The Fall of the Roman Empire

The fall of the Roman Empire marked the end of one of the world's greatest empires.  How could an empire so large and strong collapse?  Actually there were many flaws in the Roman government.  For example, when an emperor died the Romans had no set way to transfer the crown.  The crown was either fought over or most likely given to someone who would not make a good emperor.  Roman people had to pay a lot of taxes, which led many Romans into poverty.  Because of this, trade was poor.  There weren’t enough jobs for everyone and emperors like Nero and Caligula wasted a lot of money.  The final reason for Rome’s fall was invaders.  Because Rome was so large it was hard to defend all of the empire.  By the 300s C.E. the Germans were breaking through the western borders.  Many Romans were forced to join the German army.  In 410 C.E. one of the German tribes attacked Rome.  By 476 C.E. the Germans had taken over the empire.

The Germans attacking Rome. 

Even though the Roman Empire was defeated, Roman culture has influenced a lot of our life today.  One historian said, “Rome perished, yet lived on”.  Rome has influenced our art, architecture, language, citizenship  and more.  Frescoes, which are three-dimensional Roman paintings of landscapes, can be found in restaurants and other buildings today.  If you lok at early American statues you can see the influence that the Romans had on our art.  The Capitol building has many examples of Roman architecture, which includes arches, a dome, and pillars.  Romans also had the first sewer system and were the first to use concrete.  One city in Spain still uses some ancient Roman aqueducts.  The Latin language and alphabet had a big influence on our language and alphabet.  We use the Latin alphabet, but added three letters.  Our language was made of many Latin roots and prefixes.  We also use roman numerals.  Our idea of citizenship comes from the Roman idea of citizenship.  To be a citizen all people have to follow the same laws and everyone will have the same rights and opportunities.  Even though the Roman Empire fell its culture is still alive.                                                                          

     See the simalarities?     

Sources

Bower, Bret and Lodbell, Jim. History Alive The Medieval World and Beyond.  Palo Alto, CA 94303, Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, 2005

http://www.carlos.emory.edu/COLLECTION/CLASSIC/classic09.html, 8/30/07

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Sculpture_21_00020.htm, 8/30/07

http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/08ROMFAL.htm, 8/30/07