they come from. It’s akin to the huge popularity of 23 & Me or other ancestry services.

Rome’s foundation myth was codified in the 1st century A.D. during the apex of the empire. The empire had stretched to cover half the known world. This led to the cliche phrase that “all roads lead to Rome.”

Once its society became this powerful, Rome needed an official origin story of who they were and where they came from. How did an ordinary town become a great power that dominated the world? What set them apart?

map of the Roman Empire, 2nd century A.D.

The Romans came up with a fairytale explanation, one which became canonical. Rome was a gift of the gods themselves.

Legend holds that Romans are descended from Venus and Mars, the gods of Love and War. They’re the perfect combination for a city with a push-and-pull history of peace and war, beauty and tumult.

Romans believed this was the true story of the birth of their nation. But the foundation myth has no real historical basis in fact.

It’s a mostly operatic myth involving gods, twins, wolves, murder, and other fascinating drama. But, as with any myth, there’s a kernel of truth. Let’s break it down.

Rome’s origin story begins in the great ancient city of Troy with the Roman author Virgil. In 19 B.C., Virgil published a famous work called the Aeneid .

The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem. It ties together the various strands of legend relating to the 8th century B.C. character of Aeneas and his family.

Francois Perrier, Aeneas and his Companions Fighting the Harpies, 1646-47 -- in the Louvre

Aeneas & Ascanius

The poem tells the legendary story of the Trojan Aeneas , who fled Troy after it fell to Greece. Aeneas is the son of Anchises, a Trojan prince, and Venus, the goddess of love.

Looking for a place to create a new Troy, Aeneas and his family traveled to Italy. After scouting locations, Aeneas eventually settled in the Alban Hills just outside Rome.

He and his son Ascanius fought for dominance to establish their fiefdom. Ascanius becomes the first king of the Alban Hills.

He was followed by a series of successors, including one named Numitor. Numitor was deposed by his ambitious and treacherous brother Amulius.

Bernini, Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius, 1618-19

Numitor had a daughter named Rhea Silvia. To prevent the birth of any potential claimants to the throne, Amulius forced Rhea to become a vestal virgin. The Vestal Virgins were the priestesses of the goddess Vesta and had the duty of protecting her hearth.

But Amulius’ plans were thwarted. Rhea was beloved by Mars, the Roman god of war.

Romulus and Remus

Despite being a virgin, Rhea gave birth to his twin sons Romulus and Remus around 771 B.C. They would go on to become the founders of Rome.

So, at bottom, the ancestry of Rome is based on love and war. Venus’ blood ran through the veins of Romulus and Remus via Aeneas. Mar’s blood ran through the veins of the twins via Rhea.

Alexandre Cabanel, The Birth of Venus, 1863 -- in the Musee d'Orsay

Naturally, Amulius was fearful that the newborn twins would one day seek revenge for their deposed grandfather.

So nasty uncle Amulius decided to rid himself of any potential threat. He put the twins in a basket and set them afloat on the Tiber River, a fate similar to Moses in the Bible.

The boys were meant to die. Instead, they came to shore on Tiber island. They were discovered by a ferocious beast, a she-wolf named Lupa. She suckled the boys as her own until they were discovered by a shepherd.

the She-Wolf of Rome in the Capitoline Museums, a pivotal figure in the history of Rome

When Romulus and Remus were grown, it was time to go found their own city. The twins made their way to a future Rome.

The brothers wanted to found the city on different hills. Romulus liked Palatine Hill. Remus preferred Aventine Hill.

In ancient societies, the rule of primogeniture (or first born) governed. The first born inherits everything and takes control.

But it wasn’t clear who should prevail in the standoff. Since they born twins, Romulus and Remus didn’t know who had been born first.

So the twins went to their separate spots and waited for an augury, or sign from the gods, as to who was born first.

