Rise of the Barbarians:
An Introduction
to the Disintegration
of the Roman World
Rome:
After internal struggles, the Roman
Republic fell under the dictatorship of
Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar’s
assassination, his nephew Octavian
(Caesar Augustus) ruled from 27
BCE to 14 CE. Augustus is the same
guy who hired Virgil to write The
Aeneid.
Periods of Literature:
A. Classical Period
I. Homeric or Heroic Period
II. Classical Greek Period
III. Classical Roman Period
A. Roman Republic Period
B. Roman Imperial Period
IV. Patristic Period
B. Medieval Period
Here, you can see Uncle
Augie himself, in all his
Imperial finery.
Imperial Rome:
Under the emperors, Rome reached
unparalleled heights of influence.
As evidenced by their military conquests of
their neighbors.
Sculpture of “The Dying Gaul,” a
defeated Celtic warrior lying
wounded upon his shield. The theme
of the conquered Celt was popular in
Roman poetry and artwork.
Their expanded borders grew to
encompass the known borders of the
Mediterranean sea. . . .
Their trade grew, and Rome became so wealthy that the
government could provide free food and entertainment
to every citizen. Tribute from conquered lands and slave
labor provided all the common needs for centuries.
The forum and the
Trajan Marketplace in
Rome.
The Romans reared great monuments to their victorious
generals and emperors.
The Arch of
Emperor
Constantine in
Rome
Much of Roman architecture is
so well-built it stands even
today. Many of the Roman roads
are still in use by modern
automobiles--after 2,000 years
of use. The Pantheon is a marvel
even by modern engineering
standards.
Here is the Oculus of the
Pantheon, the temple to
all the Roman gods.
They adopted Greek
architecture, but often on
a larger scale.
Here is the front of the
Pantheon, the temple to
all the Roman gods.
. . . Even down to such details as Doric columns on
their buildings.
Late Roman culture was a place of
paradox:
The vomitorium and the virtues of stoicism
Praise for traditional farmers, but increasingly
plantation work done by Celtic and Slavic slaves.
Concern for iustitia (justice) but increasingly
harsh and unfair laws
The culture produced magnificent, delicate
artwork in the Greek style . . .
But for funeral rites, they held gladiatorial
games in huge coliseums.
The Flavian Amphitheater
for gladiatorial matches was
several stories tall, and
could hold tens of thousands
of fans who watched slaves
fight to the death or who
watched criminals tortured
to death.
By the second century, gladiatorial matches
became more like elaborate entertainment than
a religious ritual--complete with underground
machinery and exotic animals.
The Flavian Amphitheater contained
elaborate underground passages for
trapdoors and cages to release
dangerous animals. Some such
coliseums could be flooded for mock
naval battles, or they held special
platforms for watching Christians
and criminals be covered in wax and
lit like candles during the reign of
Nero.
The schizophrenia of Rome grew worse the
larger the Empire became. As it conquered new
people, it had to deal with new beliefs and new
cultures--including mystery cults and
monotheistic religions. Rome was fairly
tolerant as long as members of minority
religions would agree to make a sacrifice to the
Divine Emperor as a god once each year. No
problem, right?
Only a few crazy religions would disagree with
that…. like the Jews and the Christians.
Christianity learned to embrace martyrdom
under the Romans. . . .
After years of persecution,
Christianity was finally
tolerated under Diocletian.
Eventually, Christianity
won a major victory when,
after the battle of the
Milvian Bridge, Emperor
Constantine became the
first ruler to convert to
Christianity.
Bust of Emperor Constantine:
In Hoc Signo Vinceres!
The rise of Christianity caused great
anxiety in Rome. Christian virtues weren’t
the same ones that made Rome mighty.
The bloated Empire was disintegrating
under the weight of its own success, and
social ills were often blamed on the new
Christians who preached pacifism rather
than conquest and were notoriously
judgmental of other religions.
And pressure on the borders from the
Volkerwanderüng hastened Rome’s decay.
The newly Christianized Empire fell apart. Saint Jerome (the
compiler and translator of what we now call the Vulgate Bible)
wept inconsolably when he heard that Rome had fallen.
Saint Augustine, the
Bishop of Hippo in
North Africa and
author of the
Confessions, died
even as the Vandal
barbarian tribes
surrounded Hippo
and threatened his
flock of converts.
Image of Saint Augustine
It seemed like the end of newborn
Christianity. The end of civilization. The end
of humanity. Rome with its armies and art and
libraries and its pax romana had vanished in
flames, burnt and plundered by barbarians like
the Goths, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the
Vandals, the Huns, and the Alans. Free
citizens were unwilling to serve in the army,
so Rome hired barbarian mercenaries. The
barbarian mercenaries often turned on their
masters in a spectacularly bloody fashion.
These tribes gutted the Empire and sliced
it up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey.
In England, the Romanized Celts
suffered the invasions of the Angles, the
Saxons, and the Jutes. A thousand years
of the “Dark Ages” fell like night on the
Classical World. But out of this darkness
would rise something new. On the shores
of old Britain, the Angles now held sway
over “Angle-Land.” In the vacuum of
Latin would rise Anglisch . . . English.