The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most successful empires during the classical period. Started in 753 BCE, Ancient Rome ruled much of the Mediterranean and parts of Europe from more than 1000 years. In the third century AD, a forceful Roman general, Diocletian, seized the throne and split the Roman Empire into two parts- the West and the East. The Western part was already in decline, politically and economically, and the split made it more vulnerable to outside invasion. The Germanic Wars were a series of wars between the empire and nomadic tribes such as the Goths, lasting for several centuries. Finally, in 476 BCE, the Western Roman Empire fell to the nomadic tribes, marking the official end of the empire. These nomads that conquered the empire were seen as barbaric, as they killed and ravaged the Romans during the wars, not following any moral or ethical codes. Ultimately, because the germanic people were more primitive in their fighting style and in their beliefs about war, they could be considered barbarians, despite their advanced …show more content…
culture. The word “barbaric” is defined as “savagely cruel; exceedingly brutal.” The nomadic people who invaded the Romans did, in fact, fit this description, as the way they fought and conquered was unnecessarily cruel. When conquering lands, the barbarians would, “destroy everything that others have built and massacre everyone that [they] have conquered,” because they believed that wiping out a culture to ensure that it can never be revived was the only way to truly defeat their enemy (Document 2). This is different from Roman ideals, as the Romans, after conquering an area, would let the conquered people keep their cultures and become partial citizens as long as they stayed loyal to the emperor. Killing everyone and destroying their culture seemed excessively cruel to them, as well as most other empires of the time, making the nomadic tribes barbaric in their eyes. They spared “neither those who yielded nor those who resisted,” during the Battle of Hadrianopolis, proving once again how savage and bloodthirsty they were (Document 5). This type of cruelness was unusual, as most of the time, war prisoners and women and children were not killed. Yet, the nomadic tribes annihilated anyone they conquered, not sparing those who cooperated or those who were not involved in the fighting, such a women and children. They burned down cities, destroyed artifacts, and wiped out cultures just to establish dominance. Additionally, the nomads had different lifestyles and values than the Romans, making them seem primitive and more savage.
In fact, some Roman historians even considered them to be possessed by demons, “who force them to commit the most terrible acts. The nomads had no self control, lusting for gold and power and having very poor hygiene (Document 3). The “barbarians” were “incapable of living according to written laws and only reluctantly tolerating kings.” The Romans tried incorporating the nomads into their army. Emperor Probus enlisted 16,000 German recruits to help the Romans fight, but “they all broke faith ... they roamed over well-nigh the entire world on foot or in ships and did no little damage to the glory of Rome” (Document 7). The Germanic people refused to cooperate with Rome, and were seemingly uncontrollable, not respecting any authority. This made them, in the eyes of the Romans, barbaric and
primitive. While some historians classify the nomadic tribes as barbaric, others argue that the tribes were not barbaric, but actually quite civilized in other aspects of their life. The people of the tribes lived in lavish homes. For instance, the king of the Huns lived in a home “designed not so much for protection as for appearance' sake” (Document 6) This shows that while war was a significant part of their lifestyle, not everything revolved around it, and that they also enjoyed luxurious things. In addition, the “barbarians” were very accepting of those within their race and kin, while “the Romans persecute each other” based on arbitrary differences such as religion and social class (Document 1). This tolerance for differences made the nomadic tribes quite advanced compared to the more “civilized” people. Therefore, while the Germanic tribes were cruel to other groups of people, they were compassionate towards those within their own group, which makes them not barbaric. Finally, some nomadic tribes actually liked Rome and wanted to maintain good relations with the empire. According to a letter written by King Theodoric, a former barbarian who was kept hostage and raised in Rome, King Theodoric, “we [the barbarians] delight to live after the law of the Romans, whom we seek to defend with our arms; and we are as much interested in the maintenance of morality as we can possibly be in war” (Document 8). Thus, even though a war was going, some nomadic people wanted to preserve Rome’s culture and maintain morality throughout, which is different from the typical beliefs of the tribes. This shows that some of the nomadic tribes were fair even during war. While the nomadic tribes did have a civilized life, their way of war was cruel and unnecessarily brutal, making them barbarians. They killed for no reason, and even if some believed that Rome was good and did not deserve to be wiped out, most had hatred for the Romans and wanted to conquer them without any consideration of moral issues. This question of whether the tribes were barbaric is one surrounded with great bias, depending on whose point of view we are considering. The Romans’ views of the barbarians did seem to shift over time, as the documents from early in the empire had little bias and more factual evidence. The documents written closer to the fall of the empire showed bias against the barbarians, most likely because the war was raging full force around that time. Documents from before the war might have been more effective in portraying the true behavior of the barbarians, as the bias would have been less prevalent before the conflict.
The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt developed into successful civilizations. One civilization the Egyptians developed was in the Nile River valley. Based off the "Mesopotamia and Egypt DBQ" packet, "Ancient Egypt was an advanced civilization in many areas including religion, architecture, transportation, and trade. Ancient Mesopotamia was one of the first civilizations that developed a form of government as well as organized people in political states." Based on the documents, Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful and advanced civilizations by effectively using the resources that surrounded them to solve problems and live happily.
