History of Western Civilisation - Tuesday 7th Period: Discussion 6: The Roman Empire

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

All right, class. Since I rotted your brains last Wednesday with popular culture disguised as history, I thought we'd get back on track today with a good solid discussion of the end of the Roman Empire.

As I said last week, the fall of Rome did not really mean the end of the Roman empire. The Byzantine Empire -- which you will hear about tomorrow -- lasted for another thousand years and always considered itself a continuation of old Rome.

But the cession of Rome as a superpower changed the face of history in Western Europe.


[[OOC: OCD threads are coming up!!]]

Comments

Re: QUESTION 2: Religion in the Roman Empire

[janet_fraiser]

"Christianity didn't allow for the state religion," said Janet. "I'd imagine the emperors saw that as a direct threat to their temporal power, rather than a challenge to religious views. Though I'm sure it didn't help that the Christians wouldn't have recognized a Roman rule as a god after he died."

She sometimes wonders what forces in the Roman empire were influenced by Egeria.