Month: January 2008

210 reasons Rome fell

Ancient, Books, Modern(ish), Roma, Caput Mundi

I came across this list of reasons historians have suggested over the past couple hundred years for the fall of Rome in The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization by Bryan Ward-Perkins.

It was compiled by German historian Alexander Demandt for his 1984 history Der Fall Roms, but since I have neither 350 spare dollars to purchase a copy of my own nor the German to read it, I turned to Google to slake my thirst. It led me to Crooked Timber and now, without further ado, here are 210 reasons Rome fell.

Abolition of gods, abolition of rights, absence of character, absolutism, agrarian question, agrarian slavery, anarchy, anti-Germanism, apathy, aristocracy, asceticism, attacks by Germans, attacks by Huns, attacks by nomads on horseback.

Backwardness in science, bankruptcy, barbarization, bastardization, blockage of land by large landholders, blood poisoning, bolshevization, bread and circuses, bureaucracy, Byzantinism.

Capitalism, change of capitals, caste system, celibacy, centralization, childlessness, Christianity, citizenship (granting of), civil war, climatic deterioration, communism, complacency, concatenation of misfortunes, conservatism, corruption, cosmopolitanism, crisis of legitimacy, culinary excess, cultural neurosis.

Decentralization, decline of Nordic character, decline of the cities, decline of the Italic population, deforestation, degeneration, degeneration of intellect, demoralization, depletion of mineral resources, despotism, destruction of environment, destruction of peasantry, destruction of political process, destruction of Roman influence, devastation, differences in wealth, disarmament, disillusion with state, division of empire, division of labour.

Earthquakes, egoism, egoism of the state, emancipation of slaves, enervation, epidemics, equal rights (granting of), eradication of the best, escapism, ethnic dissolution, excessive aging of population, excessive civilization, excessive culture, excessive foreign infiltration, excessive freedom, excessive urbanization, expansion, exploitation.

Fear of life, female emancipation, feudalization, fiscalism, gladiatorial system, gluttony, gout, hedonism, Hellenization, heresy, homosexuality, hothouse culture, hubris, hyperthermia.

Immoderate greatness, imperialism, impotence, impoverishment, imprudent policy toward buffer states, inadequate educational system, indifference, individualism, indoctrination, inertia, inflation, intellectualism, integration (weakness of), irrationality, Jewish influence.

Lack of leadership, lack of male dignity, lack of military recruits, lack of orderly imperial succession, lack of qualified workers, lack of rainfall, lack of religiousness, lack of seriousness, large landed properties, lead-poisoning, lethargy, levelling (cultural), levelling (social), loss of army discipline, loss of authority, loss of energy, loss of instincts, loss of population, luxury.

Malaria, marriages of convenience, mercenary system, mercury damage, militarism, monetary economy, monetary greed, money (shortage of), moral decline, moral idealism, moral materialism, mystery religions, nationalism of Rome’s subjects, negative selection.

Orientalization, outflow of gold, over-refinement, pacifism, paralysis of will, paralysation, parasitism, particularism, pauperism, plagues, pleasure-seeking, plutocracy, polytheism, population pressure, precociousness, professional army, proletarization, prosperity, prostitution, psychoses, public baths.

Racial degeneration, racial discrimination, racial suicide, rationalism, refusal of military service, religious struggles and schisms, rentier mentality, resignation, restriction to profession, restriction to the land, rhetoric, rise of uneducated masses, romantic attitudes to peace, ruin of middle class, rule of the world.

Semi-education, sensuality, servility, sexuality, shamelessness, shifting of trade routes, slavery, Slavic attacks, socialism (of the state), social tensions, soil erosion, soil exhaustion, spiritual barbarism, stagnation, stoicism, stress, structural weakness, superstition.

Taxation, pressure of terrorism, tiredness of life, totalitarianism, treason, tristesse, two-front war, underdevelopment, useless diet, usurpation of all powers by the state, vaingloriousness, villa economy, vulgarization.

Any of those look familiar? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them all used at various times by various people to bemoan the degenerate condition of the US. Hell, I’ve used a fair few of them myself.

Except for maybe tristesse. That’s a new one. Oh, and hyperthermia.

“The Course of Empire: Destruction”, by Thomas Cole

Can you believe the loot people find in deadly fires?

Ancient, Looting, Medieval

Firemen in Prague have discovered a massive illegal collection of antiquities in a burnt-out apartment. The owner/looter, most likely a metal detecting type, died in the fire.

The collection comprises some 1,900 bronze objects and 1,400 iron objects. Ceramic and objects made of other material appear only marginally in it.

Only several objects represent the beginnings of metallurgy in Central Europe in the late Neolithic (about 4,000 B.C.), while more objects date back to the Bronze era (about 2,000-700 B.C.), Iron era (the last seven centuries B.C.), the ancient Roman era and the Migration Period (until 568 A.D.)

In addition, the collection includes medieval objects and those originating in the early modern times.

Unfortunately, the scientific value of these rare and magnificent artifacts is significantly reduced by the lack of provenance. That’s the things about looters: they don’t often keep detailed records of the location and condition of their thefts.

On another note, can you believe this is a pendant?

Like great-great-great grandfather, like son

Modern(ish), Multimedia

Check out this neat feature on modern-day descendants of historical figures photographed in their ancestors’ most famous poses.

Nine times great-grandson of Charles II and long-time mistress Barbara Villiers, Lord Charles FitzRoy, a 50-year-old father-of-two, is a London-based fine art tour specialist.[…]

In our photograph, Charles is wearing a curly poodle wig and his fine moustache has been created by a make-up artist. He’s standing in front of a real drape but the rest of the background, and the suit of armour, have been digitally added. The sword and the staff are real.

Fun! It’s worth it for the outfits and props alone, never mind the coolness of replicating grandpa’s exact pose.

You know, if young Napoleon had just squinted his eyes a little bit, he’d have looked so much like his imperial ancestor. As it is, he looks like a bit dorky, or at least like he’s trying to choke back a guffaw. Wussy. Napoleon probably had to stand for that portrait for hours. Mr. de Salis just had to hold it a second for the camera.

LOLChaucer

Medieval, Modern(ish)

As if it weren’t awesome enough that Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog, he had to go and make him some LOLpilgrims.

No thyng hath plesed me moore, or moore esed myn wery brayne than thes joili and gentil peyntures ycleped “Cat Macroes” or “LOL Cattes .” Thes wondirful peintures aren depicciouns of animals, many of them of gret weight and girth, the which proclayme humorous messages in sum queynte dialect of Englysshe (peraventure from the North?). Many of thes cattes (and squirreles) do desiren to haue a “cheezburger,” or sum tyme thei are in yower sum thinge doinge sum thinge to yt.

:notworthy:

Who needs Indy when you’ve got Google Earth?

Multimedia

Ever since computer programmer Luca Mori discovered a Roman villa in his hometown using Google Earth, archaeological surveys are becoming more of a telecommuting gig than a through-the-jungle-with-a-machete gig: Satellites build a picture of the past.

American archaeologist Scott Madry, Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stumbled across a newspaper covering Mori’s story. Madry had been professionally surveying archaeological sites for more than 25 years, becoming frustrated with the inefficient, dangerous and somewhat inaccurate method of aerial surveying.

Within a few hours on Google Earth, Madry was able to locate 101 features in an area covering 1,440 square kilometres in Central France. These features represented Iron Age, Medieval and Gallo-Roman sites.

Aerial surveying is expensive as hell, too. Not only are planes expensive, but even a single high resolution satellite image can cost thens of thousands of dollars. Google Earth is free.

P.S. – NASA has an archaeologist. Who knew?