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” –Marcus Garvey. The U.S. is a combination of many cultures and influences over the centuries and because of this we are alike to many of them. We could name many of these influences: the Greeks, the Chinese Dynasties but the Romans were particularly like us. We might see them as barbaric is some ways but the reality is that the U.S. takes pages from many areas of the Romans, and comparisons could be drawn between both of us. Examples include government, our religions, and in some ways entertainment. The U.S. is much like the old Roman Empire was more than a millennium ago
Rome was once one of the world's greatest empire until around 200 BCE when Rome started to crumble. The Fall of Rome did not happen suddenly, it took about 1100 years to take place. The first two centuries as an empire were named the "Pax Romana", which meant the time of Roman peace. The Romans were living the life, without a worry in the world. So how and why did Rome start to collapse, if the empire was was doing so grand and magnificent? To answer that question, the primary reasons that Rome started to decline were that the Romans had difficulty with their government which caused social problems/decay, their military was falling behind on their duties and became indolent, and natural disasters.
Rome was kind of a democy it had it’s flaws but by its voting system it makes it a democy. In document C only 2% of Roman’s voted and these votes by the people even though it was few that makes it a democracy. In document C you had to be in Rome to vote which is far because they wouldn’t want an outsider to vote on things that were going on in Rome. In document B poor rich and the freed slaves could vote and for it’s time that is amazing that the poor and the freed slaves could vote. Rome definitely had it’s flaws but for it’s time it was a good democracy but in our fews we don’t think the Rome Republic was a good democy at all.
From about 50 BCE to the year 200 CE, the Roman Empire was a powerful nation. Rome was the city that became the center of the Roman Empire and by 200 BCE Rome became a powerhouse. The Romans conquered Scotland to Spain, controlled the Mediterranean Sea, and established colonies in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Minor. By the year 44 BCE Julius Caesar became a Roman Emperor and Rome had a great military. Then around the 5th century CE the Roman Empire began to weaken. The primary reasons for the fall of Rome was because of the Roman Emperors, the Roman Army, and foreign invasion.
Roman Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE as a continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. The characteristics of the empire led to the modern definition of “Byzantine,” which means “strangely complicated.” This was true, as in the Byzantine Empire was very chaotic, complex, and strange at times, but it was very massive and influential worldwide. The empire heavily influenced modern religion, laws, and engineering making it worthwhile learning about the empire.
Rome was one of the greatest empires of the ancient world. The early Roman state was founded in 509 B.C. after the Romans drove out the hated Etruscan king. By this time Rome had already grown from a cluster of small villages to a small city. Little did the settlers know that this was the beginning of one of the greatest and largest empires ever known.
In Europe during the Middle ages - from 476 to 1100 - there were many things happening at once. There was the plague, holy wars, and poverty. These events inspired the Italian Scholar Petrarch to dub it a “Dark Age”. But there were also many positive things, as listed below. The Dark Ages were not a dark period as Petrarch suggested. They were a time of ________
There were several strengths of the Roman Empire which enabled it to survive for more than four hundred years. These strengths included a strong foundation, having been built off of the Roman Republic; the standardization across the empire of many aspects of life, such as language, law, and especially the extension of citizenship, which made the empire more cohesive and easier to rule; and strong leaders, who were able to utilize the manipulation of the upper class and Senate, and the management of the military.
For a long period of time, Rome seemed like an unstoppable empire. It conquered the majority of the land surrounding it, including Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and many of its other neighboring countries. It seemed as though Rome would conquer the entire world, as it was the center of it, until it began to decline in 476 C.E. The very aspects that made it so successful were the ones that caused its collapse. Various political, religious, and economic reasons caused its downfall. The fact that the entire economy of Rome collapsed and money became worthless was a major reason for the empire’s collapse. In addition, the loss of a common religion and lack of efficient ruling in relation to its vast territory affected the empire. The Roman Empire did not become so successful in a short period of time, and so its decline did not just happen overnight. Over several years all of these different aspects together caused the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was a great and big empire that lasted hundreds of years. It had a great impact on a lot of civilizations. The Romans went from a small civilization to one of the greatest empire of all. But then, was ripped apart into pieces until there was nothing left.
The main drive of such expansion was not so moral or cultural, as “the approach of the Roman government was essentially pragmatic…The frontier peoples were to be tamed, neutralized, and exploited. The exposure of conquered barbarians to a superior way of life was part of this policy…not an end in itself.” In other words, holding land and exploitation were the priorities of Roman government in pure “parasitic” and imperialistic fashion.
The decline and fall of the Roman Empire is a scholarly article written by Justin Ott about the Roman Empire and the events leading up to its fall. The article mostly focuses on the military and economy of Rome in the third century A.D. It lists in the beginning a few of the different theories people have of how Rome fell, including led poisoning and the spread of Christianity. The article seems to want to disprove these theories, showing how they are not the main causes for the collapse of Rome. “Gibbon’s arguments in these sections can be accurately summarized as “the insensible penetration of Christianity in the empire fatally undermined the genius of a great people.” The problem with this conclusion is two-fold. First of all, this explanation is too narrow as it is difficult to believe one single factor brought down the empire. More importantly, it is clear that the Eastern Roman Empire was by far more Christian than the West, therefore if Christianity was behind the fall, the East should have fallen first.” The article’s audience appears to be historians, or those who are interested in history, or just the Roman Empire. It
The Roman Empire was incredibly large and successful. In the prime of the empire population reached up to 56.8 million people. The land they conquered amasses to an outrageous 1 million square miles. Their influence is so great that even now people can see their imprint in architecture, law, and even helping spread Christianity, the world’s most populous religion. These amazing facts also begs a question. How did one of the world’s greatest civilization fall? Well, the fall of Roman Empire in 476 ACE was aided by ineffective rulers, the crumbling economy, and the invasion of the Germanic Tribes.
The Roman Empire is said to have completely collapsed when the German barbarians overthrew the last Emperor, Romulus Augustus in 476 and introduced a more democratic form of government which was very short-lived.