The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire (The Princeton History of the Ancient World Book 2)

This is an interesting history of the fall of the Roman Empire which concentrates on ecological factors such as pandemics and climate change. The main point is that the Rome prospered during the Roman Warm Period (aka Roman Climate Optimum) and fell apart during the Late Antique Little Ice Age.Republic Rome lasted about 500 years (509 BC - 27 BC) and this is when Rome conquered most of its territory. It was able to create allies out of the conquered by employing the local elites to be its tax collectors. The Roman Empire was formed in 27 BC with the accession of Augustus Caesar and its main role was to maintain the empire the republic had created. The most successful era stretching from the late republic to the early empire occurred during the Roman Warm Period (200 BC - 150 AD). This period includes the era known as Pax Romana which the famous historian Edward Gibbon described as of one the best periods of history.The first assault on the Roman Empire occurred in 165 AD with the Antonine Plague, believed to be small pox. This plague killed millions of people. The population of the Roman Empire had been about 75 million and that of Rome about 1 million before the plague. That was the peak and the population of the empire never recovered after that. This was of course a time when military and economic power depended on manual labor. But the Second Century was still the height of the Roman Empire even though a civil war broke out late in the century.Meanwhile a transitional cooling period had begun that decreased agricultural production which was the basis of the Roman economy. This helped lead to what is known as the Crisis of the Third Century (aka the First Fall of the Roman Empire), but this was only a setback and not a collapse. The main events were the assassination of the emperor in 235 AD, civil war, and the Cyprian Plague, a bubonic plague which began in 249 AD. This plague is also estimated to have killed millions of people. The main causes were a vast economic network which made it easy for infected rats, which carry the bubonic pathogen, to reach the empire from Asia in boats, and a somewhat weakened population from decreased food production.The empire was finally stabilized with the accession of Constantine the Great in 324 AD. His other accomplishments included establishing in the eastern part of the empire a second capital which eventually was named Constantinople and adopting Christianity as the state religion. In 395 AD the empire was divided into a Western Empire with its capital in Rome an Eastern Empire with its capital in Constantinople. The peace and prosperity of the Fourth Century recovery eventually descended to the Second Fall of the Roman Empire in the Fifth Century.This decline was caused by political instability, civil wars, barbarian migrations and invasions, as well as economic decline and an increase in welfare recipients. This breakdown of Roman order led to the barbarian sacking of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 AD and by the Vandals in 455 AD. Meanwhile the Huns, a nomadic warlike tribe form the Asian steppes, had entered the Western Empire and were also threatening Rome. All this led to the final fall of the Western Roman Empire when the local barbarian warlord Odoacer deposed the last western emperor in 476 AD. But while the rule of the Western Roman emperors came to an end, what was left of Roman life simply continued under various barbarian conquerors.The story of the Roman Empire usually ends here but what is less known is the Eastern Roman Empire accomplished a big comeback in the Sixth Century under the eastern emperor Justinian. He re-conquered most of the lost areas of the Western Roman Empire including Italy, the Balkans, North Africa, and southern Spain. He also codified one thousand years of Roman law for the first time with the Justinian Code. This comeback ended in 541 AD when the Justinian Plague, another bubonic plague, struck the Roman Empire again. This time the plague killed about half of the population. By this time the Late Antique Ice Age had kicked in, decreasing agricultural production and apparently forcing infected rodents into coastal cities.All this led to the Third Fall of the Roman Empire in the Seventh Century. The former Western Empire was again lost to various barbarian tribes who formed new states that led to the future formation of Europe, such as the Franks controlling Gaul. Then Muslim invasions from the East took all of the Mid-Eastern and North African provinces of the Eastern Empire. Meanwhile the Avars, another nomadic warlike tribe from the Asian steppes, took the Balkans. The Eastern Empire was reduced to a small state around Constantinople called Byzantium but managed to survive until conquered by the Turks in 1453.

