The Dark Ages of the Roman Empire

The Dark Ages of Europe were a critical time in European history. Between the Black Plague, the decline of Western civilization, and the end of the Western Roman Empire, this was a particularly dark time in history. I wanted to read this book because it is a blank spot in history, and it’s also an important time period to explain the end of the Roman Empire. The Ancient Roman Empire fell and caused the decline of civilization in Western Europe for over 600 years.

The Dark Ages of Rome were a critical period of time in Medieval European History. In the Dark Ages of Europe, a crazy thing happened. A wealthy landowner sold her legal independence to a pair of brothers forever. She did this so she could marry the brother, an unfree dependent, a (Servus). [1] This is an important and critical piece of information that tells us important things about Dark Age European Society. European society was economically mobile, women had rights, and there was a class system that imposed legal rights. The Roman Empire was a key defender of intellectualism, order, law, and civilization.

The Roman Empire defended individualism by supporting philosophers, statesmen, artists, writers, and prophets. The Roman Empire supported philosophers, notably including Cicero and Marcus Aurelius. [2] Marcus Aurelius lived between 121 and 180 AD and was also known as a Roman emperor. Marcus Aurelius' notable contributions to philosophy include his philosophy book Meditations. Cicero was a notable statesman and lawyer during the Roman Republic. Cicero developed a strong reputation for being a defender of the Roman Republic and gave several important speeches. The Roman Empire developed a significant amount of order by creating an international road and ship network. They also created important laws and created regional courts. The Romans also kept their troops on the edges of their territories, defending their rights and also creating law in order on the edges, and even beyond the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire developed civilization by building roads, bridges, towns, cities, and other infrastructure.

The Roman Empire developed civilization by building roads, bridges, towns, cities, and other infrastructure. They built roads that allowed Roman soldiers and citizens to travel throughout the Roman Empire and to trade beyond the Roman Empire. This brought wealth to the Roman Capital, Rome, and pushed wealth throughout the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire built bridges to allow its troops to travel to and from key rivers and cities. The Roman Empire built walls, notably in Britain and also throughout the rest of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire built great cities and towns that developed civilization and also created key figures throughout the world.

The Roman Empire was a beacon of civilization, but it also put millions into slavery.  The Roman Empire was important and was an intellectual supporter. When the Roman Empire fell, the infrastructure, law, and intellectual knowledge fell apart. The intellectual power of the Roman Empire relied on a large amount of money and salve labor. It would not be acceptable today, and it was horrific but it was an important part of civilization, and taught us lesson’s that were finally learned by the civil rights movement, in the United States in the 1’960’s

Citations

Wickham, Chris. 2009. The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000. New York: Viking.

Have Fun with History. 2023. “Ancient Roman Philosophers – 10 Most Famous.” Have Fun with History. May 4, 2023. https://www.havefunwithhistory.com/ancient-roman-philosophers/a

[1] Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 (New York: Viking, 2009), page #203.

[2] “Ancient Roman Philosophers – 10 Most Famous,” Have Fun With History, May 4, 2023, https://www.havefunwithhistory.com/ancient-roman-philosophers/