The Fall of Rome in Multiple Parts, Lifestyle and Homeschooling Blog, New Digital Art and Photography
The Fall of Rome in Multiple Parts
Our social studies course is taking off from where it left off last year with the Fall of the Roman Empire. Minime is a fan of history, which makes Mommy pleased. Upon seeing the busts of long-deceased, actual and would-be Roman emperors, he exclaims, one day maybe we will get to see them in real life. That is certainly my wish too. A great deal of Classic Roman art is housed in the Vatican Museum. Many moons ago, I was fortunate enough to tread its long hall and travel through history with Minime's dad. The visit concludes and climaxes with Sistene Chapel and the Michelangelo's masterpiece fresco. You know the one ... God and Man foreshadowing the touch between ET and Eliot.
Let's take a tour through the Vatican courtesy of Rumble.
The owner of the Let's Make Something Rumble channel was less than impressed with his visit. Sheesh. How world-wearing do you have to get? Lucky guy to have traveled that much.
I had the opposite reaction, but then the day I went the mood was pre-set. Pope John Paul the Second ... yes I am that old ... was holding court in the Vatican's massive square. From where I was, he was just a tired, white dot; but it was still cool he met us there.
St. Peter's Basilica is an astounding piece of Renaissance architecture ... cover your knees or you will not be getting in, at least that was the rule those many moons around.
The Vatican museum ... the hi-light to my visit ... I suppose to non-history buffs might be long and feel forced ... a labyrinth. For the lover of all things ancient, dusty, and storied, however, it is a truly immersive experience with countless busts, statues, and the bric a brac of the long-passed toga-clad. So many stories.
Looking back, it was the chapel that I found underwhelming and not the museum. The famous fresco is a lot smaller than what you may have been expecting and dwarf by the amazing ceiling of St. Peter's.
I wonder what Minime will resonate with. When he was much younger, I took him to Spain. Even at six, I could take him into museums to look at art and he loved it. He really is a wonderful travel partner, but it tends to be the architecture that he enjoys the most. He likes the art but takes it in very quickly. Mommy prefer a longer ponder.
To begin our study of the fall of Rome, we tapped once again into a Crash Course History video.
From our studies ...
(Co-composed with Minime)
John Green argues in Crash Course History, Fall of the Roman Empire, that the Roman Empire did not fall until the 15th Century. However the city of Rome was indeed captured by Barbarians in 476 CE. The debate depends on which Roman Empire you mean: the Western, the Eastern, or the Papal.
The last Western Roman emperor was Romulus Augustus. He was deposed by the invading Barbarians. After 476 CE, there were never any more Roman emperors in the city of Rome and heading the Western portion of the empire.
According to the Roman historian Tacitus, the Old Roman Empire was destined to fall because it had expanded too far from Italy and had become unwieldily, too diverse, and impossible to govern. It faced the end point of all imperialistic expansion. The Roman Army had incorporated foreign soldiers into legions and the government made foreign born people citizens.
Many of the soldiers were not loyal to Rome, but to their commanders and/or gold. The choice to include foreign mercenaries in the Roman legions lead to multiple, expensive and eroding civil wars. Dozens of generals declared themselves emperors in the dying days of the Western Roman Empire.
The Eastern Roman Empire did not have its capital in Rome, but in Byzantium. However its residents identified as Roman and followed Roman law. In 533 CE, Emperor Justinian published the Digest, a collection of over 1500 Latin law books.
Emperor Constantine renamed Byzantium, Constantinople and moved his capital there in 323 CE. Constantinople is now modern day Istanbul in Turkey. Having a more eastern capitol allowed the empire to better address animosity with the Persians.
The Byzantines were Christian, but not the precursor of Catholicism as practiced in Rome. The citizens practiced a form of Christianity that would come to be known as Eastern Orthodox.
In the West, there was a pope, and in the east there was a patriarch. They had two different leaders. The Pope did not answer to any other leader and the office would become a de facto emperor presiding over western Europe until the Reformation.
In the Eastern church, the Patriarch was appointed by the emperor. So in the West, there was no leader to rival the Pope and in this way, the Western Roman Empire survived until the 15th century and even until today in Vatican City.
Of course, there is no way we can talk about Constantinople without revisiting the They Might be Giants ear wig. Enjoy and don't forget to get a little bit silly.
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Wao all these different colours of flowers looks so beautiful and amazing. I always like to see natural beauty things.
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Hmm
This means that yhe Roman empire believes so much in destiny because if they don't, they won't believe the fact that they are destined to fall apart because they are too far from Italy.
Nice write up!
I think it is a warning tale against the centralization of power and desire for it.
💯 agree!
Sadly it’s past point of no return to learn this lesson now. At least for our current system. Buy the lesson still is more important then ever for us to learn. Decentralized is only way forward.
America = Rome 2.0
https://twitter.com/lee19389/status/1707741253482295626
#hive #posh
That is sweet that you and Minime have something of an adventure to look forward to someday.
My son is early 20s (yeah I am that old). He for pleasure reads all kinds of books on the Roman empire. So many that I found it odd, but apparently it is a thing, at least according to a podcast I just heard. Who knew?!?
Always been a thing. I loved to read historical fiction when I was younger. It was rare for me to read a novel set in modern times.
The talk of the town is America is the new Rome Empire! Clipping coins 🪙 well we did that also in the sixties turning dimes and quarters to worthless base metals from 90% silver since our founding. The other dynamics line up also. Extending itself 2 much… 1000 plus bases across the world. Gotta wonder how the history books will discuss these days….
We Called It America…..
I liked that song. Funny to hear the ABC speech from Glengarry Glen Ross. Reminds me of my brokering days many years ago.
Yeah even Merle wished a buck was still silver.