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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
Slow in places but the chapters on the Late Antique Little Ice Age and the plague of Justinian are excellent.
Overall, an interesting book and I’d recommend it.
Overall, an interesting book and I’d recommend it.
I don't think he did a great job tying the epidemics to the empires failings
challenging
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
There are a lot of reasons that you could argue for why the Roman Empire didn't last. This book brings in climate and disease factors, which is something I hadn't considered before (not that I know a ton about the end of the Roman Empire and the subsequent centuries).
Summary :
1. While Marcus Aurelius held the reins, a pandemic “interrupted the economic and demographic expansion” of the Roman empire.
2. In the middle of the 3rd century, a cocktail of drought, plague, and political turmoil led to the unforeseen and precipitous dissolution of the empire. It was, however, determinedly rebuilt, with a new emperor, a new system of governance, and in due time a new Mythos.
3. The coherence of this new empire was splintered in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. The entire Eurasian steppe seemed to rest against the edifice of the empire's power in brand new and unsustainable ways, and the western part of it tumbled.
4. In the east, there was a resurgent Empire, but unfortunately, this was violently brought to a halt by one of the worst environmental disasters in recorded history — the double strike of bubonic plague and a little bit of ice age for good measure.
The later centuries Roman history were an age of endemic and pandemic disease. The empire was shaken thrice by mortality events with such wide and striking geographical reach. In 165 AD the Antonine plague erupted most probably due to smallpox. In 249 AD, an undefined pathogen scoured the territories of Roman reign. And in 541 AD, the first rampant pandemic of Yersinia pestis, the agent that authors the bubonic plague, arrived and dawdled for over all of 200 years. The enormity of these biological catastrophes is almost mystifying and should serve as a stern warning for the times to come.
1. While Marcus Aurelius held the reins, a pandemic “interrupted the economic and demographic expansion” of the Roman empire.
2. In the middle of the 3rd century, a cocktail of drought, plague, and political turmoil led to the unforeseen and precipitous dissolution of the empire. It was, however, determinedly rebuilt, with a new emperor, a new system of governance, and in due time a new Mythos.
3. The coherence of this new empire was splintered in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. The entire Eurasian steppe seemed to rest against the edifice of the empire's power in brand new and unsustainable ways, and the western part of it tumbled.
4. In the east, there was a resurgent Empire, but unfortunately, this was violently brought to a halt by one of the worst environmental disasters in recorded history — the double strike of bubonic plague and a little bit of ice age for good measure.
The later centuries Roman history were an age of endemic and pandemic disease. The empire was shaken thrice by mortality events with such wide and striking geographical reach. In 165 AD the Antonine plague erupted most probably due to smallpox. In 249 AD, an undefined pathogen scoured the territories of Roman reign. And in 541 AD, the first rampant pandemic of Yersinia pestis, the agent that authors the bubonic plague, arrived and dawdled for over all of 200 years. The enormity of these biological catastrophes is almost mystifying and should serve as a stern warning for the times to come.
Harper has a very convincing writing style, but his numbers are inflated. I read this in 2019 and felt as though Harper wanted to believe his hypothesis enough he used the maximum estimates for all populations and deaths instead of a more believable number.
Numerous historians have written numerous books analysing why and how the Roman Empire collapsed. Yes there were invasions and revoltes, but there were also climate change and pandemics. More importantly, the empire didn’t fall in years or decades, but in centuries. The Roman world did not end in a big bang, but in many bangs. In Fate of Rome, historian Kyle Harper paints a wide picture of the empire from its turning point to the end. His focus is the effects of pandemics and climate changes on society.
Three pandemics:
1. The Antonine Plague or the Plague of Galen: 165 to 180 AD; possible pathogen: smallpox. This plague is widely considered the turning point of Roman history. The empire bounced back but weakened.
2. The Plague of Cyprian: 249 to 262 AD; possible pathogen: a virus in Filoviruses family, which includes modern species such as the Ebola virus. The empire was further weakened and failed to bounce back.
3. The Justinianic Plague: bubonic plague in the Late Roman or Byzantine Empire, which first appears in historical records in 541 CE. It reappeared in waves in different regions over the next two hundred years, ending ca. 750 CE. The plague, along with the climate change brought by The Late Antique Little Ice Age, transformed the social and spiritual landscape of the Late Roman Empire and marked the beginning of medieval time.
Two major climate change events:
1. The Roman Warm Period, or Roman Climatic Optimum, was a period of unusually-warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400. The end of this period brought agriculture failures across the empire. Climate change also made the Huns migrate from central Asia to the west. According to the author, the Huns, the barbaric invaders, were climate refugees.
2. The Late Antique Little Ice Age was a long-lasting Northern Hemispheric cooling period in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, during the period known as Late Antiquity. The period coincides with three large volcanic eruptions in 535/536, 539/540 and 547.
A well-researched book written in easy-to-follow prose. A lot of detailed descriptions, figures and analysis.
In the Epilogue, Harper gives his view on The Malthusian theory. While nodding to its merit, he points out that the view is entirely human-centric. The evolution of microbes is intertwined with ours, but it is on its own path and we humans do not have control, even using today’s technologies. Nature is not passive.
The book was published in 2017. Perhaps it is not surprising that the climate change (this time man-made) and pandemic are now back onto the center stage of our life, which is chilling to think of.
Three pandemics:
1. The Antonine Plague or the Plague of Galen: 165 to 180 AD; possible pathogen: smallpox. This plague is widely considered the turning point of Roman history. The empire bounced back but weakened.
2. The Plague of Cyprian: 249 to 262 AD; possible pathogen: a virus in Filoviruses family, which includes modern species such as the Ebola virus. The empire was further weakened and failed to bounce back.
3. The Justinianic Plague: bubonic plague in the Late Roman or Byzantine Empire, which first appears in historical records in 541 CE. It reappeared in waves in different regions over the next two hundred years, ending ca. 750 CE. The plague, along with the climate change brought by The Late Antique Little Ice Age, transformed the social and spiritual landscape of the Late Roman Empire and marked the beginning of medieval time.
Two major climate change events:
1. The Roman Warm Period, or Roman Climatic Optimum, was a period of unusually-warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400. The end of this period brought agriculture failures across the empire. Climate change also made the Huns migrate from central Asia to the west. According to the author, the Huns, the barbaric invaders, were climate refugees.
2. The Late Antique Little Ice Age was a long-lasting Northern Hemispheric cooling period in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, during the period known as Late Antiquity. The period coincides with three large volcanic eruptions in 535/536, 539/540 and 547.
A well-researched book written in easy-to-follow prose. A lot of detailed descriptions, figures and analysis.
In the Epilogue, Harper gives his view on The Malthusian theory. While nodding to its merit, he points out that the view is entirely human-centric. The evolution of microbes is intertwined with ours, but it is on its own path and we humans do not have control, even using today’s technologies. Nature is not passive.
The book was published in 2017. Perhaps it is not surprising that the climate change (this time man-made) and pandemic are now back onto the center stage of our life, which is chilling to think of.