The Fate of Rome

September 15, 2017
A view of the fall of Rome from a different angle, looking beyond military and social collapse to man's relationship to the environment."The fate of Rome might serve to remind us that nature is cunning and capricious. The deep power of evolution can change the world in a mere moment. Surprise and paradox lurk in the heart of progress," writes Harper (Classics and Letters/Univ. of Oklahoma; From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity, 2013, etc.) in this astute "account of how one of history's most conspicuous civilizations found its dominion over nature less certain than it had ever dreamed." The empire's very strength, built on travel, trade, and migration, also enabled the spread of tuberculosis, leprosy, smallpox, plague, and other diseases. The kindness of the climate played a large part in the expansion of the empire, especially agriculturally, but the close proximity of humans and animals brought new parasites and diseases. Furthermore, the high level and density of urbanization in over 1,000 cities facilitated the widespread transmission of germs. The empire survived a pandemic in the age of Marcus Aurelius, then a mix of drought, pestilence, and political upheaval called the "Crisis of the Third Century," or the first fall of Rome, beginning in the 230s. At that time of political upheaval, suddenly the Aurelian walls rose around Rome, coins were debased, and fear enabled the rise of Christianity. Though Rome rebuilt and recovered, more was to come as the climate turned. The empire suffered drought in the southern Mediterranean, especially Rome's breadbasket, Egypt, and the Plague of Cyprian (250-270) spread throughout the empire. Among many other intriguing hypotheses, Harper proposes that it was Ebola; regardless, it devastated the population and invited invasion by Goths, Persians, Franks, and others at the weakened borders. There is much to absorb in this significant scholarly achievement, which effectively integrates natural, social, and humanistic sciences to show how the fall of the empire caused the decline of Rome.

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September 25, 2017
Explanations of Rome’s decline and fall underestimate a key factor according to this ingenious, persuasive account from Harper (From Shame to Sin), professor of classics and letters at the University of Oklahoma. Human action played its role, but Rome’s fate “was equally decided by bacteria and viruses, volcanoes and solar cycles.” Historians generally agree that Rome flourished from about 100 B.C.E to 150 C.E., which interval Harper reveals coincided with the Roman climate optimum—a period of warm, wet, and stable weather around the Mediterranean. Climate stability then deteriorated until, after 450 C.E., the area entered the chilly Late Antique Little Ice Age, which wreaked havoc on food production. Famines, which had been rare, began appearing. Romans were dreadfully unhealthy, with a life expectancy under 30. Adults were shorter than their Iron Age ancestors and medieval descendants. The legendary Roman sewers functioned mostly for storm drainage, and living so close to effluvia made diarrheal diseases the leading killer, rivaled by malaria and such epidemic catastrophes as smallpox and bubonic plague. Harper enlists modern techniques, including DNA sequencing, astrophysics, ice core analysis, forensic pathology, volcanology, epidemiology, and economic analysis to his case. This fine history of Rome is lucidly argued and its perspective no longer controversial. Maps & illus.