Peter Paul Rubens, Romulus and Remus, 1615-16

One day, around 754 B.C., Remus looked up and saw a flock of 6 birds. He ran to tell Romulus, jumping over the walls of Palatine Hill. But Romulus had simultaneously seen a flock of 12 vultures fly over his head.

A massive row ensued. It degenerated into a physical confrontation. Romulus slew Remus and won the fight. To honor his victory, the city of Rome was named Roma instead of Rema.

Despite the fratricide, Romulus was acclaimed and revered by Romans. Historians tried to whitewash the fratricide.

One justified the murder by the fact that Remus trespassed on the walls of Romulus. Remus was portrayed as interfering with the founding of Rome. Some pitched it as a blood sacrifice to the gods.

Rape of the Sabines

King Romulus decided to establish a utopian society on Palatine Hill . To recruit more citizens, he granted asylum to all. He established an army and tapped 100 senators to govern.

But there was one problem. There was a severe shortage of women in the new city of Roma.

Obviously, one can’t build a tribe, and succeed and prosper, without women. Like most ancient Romans, Romulus decided just to take what he wanted.

Romulus began asking the neighboring tribes where the most beautiful and fertile women lived. The answer was the Sabine Hills.

Romulus hatched a plot. He threw a big party and invited the neighboring tribes, including the Sabines. When the Sabines were sufficiently drunk, the Romans drew their swords and slew the Sabine men.

Nicholas Poussin, Rape of the Sabine Women, 1633-34 -- in the Louvre

They then kidnapped the Sabine women and took them as their wives. In history, this is known as the Rape of the Sabine Women. It’s a scene memorialized often in art.

The Seven Kings of Rome

Romulus ruled as the first king of Rome. He was succeeded by a series of six other kings. Each king brought concepts that would come to characterize ancient Rome — religion, military organization, the Circus Maximus, and public fora.

The last of these seven kings was the villainous Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. He contributed the concept of tyranny. He was a cruel king, who abused his power and governed by fear during the years 535-509 B.C.

His son was no better. Sextus Tarquinius raped the most virtuous woman in Rome, Lucretia.

She protested, exacted an oath of vengeance, and then knifed herself in the heart. There was such a public outcry that the outraged populace overthrew Tarquinius in 509 B.C., driving him from Rome.

That was the death of the Roman monarchy. The next phase of the history of Rome had begun.

Sandro Botticelli, The Tragedy of Lucretia, 1496

2. The Roman Republic

For the next 500 years or so, Rome was a republic governed by senators. The Republic was established in 509 B.C. and then voted out in 27 B.C. The Republic was more of an oligarchy than a real democracy.

The power of the monarch passed to two annually elected magistrates called consuls. They also served as commanders in chief of the army. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were drawn largely from the Senate, which was dominated by the patricians.

Patricians (or aristocrats) dominated political discourse. Eventually, in 37 B.C., the plebeians (or middle class) gained more power and could be consuls.

During its early years, the Roman Republic grew exponentially in both size and power through military conquest.

The conquests and exposure to new societies led directly to Rome’s cultural flourishing. In particular, Romans would eventually adopt much of Greek art, philosophy, and religion.

The late Republic was a period of turmoil. It was the turning point in Rome’s evolution from republic to empire.

In the final years of the Republic, the government was split between two factions called the “optimates” and the “populares.” During these culture wars, it became increasingly difficult for leaders to share power.

The optimates sought to uphold the oligarchy and keep power in the hands of the “best men,” i.e ., conservative patricians. The populares were on the side of the people. They used assemblies to win over the plebeians.

These two factions were reflected in two great leaders of the late republic, Gaius Marius (populare) and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (optimate). Both played roles in the collapse of the republic.

Marius was a legendary Roman general and statesman. With the Marian Reforms , he turned the Roman army into one of the most effective fighting and killing machines the world has ever seen. A power hungry Marius held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times.

painting of Marius in exile -- Dayton Museum of Art

In 88 B.C., Sulla was elected consul. Sulla set off to do battle against King Mithridates of Pontus. After back stabbing by Marius, however, the Senate revoked Sulla’s command of the army and reinstated Marius in the prize role.

