The rise and fall of the Roman Empire and its legacy

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire is the history of ancient Rome from the traditional end of the Roman Republic in 27 BC until the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in AD 476 in the West and the Fall of Constantinople in the East in 1453. Ancient Rome became a territorial empire while still a republic, then was ruled by emperors beginning with Octavian Augustus.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 1 hr 19 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   the rise and fall of the roman empire · Wikipedia · 60+ min read

   Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded Claudius Gothicus as emperor in 270 and continued the restoration of the Empire. Reigning (270 to 275) through the worst of the crisis, Aurelian defeated the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Palmyrenes, the Persians, and the remainder of the Gallic Empire, helping reunite the Roman Empire by late 274. In 476, Orestes, having stolen power from the emperor Julius Nepos the year before, refused the request of Germanic mercenaries in his service for lands in Italy. The dissatisfied mercenaries, including the Heruli, revolted under the Germanic chieftain Odoacer; 476 is generally accepted as the formal end of the Western Roman Empire.

2. Read
   

   The Fall of the Roman Empire Was Less a Clash of Civilizations and More an Opportunity to Mix and Mingle, a New Genetics Study Shows · Smithsonian Magazine · 3 min read

   Researchers analyzed more than 250 genomes from early medieval graves in what's now southern Germany and discovered a family tree of diverse Roman and northern European lines, which they say twisted together around the collapse of Rome in the fifth century to form a new community.

3. Watch
   

   The Roman Empire. Or Republic. Or...Which Was It?: Crash Course World History #10 · YouTube · 12 min watch

   John Green explores when Rome shifted from republic to empire, how Julius Caesar came to rule, his assassination, and the scramble for power that followed.

4. Book
   

   SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome · Bookshop.org

   SPQR by Mary Beard narrates how Rome rose from "a slightly shabby Iron Age village" to the "undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean."

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