Comments on: Decline and fall

By: Crooked Timber » » Decline of Nordic Character

Crooked Timber » » Decline of Nordic Character — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 16:44:52 +0000

[...] Adding my little bit to the Maggie Gallagher pile up ; isn’t her claim-in-passing that the Roman Empire collapsed because of “death by sexual disorganization” rather entertaining? Sounds like a great way to go out to me; even more fun than Death by Chocolate (which clobbered the Aztecs, as any fule kno). Gallagher isn’t the first to advance this thesis – I linked a while back to a list which included childlessness and homosexuality among 210 extant explanations for the decline of the Roman Empire. But her claim seems no less ridiculous on its face than some of the other putative causes, which include bolshevisation, culinary excess, decline of Nordic character, female emancipation, Jewish influence, hyperthermia, tristesse and vulgarization. “Explaining” the collapse of Rome seems to be one of those historical Rorschach tests in which quack amateur sociologists stare into the inkblots and see their own prejudices and crackpottery staring back out at them. posted on Thursday, October 20th, 2005 at 11:29 am Post a comment [...]

By: Walt Pohl

Walt Pohl — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 20:19:52 +0000

I didn’t want to say anything, ‘cause I’m kinda embarrassed, but I can’t keep it a secret any more: I caused the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. My bad.

By: Kimon

Kimon — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 19:55:17 +0000

I see Meteor Impact is missing from the list.

By: Shai

Shai — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 10:15:07 +0000

On a related note, last month the mises blog linked to an audio lecture titled "Military Decadence in Ancient Rome" (mp3 format) by Daniel McCarthy (Washington University). It sounds intelligent to me but the only history course I've taken started with medieval feudalism, so caveat emptor.

By: zizka

zizka — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 00:47:23 +0000

IA, YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING.

By: Invisible Adjunct

Invisible Adjunct — Mon, 25 Aug 2003 21:48:13 +0000

I think Gibbon summed it up best when he attributed the fall of Rome to “the triumph of barbarism and religion.”

By: eric

eric — Mon, 25 Aug 2003 21:24:07 +0000

Geez. that’s everything but China. (no wait, those attacks by Nomads on Horseback were caused by China chasing off said Nomads in the first place). Too bad we can’t blame it on the French too.