Sulla shocked everyone by doing the previously unthinkable. He challenged the Senate edict. In an unprecedented coup d’etat , Sulla marched on Rome, seized power, and temporarily exiled Marius.

This led to a bloody civil war between Sulla and Marius. Sulla eventually prevailed and the Senate decreed him dictator. Sulla’s constitutional “reforms” placed even more power in the hands of the elite.

Historians generally revile Sulla as a maniacal dictator. He ruthlessly engaged in bloody purges of his political enemies in an indiscriminate way not seen since Tarquinius Superbus, the evil king I spoke of above.

Sulla eventually retired and Senate rule was restored. But the damage was done. Sulla’s self-serving tenure threatened the foundations of the Roman constitution.

After that, Rome would vacillate between triumvirates and dictatorships. Sulla set the precedent for Caesar’s takeover.

marble bust of Julius Caesar from 30-20 BC in Pisa Italy

3. Rise Of Julius Caesar, The Dawn Of Empire

Caesar was largely responsible for Rome’s transition from a republic to an empire. It’s a dramatic story, one of the most fascinating in the history of Ancient Rome.

Caesar’s rise to power began in adversity. He was born in 100 B.C. to a political family. He got a late start on politics.

His uncle was the infamous Marius, who was on the losing side of the social wars. Caesar himself was put on Sulla’s “black list” of enemies meant to be killed. But, somehow, Sulla spared his life.

Caesar rose through the ranks of the political system. In 63 B.C., Caesar was appointed to the role of aedile. Among other things, he was responsible for public spectacles and games. He embraced this task with ardor, helping to cement his fame and popularity.

In 60 B.C., Caesar formed a political alliance with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey the Great. It was known as the First Triumvirate.

Crassus was the wealthiest man in Rome. Pompey was a great military leader. Caesar was the brains behind the extra-legal operation. Together, they were the unofficial rulers of Rome.

Bust of Julius Caesar in the Capitoline Museum in Rome

Of the three, Caesar was by far the most ambitious. But how to mark his path and gain the upper hand?

Romans admired achievement in battle. So Caesar decided to realize his ambitions through military conquest. He married his daughter off to Pompey. In return, he was given some legions.

Caesar advanced quickly, becoming general of the legendary 13th legion. He began the most successful military campaign in history. He defeated the great warrior Vercingetorix in Gaul and expanded the Roman Republic into Europe and Britain.

Caesar let everyone know about it too, writing lengthy memoirs of his battles. These victories and autobiographies made Caesar a living legend.

All of this made the power brokers in Rome nervous and agitated. Too much power and adulation in one person was a clear threat to the republic.

When Crassus died, the Senate declared Caesar an outlaw. The Senate claimed his military victories had been achieved without proper authorization of the Senate.

The Senate ordered Caesar to step down and disband his army. That would’ve meant the end of Caesar. He would either have been executed or exiled.

With his back against the wall, Caesar marched onward. In 49 B.C., he famously led his army across the Rubicon River to Rome, starting a civil war. Caesar said “the die is cast,” i.e. , there was no turning back.

The Senate asked Pompey to go to battle against Caesar. But Pompey’s legions were stationed in Spain. So Rome didn’t have time to organize a proper defense.

The Senate appointed Caesar dictator for life. Caesar was now master of Rome. He didn’t waste any time. Caesar’s first order of business was to chase Pompey to Egypt.

At the time, there was a civil war going on in Egypt between Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra. To win Caesar’s favor, Ptolemy captured Pompey and put him to death, giving his head to Caesar.

This course of action disgusted Caesar. No foreign entity should put to death a revered Roman general.

Jean-Leon Gérôme, “Cleopatra and Caesar,” 1866

Originally, Caesar had decided to fight on the side of Ptolemy. But Ptolemy’s gross miscalculation gave an opportunity to a young Cleopatra.

