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I thought this might be a good forum to ask this question.
I've always been fascinated by Roman history, especially the time of Julius Caesar and his immediate descendants. I would rather read a history of that time than indulge in any other form of entertainment. The time of the seven kings, very interesting. The establishment of the early republic, also worth hours of reading. The later republic and the civil wars also very gripping. From the time of Julius Caeser to the year of the four emperors, absolutely riveting for me.
It isn't that I find the continuing history boring, or that I don't spend time learning about it, but it seams more like working at an education, rather than what I would consider entertainment when I discover something new from the earlier period.
I've encountered a couple of other people that have a similar feeling as I. I'm curious if many others feel the same and why that may be.
I find the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the period leading up to it more fascinating but isnt too significant in terms of politics. The fall of Byzantine Empire is far more fascinating as well.
Fall of Republic is how a republic which is what we are turns into dictatorship, so I guess that is why is emphasized more. It is more politically relevant for USA.
Why do we focus on the end of the Roman Republic, not so much on the later Empire?
Star power. The period before and after the transformation from republic to empire is loaded with larger than life characters. Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Crassus, Spartacus, Cicero, Catiline, Caesar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, Octavian, Caligula, Nero, and thanks to Robert Graves, Claudius.
The reason we focus on the end of the Western Roman Republic is because it is effectively a modern State and a great of example of everything that can go wrong.
The lessons to be learned from the collapse of the Western Roman Republic are many.
The government collapsed, the economy collapsed, the military collapsed and society collapsed. Understanding how and why that happened has a bearing on today.
There is no real difference between the Western Roman Empire and a modern country, and I do mean country and not nation or nation-State.
You cannot compare the Western Roman Empire with Norway, because Norway is a nation-State, but you can compare it with countries like the US, Canada, Australia, China, Russia, India, and a handful of others (like South Africa and Iran).
Star power. The period before and after the transformation from republic to empire is loaded with larger than life characters. Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Crassus, Spartacus, Cicero, Catiline, Caesar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, Octavian, Caligula, Nero, and thanks to Robert Graves, Claudius.
The Roman Civil War is an exceedingly interesting and well documented period in history.
It's similar to the Three Kingdoms period in China, the American Civil War, or the World Wars which are favorites of historians.
The time of the Five Good Emperors was a great time to be a Roman citizen, but it was pretty boring compared to what came before.
It may be that we see more of ourselves in the demise of the republic. Perhaps it's a fear that we may be on the same path.
There are countless movies, plays, and television programs focusing on the late republic and early years of the emperors. Not nearly as many on the hundreds of years that followed.
My favorite history is in the ten books of Livy regarding the War with Hannibal. I also read all of Livy's earlier books on the founding of Rome, the empire, and the later ones regarding the Mediterranean. I have had no trouble finding people to discuss them with, so I am not sure of the premise.
Polybius, too, is a good author on the early days, though read by fewer in the modern world.
Why do we focus on the end of the Roman Republic, not so much on the later Empire?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avondalist
The Roman Civil War is an exceedingly interesting and well documented period in history.
This is my understanding as well, it is a period with relatively abundant extant contemporary written sources some of whom had access to contemporary archives and/or were personal witnesses, and much of it high quality.
In comparison, much of the later Roman Empire history is written even centuries in retrospect, at times by writers of dubious quality and in any case from a partisan viewpoint.
Studying the later Roman Empire, or even the reign of Nero for example, requires, among other things, painstaking research of extant epigraphy, coinage, and different fields of archaeology, including field, soil, metallurgy and ceramics. Moreover, one would have to read contemporary research in diverse languages, such as Italian, Greek and Russian, not usual fare in western universities. That's a lot for one person, or even a team, and not too many are interested.
To my knowledge, there are a few individual professors here and there, but I do not know of one university ancient history faculty that specializes in late Empire history that combines all those disciplines to write a contemporary fact-based detailed chronological narrative, as opposed to facile assbackwards ideological retrojections which are a dime a dozen for every historical period and this "history" forum is rife with it.
On the other hand, I have been out of the late Roman Empire/late Antiquity loop for some 15 years, so maybe it's different now, though I doubt it.
The reason we focus on the end of the Western Roman Republic is because it is effectively a modern State and a great of example of everything that can go wrong.
The lessons to be learned from the collapse of the Western Roman Republic are many.
The government collapsed, the economy collapsed, the military collapsed and society collapsed. Understanding how and why that happened has a bearing on today.
There is no real difference between the Western Roman Empire and a modern country, and I do mean country and not nation or nation-State.
You cannot compare the Western Roman Empire with Norway, because Norway is a nation-State, but you can compare it with countries like the US, Canada, Australia, China, Russia, India, and a handful of others (like South Africa and Iran).
I think you missed the point of this thread. The original poster asked why we focus on the end of the Roman Republic versus the collapse of the Roman Empire. You do realize they are two entirely different events that occurred at different points in time right?
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