What was Rome and other Italian cities like during the dark ages? (ancient, war)

[ColdAilment]

Obviously after Rome fell in 476 A.D. the dark ages ensued, almost immediately afterwards. Yet almost all of the current major Italian cities were founded by the Romans, and have lasted.

I see a lot of history on the dark ages of England, Gaul, and France, but not so much on Italy. While in the middle ages Italy proved to be an economic power. So...what happened to Rome and the other Italian cities during the dark ages?

How small did they get? When and how did they begin to form city states? Was life a lot better in Italy than the rest of Europe during the dark ages? It's just curious that not as much is written on Italy during this period of time. If anyone has any good books on this time period to recommend, please do.

[jobseeker2013]

Water was the lifeline of Ancient Rome. In the 6th century barbarians destroyed some of the aqueducts during a war and the city was reduced to a fraction of its size for the next 1000 years.

[Old Gringo]

They were gawd-awful crapholes of disease, filth, ignorance, and fear.

[Egbert]

I remember reading that Rome was a really strange place during the dark ages. After the aqueduct was destroyed the city didn't have the water to support its population so a lot of people just abandoned the city en mass. What they said was that only small sections all around the city were inhabited and most of the rest was just a lot of abandoned buildings that were falling down. It is described in post apocalyptic terms and apparently was a daily reminder to people that their ancestors had a far more advanced and civilized way of life then they did. The Colosseum would have been really interesting though since apparently until the 19th century it was a weird mirco ecosystem that had an incredibly diverse amount of flora due to the seeds that had arrived from all over the empire either in the fruit spectators ate or on the coats of animals.

The other interesting city I have read about is Aquileia. It used to be one of the great Roman cities in Italy but it was destroyed by Attila, and to escape the residents fled into the lagoons and estuaries nearby and build structures on packed reeds in the wetlands so as to have a more defensible location. This marked the founding of modern day Venice and because they were isolated and on the sea it rose from being a refugee camp to one of the great navel powers of the early modern era.

[MyTarge13]

One of the main businesses in Rome during these times were providing services to the pilgrims that came to Rome to see the great Churches, the holy relics and the Pope. Rome has been a top tourist destination for long time.

This helped make the church very powerful and led to may of the great families trying to get their sons in to important positions within the Church.

[Tallybalt]

Rome was already in decline by 476 with a smaller population than in the heydays of the caesars. Atilla didn't find a fully functional, flourishing city.

Still, I agree that for the subsequent centuries it must have been rather post-apocalyptic to be surrounded by so many abandoned ruins. Rome went from over a million people to as few as 10,000, I think. It wasn't until the late 19th century that Rome once again reached a million people.

Another factor to consider is that most of ancient Rome consisted of substandard apartment blocks built out of wood framing with plaster walls. Only a handful of elites lived in the quintessential stone built villas with private courtyards. When the apartment blocks were destroyed/looted/abandoned it wouldn't take much time for all remnants of these buildings to be wiped away from memory because they were built primarily out of wood and easily destroyed and what was left would be used for fuel or other uses. Because Rome was a hilly city, people probably pushed the ruined stone foundations or ground floors into the valleys/crevices, flattened out the land and converted it into agricultural uses or eventually built atop of them, which is why modern day Rome is quite a few meters higher than ancient Rome.

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

Obviously after Rome fell in 476 A.D. the dark ages ensued, almost immediately afterwards. Yet almost all of the current major Italian cities were founded by the Romans, and have lasted.

I see a lot of history on the dark ages of England, Gaul, and France, but not so much on Italy. While in the middle ages Italy proved to be an economic power. So...what happened to Rome and the other Italian cities during the dark ages?

How small did they get? When and how did they begin to form city states? Was life a lot better in Italy than the rest of Europe during the dark ages? It's just curious that not as much is written on Italy during this period of time. If anyone has any good books on this time period to recommend, please do.

[kanhawk]

A couple of lurid paintings depicting the fall. Can't vouch for their accuracy.


http://www.mitchellteachers.org/Worl...e/slides/1.jpg


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MaRt57qUd0..._posture_2.jpg

[sargentodiaz]

Originally Posted by Old Gringo

They were gawd-awful crapholes of disease, filth, ignorance, and fear.

People threw their slops -- human waste -- into the streets along with their other garbage.
They were crowded together and one could always tell when they were nearing a town or village by the horrid odors coming from them.
The vast majority of people lived in awful conditions while the rich and powerful luxuriated with lots of servants and slaves.
And, as Italy had a warm climate, all of the worst diseases spread quickly.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Egbert

I remember reading that Rome was a really strange place during the dark ages. After the aqueduct was destroyed the city didn't have the water to support its population so a lot of people just abandoned the city en mass. What they said was that only small sections all around the city were inhabited and most of the rest was just a lot of abandoned buildings that were falling down. It is described in post apocalyptic terms and apparently was a daily reminder to people that their ancestors had a far more advanced and civilized way of life then they did. The Colosseum would have been really interesting though since apparently until the 19th century it was a weird mirco ecosystem that had an incredibly diverse amount of flora due to the seeds that had arrived from all over the empire either in the fruit spectators ate or on the coats of animals.

The other interesting city I have read about is Aquileia. It used to be one of the great Roman cities in Italy but it was destroyed by Attila, and to escape the residents fled into the lagoons and estuaries nearby and build structures on packed reeds in the wetlands so as to have a more defensible location. This marked the founding of modern day Venice and because they were isolated and on the sea it rose from being a refugee camp to one of the great navel powers of the early modern era.

Very interesting, I did not know Venice's history was from refugees!

I wonder exactly when Rome and the other remaining cities of the Roman empire finally began to rise again? It must have been a very bad place for people to live after the government completely collapsed, their military was no longer there, and vandals and barbarians had the run of any town they wanted.

Eventually though, that slowed and these cities must have begun to rebuild, I wonder exactly when that was and how it came about.

[kanhawk]

Originally Posted by sargentodiaz

The vast majority of people lived in awful conditions while the rich and powerful luxuriated with lots of servants and slaves.

And the Vatican, I'm sure. That must have been the one area of the city that maintained some standards of cleanliness and civilization.
This a very interesting subject btw. I just don't know if there is much historical record of it. What there is must have been written by monks.