Legend holds that she contrived to deliver herself, UPS style, in a carpet to Caesar’s chambers. It worked and Caesar changed his mind, backing Cleopatra.

Caesar fought on Cleopatra’s behalf, ultimately winning the war. Cleopatra was established as Queen of Egypt. Enmeshed in an affair, Caesar and Cleopatra had a son named Caesarion in 47 B.C. (His lineage was later disputed.)

Caesar returned to Rome in 46 B.C. He imagined that the Romans would love a boy who carried the blood of the two great empires in the world. But the Romans were horrified. They didn’t want someone with Egyptian blood ruling Rome.

So Caesar essentially ditched Cleopatra and Caesarion. He put them in a villa outside Rome and marginalized them, so as not to displease the public.

Caesar still needed to convince the people that they could live under one ruler, himself. He began by forgiving the debt of Roman citizens. He put on public spectacles.

Caesar and Mark Antony played psychological games. Antony would hold a crown above Caesar’s head. Caesar would wave it off, saying, no, he didn’t want to be king.

This went on and on. Eventually it was the crowd that was chanting “King Caesar.” Caesar effectively got the public used to the idea of monarchy.

As dictator, Caesar instituted social and political reforms. He began public building projects. But his rivals were envious of his power.

Caesar had tipped the balance of power away from the Senate. He was a threat to any form of democracy. Senators feared he would crown himself king. So they plotted the most famous political assassination in history, carried out in the name of liberty.

They called Caesar to a Senate meeting at the Theater of Pompey on March 15 44 B.C. A month earlier, a soothsayer had told Caesar to “beware the Ides of March.”

Caesar ignored the warning, thinking himself untouchable. Caesar attended the meeting unarmed and without body guards.

60 conspirators stabbed Caesar 23 times. Caesar effectively took the part of the murdered Remus centuries before.

Caesar reputedly died at the feet of a statue of Pompey. So, from the grave, Pompey had revenge on Caesar.

Vincenzo Camuccini, La morte di Cesare, 1804-05

Among the mutinous senators were some of Caesar’s friends, including Brutus and Cassius. Some historians claim that Brutus was Caesar’s illegitimate son. Caesar had a long term affair with his mother Servillia.

According to Shakespeare, as he was dying, Caesar looked up and said “Et tu Brutus?” Caesar never actually said these words.

And Brutus was neither his closest friend nor his biggest betrayer, not by a long shot. The real mastermind behind the assassination was Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, a soldier who despised Caesar’s pardons.

What was the reaction to Caesar’s assassination? There was a collective shock in Rome. Should the citizens rejoice in the death of a tyrant or mourn a great leader?

Mark Antony made the first move in the game of chess. He brought the body of Caesar into the Roman Forum .

Antony gave a rousing funeral speech. You know the one made famous by Shakespeare — “Friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears.” Antony read what he claimed was the last will of Caesar, which left “everything” to the people of Rome.

Antony’s actions essentially defied Caesar and threw Romans into a frenzy. A few days later, Caesar’s body was cremated on the spot of Antony’s speech. It became a cult site.

Antony was hoping that the Romans would turn to him, as Caesar’s right hand man, to be the next leader. But that wasn’t in the cards. In Caesar’s actual will, he had named his 19 year old nephew Octavian as his heir.

Mark Antony's Oration -- Collection of Royal Shakespeare Company

4. The Second Triumpherate & Victory of Octavian

Octavian’s rise was anything but amicable. After Caesar’s death, and despite the recalcitrance of Antony, Octavian became a senator and then consul.

In 43 B.C., Octavian became part of a second power-sharing triumvirate with Antony and Marcus Lepidus. Octavian was by far the shrewdest of the lot.

In 42 B.C., Octavian had Julius Caesar officially deified. Octavian thereby became the son of a god.

