Mary Beard's Ultimate Roman: Empire Without Limits - Episode 4

Episode 4 concludes with the fall of the Roman Empire.  Mary Beard finds herself walking under the remains of a gatehouse in Germany.  Rome was built to last but did not.  The decline and fall of the Roman Empire have been on historian’s minds.  It is a puzzle.  Was it inflation?  Was it corruption?  Was it barbarian invasions?  Was it the lead in pipes?  It is a complicated question with no single answer.

Mary finds herself in Northumberland.  It is here she starts answering the question “Why did the Roman Empire fall?”  She walks along Hadrian's Wall and talks about the fringes of the Empire.  Northern Britain/Scotland was a challenge for the Romans.  So, rather than deal with the barbarians, they built a wall.  Hadrian's Wall is a statement: a statement of Roman power and the Empire has boundaries.  The wall demonstrates that the wall has an edge; has a boundary.  It was the first time that the Empire was mapped.

The wall kept the barbarians out and entices the people in.   Everyone on the wall was a citizen, everyone outside the wall was an outsider.  It was turned the empire inside out.  Decisions came from the fringes of the empire rather than the center of power: Rome.  Emperors received their support from the legions and were deposed by supporters of the next emperor.  These emperors only had enough time to put up a statue before being deposed.  The propaganda that surrounded the emperors undermined them.  It showed how sick the system was.

The Romans tried to reinvent the Empire.  They hoped to restore order.  They divided the empire into four mini empires, administered by four emperors, and from four mini capital cities.  It made the empire manageable and the new cities became administrative centers.  With decisions made in the mini capitals, Rome was no longer the center of the Empire.  Trier demonstrates that Rome was no longer the center of the Empire.  The grand church where the Emperors ruled from rivaled what could be built in Rome.

Another thing that undermined the Roman Empire was the changing beliefs of the people.  The Romans believed in many gods.  Each of these gods functioned in many different ways.  As a result, the Roman landscape is littered with temples.  Generals often made promises to their particular in exchange for victory.  These promises resulted in the building of a temple once the victorious general returned home.  When the temple was built, it was a demonstration to the people of the gods’ favor.  It was a demonstration that you needed to keep god’s favor on your side.

The Romans inhabited a world of gods.  Mary shows off a collection of figurines of the various gods.  It showed religion on a personal level.  A Roman could put a god in their pockets and take it with them.  Gods did not have one job to do like Venus was only the god of love.  A Roman could appeal to a variety of gods for their needs.  For example, a Roman could choose to pray to Minerva, Neptune, Hades, or Mercury when they planned on going on a sea voyage.  Each god could be approached for a variety of needs.  It was a flexible system.  Romans could create their religious world.

As the Empire grew, new religions were introduced to Roman life.  Some of these religious would challenge the Roman’s religious beliefs.

To continue to learn more about Rome’s fall, continue to watch the documentary.

I rather liked the discussion that Mary had on the various gods Romans worship.  This discussion would be a good clip to use in an English class when students are learning about mythology.  Roman mythology was not straight forward as you were taught in school.

You can access the YouTube Video here.