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Essay Subject: Reviews the history & development of the Roman Empire. Primarily discusses Roman military, political, & cultural institutions.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Reviews the history & development of the Roman Empire. Primarily discusses Roman military, political, & cultural institutions. Paper Introduction: Ancient Rome developed from a small prehistoric settlement on the Tiber River in Latium in central Italy into an empire that encompassed all of the Mediterranean world. The history of Rome can be divided into three major epochs: the kingship from the legendary foundation of Rome to 509 BC; the republic from 509 BC to 31 BC; and the empire, which survived until Rome finally fell to the German chieftain Odoacer in AD 476. The genius of the Romans lay in the military, in government administration, and in the law, and they valued crafty diplomacy as much as military discipline. The Romans conquered Greece, adopting Greek culture and transmitting it to the medieval world. Unlike the Greeks, they did not develop a philosophical theory of state and society. Instead, they were the practitioners of power and law, and Roman civil law, which reached its peak under the emperors, excelled in preci Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. In the third century the Roman world plunged into a prolonged andnearly fatal crisis, for reasons that were numerous. The wars that began underMarcus Aurelius continued, and increased taxation destroyed the prosperityof the empire. Afterthat, Italy was the source, followed by the Western provinces, Spain andGaul. The Fall of the Roman Empire. The Romans. Finally, the discipline of the army--in whichhalf-Romanized provincials and totally non-Romanized barbarians were nowserving--broke down. What followed is identified by Lafferty aslegend: All that happened in the next five hundred years to the great areas where the world had stood is legend. Roman political institutions remained relatively stableduring the imperial centuries and then disintegrated rapidly as the empirecollapsed. For one thing, the third century was a time ofincreased threat to the frontier provinces by the "barbarian" tribes.During the early centuries, Rome and Italy had been the center from whichRoman civilization had radiated, and this provided a kind of stabilitybecause the Roman way was moving outward and bringing in new peoples sothat the center was left alone. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1976. The Roman state considered the unity of the RomanEmpire to be paramount, while the Christian did not. . Thedefenses of the empire on the Rhine and Danube collapsed under the attackof various Germanic and other tribes, and the eastern provinces wereinvaded by the Persians. However, it wasa law of inequality and social prejudice which also became part of theRoman heritage. Kitto (1964) offers several reasons for this change, showing as wellwhat made the region stable before these changes took place. The fall of the Roman world meant the end of stability and the end ofthe ordered world of the time. TheChristians constituted a state within a state. The state called foran act of political faith, and the Christian called for an act of moral andspiritual faith. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971.Luttwack, Edward N. A number of mental attitudesdeveloped which added to the divisions. Works CitedGibbon, Edward. Thus, Kittoagrees with Luttwack (1976) that the smallness of the army was a sign ofstability, contradictory though that may seem. By the end of the fourth century, the army wastwice the size of that of Augustus (Kitto, 1964, 163-166). In the 5 years from 235 to 284 more than two dozenemperors ruled, all but one of whom suffered a violent death. This systemcreated small fiefdoms which would become rivals, with armies originallycreated to serve Rome turning into neighborhood armies and fighting oneanother. Chicago: Aldine, 1964.Lafferty, R.A. TheRomans conquered Greece, adopting Greek culture and transmitting it to themedieval world. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In time, generals would become pretenders to the Empire, andcivil wars would be fought for years. Thus, Rome's success was also itsundoing to a degree--it was a victim of its own success so that theprovinces it had created would turn on it and devour it. To meet rising military costs and to pay the bureaucracy,the emperors debased the coinage, resulting in a terrible inflation. Whatever reality can be found in it must be found by probing. The Roman misunderstoodthis desire for Christian unity as a political rather than a religiousstatement. Grant finds many of these sameforces at work in our own time, and this is one reason why the fall of Romeso fascinates many historians--the belief that the forces that destroyedRome might act to destroy other civilizations, including perhaps our own. Stationed often for long periods in one province they looked at the Empire from the standpoint of their own country or province, if indeed they did not tend to identify the Empire with their own