The Second Triumvirate split up governance of the empire. Octavian remained in Italy, Antony was in Egypt, and Lepidus was in Africa.

The truce didn’t last long. As history shows, it’s not easy to share power and decisions by committee rarely work.

Ambition divided them. Bloody internal conflict ensued. Eventually, Lepidus was eliminated and forced to retire from public life.

Guido Cagnacci, The Death of Cleopatra, circa 1660–62, which is in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan

Octavian was then locked in a struggle with Antony for control of the empire. Octavian ruled the western empire. Antony ruled the eastern empire.

Antony was also locked in a passionate relationship with Cleopatra at the time. They even had twins. Antony recognized Caesarion as the “King of Kings” and as the legitimate son of Caesar.

That was a bridge too far. Octavian realized the power couple was a threat to his authority. So another civil war began.

In 31 B.C., Octavian cleverly declared war on Antony’s lover, Cleopatra, not on Antony himself. Cleopatra was easy pickings. She was having an affair with Antony, who was married to Octavian’s sister Octavia.

When Antony divorced Octavia for Cleopatra, Octavian went into full attack mode. He turned Rome against Antony. Octavian and his right hand man, Marcus Agrippa, outmaneuvered the pair in a great naval battle, the Battle of Actium.

When trapped, Antony and Cleopatra fled. They later committed suicide to avoid capture. Caesarion was executed, ending the dream of a Roman-Egyptian Pharaoh. Octavian stole Cleopatra’s loot to pay and settle his army.

statue of Emperor Augustus int he Forum of Augustus

5. Augustus Becomes The First Emperor

Octavian adopted the name Augustus, which means first or revered one. In 27 B.C., Augustus was declared the first emperor of Rome. He would rule until 14 A.D.

Augustus is generally considered Rome’s greatest emperor. Augustus was a savvy politician who ushered in a lasting peace known as the Pax Romana. It was a peace won by bloody battles, so perhaps Augustus really brought a pacification not a peace.

Augustus revived Republican traditions. At least on the surface, he sought to placate the Senators and distance himself from any perceived despotism.

Augustus used the power of images to cement his reputation as a peaceful man who saved Rome from chaos. During Augustus’ reign, there was a constant production of coins, monuments, and statues in his image. He also created images of Aeneas and Romulus and Remus.

Augustus was also a brilliant administrator. He overhauled the creaking bureaucracy of the empire. Art and literature flourished.

bust of Augustus Caesar in Rome's Ara Pacis Museum

With Agrippa’s help, Augustus spent massive sums on the architectural adornment of Rome. The historian Suetonius wrote that Augustus “could justly boast” that he had “found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”

But Augustus had a bloody rise and was the ultimate opportunist. He ruthlessly took advantage of a fragile Rome to seize power. He was calculating and distasteful, probably like most emperors.

Augustus passed severe adultery laws, while he continually cheated on his wives. Sometimes the cheating wasn’t out of lust, but political machinations. He disowned and exiled his only daughter Julia.

He died at age 76 in 14 A.D., most likely of natural causes. The historian Suetonius tried to claim that Augustus’ wife Livia murdered him. Her son Tiberius was slated to inherit the empire, after all.

But this is likely pure gossip. Though probably a heartless power hungry empress, there’s really no evidence that Livia did this deed.

At his death, Augustus’ final words were “Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.”

Augustus of Prima Porta -- in the Vatican Museums

6. Roman Empire

Augustus’ descendants were known as the Julio-Claudian emperors. They ruled for almost 100 years, ending with the reviled Emperor Nero.

Tiberius was Augustus’ adopted son and hair. He one of Rome’s greatest generals. But he was a lackluster and disinterested emperor. He hid out in his villa in Capri, with a harem of young boys and girls.

Caligula was the third of the Caesarian emperors, succeeding Tiberius. Caligula is known as one of the mad Roman emperors. His profligacy, and possible neuropsychopathic craziness, led to his murder.

