Week 7: Roman Empire Essay

Week 7

Question: Did the Roman Empire 'decline and fall' or did it evolve into something new?

            The Roman Empire was a great and glorious empire spanning over large amounts of land and existing as the main power for centuries. At one point existing as a prosperous invader and center of trade, it eventual came to an end. The end of this great power is in fact the larger, more debated issue. Many people believe that the Roman Empire simply declined and fell, but others have different theories saying that the Roman Empire actually evolved and transformed into something new because of the influence the incoming cultures had on it.

            One of the main arguments supporting the theory that the Roman Empire simply declined and fell is due to the fact that Barbarians came and burned some of Rome and destroying parts.

Henri Pirenne, a historian during the 1920’s who supports the transformation theory, says that, “After the barbarian invasions, the Roman way of doing things did not immediately change; barbarians came to Rome not to destroy it, but to take part in its benefits, and thus they tried to preserve the Roman way of life (Decline of the Roman Empire, 2011).” According to Henri Pirenne, their way of life did not immediately change. Therefore, this proves that they only began to come together during this time and form as one to create something else. Also, Pirenne indicates that the Barbarians attempted to preserve what was left of the Roman way of life. He did not however say that they intentionally attempted to erase them, because this is not true. The Roman Empire then evolved as a result of the barbarians and their invasion.

            Edward Gibbon writes on the fall of the Roman Empire that, “Since the first discovery of the arts, war, commerce, and religious zeal have diffused, among the savages of the Old and New World, those inestimable gifts: they have been successively propagated; they can never be lost. We may therefore acquiesce in the pleasing conclusion that every age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real wealth, the happiness, the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race (Edward Gibbon: General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West).” This is an example of how nothing in history can truly be lost or forgotten. The virtues, customs, practices, and more travel on through time by people. To completely erase the influence of any civilization is near impossible. This is quite simply as Gibbon’s states a key important part of the human race and what it is.  This also supports the theory that the Roman Empire transformed and did not decline and fall.

Finally, another historian completely discredits all others supporting the theory of a transformation over time. It says in the article that the historians, “… see a transformation occurring over centuries, with the roots of medieval culture contained in Roman culture and focus on the continuities between the classical and Medieval worlds. Thus, it was a gradual process with no clear break (Decline of the Roman Empire, 2011).”  This completely describes the major reasoning behind the idea that the Roman Empire simply transformed into something else. The first important part in this is that it states that this occurred over a period of a couple centuries. It also says that it was a gradual process. Plus, that it had no clear defining break meaning that it could not then have had an end. People would have been able to find a clear stopping point to the empire. This proves most strongly that the Roman Empire evolved and transformed into something new overtime.

The Roman Empire did not dissolve or decline and fall, but it transformed over time. While people may have entered into it, they only brought along their culture and added it into the already existing cultures. The Barbarians, unlike some claim, also did not come to intentionally destroy the empire. Instead, gradually over centuries many cultures evolved and something new was transformed out of it. Therefore, we should be more concern, not with when it ended, but what it became.

Bibliography

Decline of the Roman Empire. (2011, April 9). Retrieved April 12, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire

Edward Gibbon: General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2011, from Medieval Sourcebook: : http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofromanrepublic_article_01.shtml

The Fall of Rome. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://www.tamos.net/~rhay/romefall.html