neighborhood. The history of Rome can be divided into threemajor epochs: the kingship from the legendary foundation of Rome to 5 9BC; the republic from 5 9 BC to 31 BC; and the empire, which survived untilRome finally fell to the German chieftain Odoacer in AD 476. New York: Random House.Grant, Michael. Gibbon'smonumental work traces the course of the two fairly distinct civilizations,that of the Roman Empire of the West and that of its successor, theByzantine Empire centered on Constantinople. The third century was admittedly aperiod of anarchy and confused ambitions leading to the division of theempire into east and west. Radnor, Pennsylvania: The Annenberg School Press, 1976.Kitto, H.D.F. Another major blow was struck by the government itself when ittried to coerce dissidents by force and so made the divisions that haddeveloped worse than they were before. He first finds that a number of members of Roman society"dropped out," as it were, and so deprived the state of manpower andrevenue. In his view, the "decline andfall" were made inevitable by the withering of the classical tradition ofintellectual inquiry, a trend he blamed, in part, on the rise ofChristianity. The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. Unlike the Greeks, they did not develop a philosophicaltheory of state and society. There were sharpdivisions between the opulent notables in the cities and the poor peasantsin the rural areas which created tensions. The frontiers receded and local levies supplied more and bettersoldiers. The auxiliaries thus became more important, and by the thirdcentury A.D. Kitto (1964) states that some historians have found the period toopeaceful, considering the Antonine age an age of complacency in which theimpetus of the empire lost momentum, leading to stagnation, though Kitto(1964) disagrees and says any age has a certain purpose even if it cannotbe immediately perceived by historians. . A certain complacenttraditionalism enveloped some segments of society. The genius ofthe Romans lay in the military, in government administration, and in thelaw, and they valued crafty diplomacy as much as military discipline. Other forces were also at work to bring about the disintegration ofthe empire, and one of the notable forces contributing to the eventual lackof stability of the Roman Empire was identified by the historian EdwardGibbon in his The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. the army was drawn from the very tribes which it had once beenthe business of that army to hold in check, meaning Germans, Moors, tribesfrom the Danube and from Illyria and Dalmatia: These men were scarcely Romanized; their local sympathies were strong. They had less to give to the people in whose country they might be stationed; they tended to be an alien element aloof from the inhabitants; sometimes they were mere soldiers of fortune entering Rome's service (Kitto, 1964, 165).Kitto (1964) says that these soldiers learned of their own power as thebarbarian threat to their particular province increased. The Christian saw any act of homage to the state as ablasphemy, as an act that contributed to the maintenance of idolatry. Each side misunderstood the other and could not see the other'sposition (Kitto, 1964, 178-179). He notes thatthe army of the Republic had originally been recruited from Rome. Kitto (1964) finds that there was achange in the third century as the provinces attained increased importanceat the expense of Rome and Italy. Instead, they were the practitioners of powerand law, and Roman civil law, which reached its peak under the emperors,excelled in precision of formulation and logic of thought. An examination of the history of that era should reveal bothwhy the Roman Empire remained stable and also why that stability ceased. Luttwack (1976) describes the imperial system of defense, which wassurprisingly less controlled and less comprehensive than might be believedconsidering the degree of success it had and the stability it enforced.Kitto (1964) finds that the first two centuries of the empire were timesof peaceful development, in general agreement with what Luttwack (1976)notes. Ancient Rome developed from a small prehistoric settlement on theTiber River in Latium in central Italy into an empire that encompassed allof the Mediterranean world. The Emperor who emerged successfulrested his power and security on military despotism, on pampering hisarmies, and on suffering their petty tyranny over the civilian population.As the army became increasingly more barbarized, the generals and thosethey nominated did as well. The Fall of Rome. Another suggestion wasmade that certain spiritual considerations should prevail and that thus noefforts should be made to address the pressing problems undermining theworld of Rome (Grant, 1976, 311-314). Kitto (1964) finds something similar when he notes thebasic differences between the Roman and the Christian (before the two ineffect became one). (Lafferty, 1971, 294).Michael Grant (1976) cites a number of forces that contributed to the fallof the empire. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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