After Caligula’s death, the Senate attempted and failed to restore the Republic. Caligula’s paternal uncle, Claudius, became emperor by the instigation of the Praetorian Guards.

Claudius was an able administrator and builder of public works. His reign saw an expansion of the empire into England.

The last of the Caesarian emperors was Nero. This bad boy was an infamous and profligate ruler. Nero was rumored to have killed his mother and two wives.

a rare surviving likeness of Emperor Nero in the Palantine Museum

Legend holds that Nero set the great fire of Rome so that he could rebuild the city to his liking. Post fire, Nero erected the Golden House , his massive pleasure palace.

For his misdeeds and spendthrift ways that left an empty treasury, Nero was declared a public enemy. He committed suicide at age 30 in 68 A.D.

After Nero’s death, the Flavian Emperors — Vespasian, Titus, and and Domitian — reigned. Vespasian restored peace to Rome after the reign of Nero. The trio built the mighty Colosseum , the site of gladiatorial games.

The Roman Empire prospered and was at its zenith under Emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Trajan embarked on an ambitious public building program, creating landmarks that still stand today.

Hadrian was also an architect. He built the Pantheon , the Temple of Venus and Roma in the Roman Forum , Castle Sant’Angelo , and Villa Adriani in nearby Tivoli.

The wise Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius was the last of the “Five Good Emperors of Rome.” His reign marked the end of a period of internal tranquility and good government.

But he made the sentimental choice of his son Commodus as his heir and future emperor. Commodus was a paranoid megalomaniac. He thought he was Hercules and fought with gladiators in the Colosseum . He was quickly murdered off.

After Aurelius, the Empire started a downward spiral of decay. The last of the building emperors was Caracalla. He murdered his brother and left a legacy of brutality.

After Caracalla, his cousin Elagabalus inherited the title of emperor at age 14. Elagabalus was just a teenager and may have been transgender. His/her reign was marred by sex scandals, atrocities, and religious controversy.

Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, Bust of Caracalla, copy of Roman bust, 1750-70

By the 3rd century A.D., the idea that the man on the throne could be bonkers was set in stone. From then on, the military raised emperors to power. They would then be quickly assassinated by supporters of the next emperor.

Rome was built to last. But it didn’t. Why? It’s a complicated explanation, with all kinds of theories and centuries of speculation.

At bottom, there were multiple causes: barbarian incursions, military overspending, territorial over-expansion, political instability, social inequality, and over-dependence on slaves. These factors caused the Roman Empire to slowly crumble over time.

When Constantine came to power in 306 A.D., he accelerated the decline. He split the empire in two. Constantine ruled the eastern half from Constantinople, a city he named after himself.

head of Constantine in the Capitoline Museums

Constantine also introduced Christianity. This further undercut the empire, weakening traditional Roman values.

Christianity shifted the focus from polytheism to monotheism. It substituted the divine right of emperors with the glory of a sole deity. The church gradually replaced the declining civil authority, and swiped the state’s money to buy land and build churches.

After Constantine, few emperors ruled the entire Roman Empire. It was simply too big and was under attack from every direction. Usually, there was an emperor of the Western Roman Empire ruling from Italy or Gaul and an emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire ruling from Constantinople.

Rome could no longer keep its grip on its far flung lands. Nor keep the barbarians at bay.

In the 5th century A.D., Rome was sacked twice: first by the Goths in 410 and then the Vandals in 455. The swarms of barbarians kept coming. The empire fell in 476 A.D.

After the western part of the Roman Empire fell, the eastern half continued to exist. It lived on as the Byzantine Empire for hundreds of years. Therefore, the “fall of Rome” really refers only to the fall of the western half of the Empire.

mosaic of Emperor Justinian in San Vitale

In 476 A.D., Romulus, the last of the Roman emperors in the west, was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer. He became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome.

