Why Did Rome: The Fall Of Rome

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“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble,” said Augustus, one of the most accomplished Roman emperors of the Empire’s time. Rome was one of the greatest empires of the ancient world, and its legacy still remains today. But like all great empires, it declined and fell. There were many factors that led to the fall of Rome, three major ones being plague, weak or inefficient rulers and the introduction of Judeo-Christian religion to Roman society. The Antonine plague weakened the empire near the end of the Pax Romana, overlapping with the ascension of Commodus and the string of unfit emperors that followed him. Christianity and Judaism caused revolts and split an already divided empire.
Rome was not originally an empire. From …show more content…
Malaria and Typhoid Fever killed around 30,000 Roman citizens per year. Malaria, the more common disease of the two, had a high incubation period and a requirement for high temperatures. The disease peaked in autumn of every year. Then, in 165 CE, soldiers returning from the Middle East brought a disease back with them. Identified in modern times as smallpox or measles, the Antonine plague killed 30% of the Roman population in just 15 years. One of the many casualties was Lucius Verus, the co-emperor and brother of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the good emperors of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) and the namesake of the plague, his full name being Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. Marcus Aurelius himself died in 180 CE, the year the plague ended. His son took over the devastated empire with disastrous …show more content…
Poor Romans converted to Christianity, favoring Jesus instead of the pagan gods and increasing the wealth gap. The Jewish people revolted twice, causing stronger laws against monotheistic “cult” religions. The Severan dynasty devalued Rome’s currency and were generally weak rulers, and the emperor Commodus who preceded them reversed important foreign policy and neglected his duties in favor of luxury. The Antonine plague, along with regular diseases like malaria, destroyed the Roman population, not even sparing the emperor. The way major empires fell can provide us with vital information; history is destined to repeat itself if not followed. With a large percentage of the Muslim population being wrongfully targeted as terrorists, a presidential nominee who has plans to set the country back many years socially, and parents starting a dangerous trend of not vaccinating their children out of fear, America, a modern empire, could fall in a way similar to the Ancient
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