This book is essential for all lovers of Roman History. It overlays the history with the events of epidemic diseases and climate change. In so doing, you will find what C. S. Lewiscalls ‘Transposition’: the flooding of a lower medium and the raising of it to a new significance by incorporation into a higher medium. The book also reveals a mastery of language, and lays out the events in a captivating manner. A great history book all around.

Excellent book. I would give it 5 Stars for the level of scholarship and the overall interesting subject matter (at least for me).One idea or theme that comes across is that the Roman Empire did not just disappear or collapse overnight one day in 410 CE (or AD, as you will) when Rome was sacked by the Goths or in 476 when the last emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed and never replaced or superseded. It gradually collapsed as a political and economic entity between around 400 and 600. For most people, there were probably really no great changes in their lives during that period. Perhaps for the ruling or economic elite (the Roman equivalent of the 1%), things might have been significantly and noticeably worse. Even the symbols of the decaying Empire and Republic still existed until quite late. I have read elsewhere that the last recorded meeting of the old republican Senate occurred in 605, even though the Senate had long ceased to have any real political power. By 600 in general, though, the territories of the old Empire were noticeably less populous and less wealthy than they had been in, say, 150.Another major theme of the book is that the Roman Empire didn’t collapse for a single reason, such as being invaded by barbarians from the east. Several things happened simultaneously: the benign climate of the early empire changed for the worse, devastating smallpox and bubonic plagues occurred, and the fiscal system deteriorated significantly so that the Emperors and the bureaucracy couldn’t pay the army and administer the government. The Roman Empire was a resilient entity but it had much less inner strength than a modern nation state.The reason I gave the book a 4 Star rating is because it is not an easy book to read. I have a university Master’s degree and I found it to be pretty turgid at times. I wonder how many potential readers routinely use words such as “concatenation” (one of his favorites – the author uses it often), “demimondaine,” “eschatological,” and “caesura” in their reading and writing. The author also occasionally inserts Greek words (transliterated into the Latin alphabet) and Latin words and phrases. I had Latin for three years in high school and remembered enough to be able to make a reasonable translation of the Latin, but the Greek lost me.

This book focuses on the link between climate, epidemics of plague and the collapse of the Roman empire. I found it most interesting. It is quite a technical book and best suited to those with an interest in science and enjoy looking at graphs and considering quantitative data. I actually work on population dynamics so it was on the edge of my field. It presents some interesting and well argued ideas on the role of disease and climate on the fate of civilizations. One is left considering what the fate of our civilization will be. I recommend this book.

A fascinating take on the collapse of the Roman Empire, perceiving the many factors which both made a fairly obscure city the master of the Mediterranean and beyond and eventually rendered any such significance historical. While political and military factors are not ignored, the impact alterations in weather cycles and in the ambient disease pool had on these changes is given centre stage.Naturally a degree of sacrifice of small scale detail has had to be made to suit the small number of pages, but this is really only noticeable in the discussion of the ‘barbarian’ cultures of eastern and central Europe. For non-specialists, moreover, more grounding in the history of the northern hemisphere’s weather since the last Ice Age might also have been helpful.

The only disappointing thing about this book is that it ends to soon. Surprisingly so, because while my Kindle told me we have a third of the book left, this turned out to be appendices (valuable), notes (absorbing), a bibliography (impressive) and an index (comprehensive). When I was at school our Latin Master (the great Gordon Rodway) told us the cause of the fall of the empire was a mystery.Now I have an answer to the question that has vexed me for so many years.

What the world needs now is, more (like Kyle Harper), historians that can engage people in what preceeded their short stay on earth. . Not more climate change experts. We have so much to learn from histories like this. Thank you Kyle Harper. Prompted to write this late review, we purchased the Fate of Rome, as an audio book and paperback, last year was the email announcing his new book & am very much looking forward to that.

Found this a very useful work synthesising environmental science and history.