The glamor and glory of ancient Rome was replaced with the Dark Ages. But Rome rebounded from its medieval gloom. The city would go on to create some of the most spectacular art and architecture of the Renaissance.

READ : Guide To The Best Art In Italy

I hope you’ve enjoyed my nutshell history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. You may enjoy these other Rome travel guides and resources:

3 day itinerary for Rome
5 day itinerary for Rome
Hidden gems in Rome
Best museums in Rome
Archaeological sites in Rome
Guide to the Borghese Gallery
Rome’s secret palace museums
Guide to the Capitoline Museums
Guide to Palatine Hill
Guide to the Roman Forum
Guide to the Colosseum

If you need an article on the history of Ancient Rome, pin it for later.

10 thoughts on “The Rise And Fall Of Ancient Rome, A Nutshell History Of Rome”

Leslie did a remarkable job of taking a very long history and condensing into a wonderful readable summary. The pictures were well chosen and brought life to the narrative

Great blog, Leslie. Summarizing the long and complicated history of Rome into a short and readable piece is a major feat in itself. I look forward to reading some of your other descriptions of locations, history and art throughout Europe. Much of Rome’s history is similar to our own, and right now we appear to be in about the a similar state as Rome was mid fifth century AD.

Thanks Alan. I never tire of Ancient Rome.

Thank you so much!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I love your writing. It really inspires the revolutionary spirit of Rome. The story of the history of early Rome can be fascinating. Thank you for this amazing article.

Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂

Amazing work ! Great for a quick read before an upcoming tour .

Thank you S.G.! Ancient Rome is endlessly fascinating.

The Fall of Rome: Causes and Impact on History

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Topic: Ancient Rome

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Introduction

Causes of the fall of rome, economic decline, political instability, military challenges, social and cultural factors, impact on history, fragmentation of europe, preservation of knowledge, rise of christianity, feudalism and manorialism, legacy and lessons, economic stability, strong leadership, adaptation to change, resilience and legacy.

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The Fall of Rome: How, When, and Why Did It Happen?

When Did Rome Fall?

Lead Poisoning

Decadence and Decay of Rome's Control

The Fall of the Roman Empire

The Fall of Rome: When, Why, and How Did Rome Fall?

When Did Rome Fall?

The Effects of the Fall of Rome

How Did Rome Fall?

The Story of the Fall of Rome

The Crisis of the Third Century

Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

The Rule of Constantine

The Fall of Rome Itself: Invasions from the North

A Weakened Rome Faces Increased Pressure from Invaders

The Roman Empire on the Verge of Bankruptcy

Rome’s Final Breath

Why Did Rome Fall?

The Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of Rome

Pressure on the Roman Borders

Edward Gibbon and His Arguments for the Fall

The Role of Christianity According to Gibbon

Economic Mismanagement of the Empire

Continuity Beyond the Fall: Did Rome Really Collapse?

Revisionism in the Idea of “Late Antiquity”

The Continuation of Roman Administration

Issues with Revisionism

Rome’s Role in the Western European Empire

Later Models in Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire: An Eternal Rome?

How to Cite this Article

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8 Reasons Why Rome Fell

1. Invasions by Barbarian tribes

2. Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor

3. The rise of the Eastern Empire

4. Overexpansion and military overspending

5. Government corruption and political instability

6. The arrival of the Huns and the migration of the Barbarian tribes

7. Christianity and the loss of traditional values

8. Weakening of the Roman legions

HISTORY Vault: Rome: Engineering an Empire

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The Fall of The Roman Empire

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The Rise And Fall Of Ancient Rome, A Nutshell History Of Rome

History of Ancient Rome

Aeneas & Ascanius

Rape of the Sabines

The Seven Kings of Rome

2. The Roman Republic

3. Rise Of Julius Caesar, The Dawn Of Empire

4. The Second Triumpherate & Victory of Octavian

5. Augustus Becomes The First Emperor

6. Roman Empire

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The Fall of Rome: Causes and Impact on History

Introduction

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