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OPINION

“THE RUIN OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE “

By Kevin F. Sherry August 31,

In the year 532, the last effective Roman emperor, Justinian, found himself with a bit of a dilemma. Gang-like groups of cha
fans were rioting in the streets of Constantinople. The Blues and the Greens, as they were known, were a bit annoyed that
refused to commute the sentences of two of their homeboys – one from each gang – after they had fallen from the scaffold
botched execution attempt, which they attributed to divine intervention.

The Blues and Greens banded together in an unlikely alliance. The Yankees and Red Sox fans of their day had joined forces to
through the city, setting fire to buildings and laying siege to the emperor. Justinian wanted to get out of town, but his ex-prostitu
persuaded him to stand his ground, if only to leave a good-looking corpse: “Royalty is a good burial shroud,” she said.

Justinian ended the revolt by sending his troops into both ends of the stadium where the rioters had congregated. Like two wa
in an Indiana Jones movie, they marched inward. The death toll that day? About 30,000.

“So Justinian was known, among his many other excellences, as a cold-blooded murderer – or rather, as the master of murdere
reputation has its uses,” writes historian James O’Donnell in his new examination of “The Ruin of the Roman Empire.”

What brought down the Roman Empire? It’s the preoccupation of classical scholars, and more than a few of today’s political scie
see parallels between its rule and Pax Americana. Can we avoid its fate?

In between telling us what Romans wore (tunics were the new togas), ate (fish sauces and lots of spices) and even what the peo
like (“a little riper than they do nowadays”), O’Donnell lays out a compelling case for what the Roman Empire lacked: Term limits

O’Donnell says the Roman Empire went out of business because it couldn’t make nice with its neighbors and because Justinian
the world a revolutionary new legal code and the architecturally masterful Hagia Sophia, among other things, lived past his prim
long, costly wars when making peace would have strengthened the overstretched, unwieldy empire far more effectively.

Things might have gone better had not Justinian survived what William Rosen thinks really brought down the empire, the plagu

In “Justinian’s Flea,” Rosen notes that grain shipments went to all corners to support the empire, and where the grain went, the
followed. “Everywhere that the legions carried Rome’s eagles, they also carried her rats,” Rosen writes. Things got bad. Real ba
population that was filling up the graves rapidly overtook the population that could dig them.”

Like a flea, the book springs from topic to topic, genre to genre. It starts with history, followed by a study in architecture, with a s
political intrigue. Then we move on to biology, to learn about the structure of bacteria and how they cause fleas to vomit blood
unsuspecting hosts.

Rosen is prone to tangents. In developing Justinian’s Code, which laid down parameters for disputes between men and women
freedmen, he notes that “the bishops did not get everything they asked for; the Code continued to permit divorce – the Church
ban it was rejected on the grounds that it would increase the potential for poisonings.” It’s all very interesting taken on its own,
say you have to wade through 174 pages before you get to the flea, and another 40 before the flea gets to Justinian.

Both books feature all the right cameos: Attila the Hun, Jesus, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths (known for their slightly blacker
emo eyeliner). But if you prefer your barbarians on center stage, Thomas J. Craughwell’s “How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped
World” will not disappoint. Huns, Vikings and Mongols – oh, my! Craughwwell puts the collapse of polite society and the founda
others squarely at the feet of these cutthroats.

He even offers “you are there” recreations, such as how folks in the Roman colonial town of Trier executed their criminals in the
Slaves brought a couple dozen barbarian Franks who were tied to posts in a stadium. After the slaves cleared out, officials open
second door and released the lions, leopards and bears for their noontime snack to the delight of the crowds.

The book details stories of elite Viking berserkers ripping opponent’s jugular veins from their necks with their teeth, tales of how
attacked the Romans, and details about why everyone was afraid of the Huns. With every barbarian “interaction,” good and bad

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cross-cultural pollination: The Vikings made the east coast of Ireland a new trade hub and founded the country’s first towns, inc
Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Waterford.

What really brought down the Romans? Reading these three books, one comes away thinking it was a little bit of everything: Co
politicians that allowed society to decay to the point that plagues and enemies could wipe it out. Whether as small as a flea or b
Viking, only vigilance keeps it at bay.

But for pure entertainment, stick with Craughwell’s “Barbarian Invasions.” With bite-sized chapters and numerous full-color illust
classical artwork, it’s not too deep or scholarly. But what are you – civilized?

The Ruin of the Roman Empire

by James O’Donnell

Ecco

Justinian’s Flea

Plague, the Empire, and the Birth of Europe

by William Rosen

Viking

How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World

by Thomas J. Craughwell

Fair Winds Press

Recommended by

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