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While I am no history scholar (most of my info comes from reading the Wiki and watching the history channel) I think the 1000 year thing is a bit of an overstat

While I am no history scholar (most of my info comes from reading the Wiki and watching the history channel) I think the 1000 year thing is a bit of an overstatement. The western roman empire (The part that actually had rome in it) only lasted ~450 years (fell in 476), and really it reached it's peak long before that. As I understand it the Rome that tends to captivate people's imaginations is the era between Julius Ceasar (Rome the TV show) and Marcus Aurelius (Gladiator). Lasted about 150 years. Rome didn't really fall, it more so decayed slowly over a long period of time, which I think is probably more suited to the point of this article with regards to LJ, and a future vision of Facebook.

zipdog 16y ago
I'm a part-time history scholar but Rome is not my focus. However I'd throw the following dates into the mix: 264 BC (start of the Punic Wars) Roman Republic controls the Italian peninsula (as far north as Pisa) and is militarily aggressive 146 BC: Roman Republic dominates the Italian peninsula, has subdued the Greek mainland and razed Carthage 44-15 BC the transition from Republic to Empire 476 AD Western Roman Empire collapses. 1025 AD Eastern/Greek/Byzantine Empire is still a significant power 1204 AD Sack of Constantinople It's hard to say exactly how long they were a power. Behaviorally, they were a strong, aggressive power for 250 years before becoming an Empire. And they were a significant power for 1000 years after losing Rome. So for over 1500 years they were an important state in the Mediterranean. You've got a good point that major events we think of when we say Roman Empire occur in a fairly short span, but I think it's quite accurate to say "The Roman Empire last[ed] the better part of a thousand years" So I think it's fair to say the Roman Empire lasted 1000 years.

zipdog 16y ago

I'm a part-time history scholar but Rome is not my focus. However I'd throw the following dates into the mix: 264 BC (start of the Punic Wars) Roman Republic controls the Italian peninsula (as far north as Pisa) and is militarily aggressive 146 BC: Roman Republic dominates the Italian peninsula, has subdued the Greek mainland and razed Carthage 44-15 BC the transition from Republic to Empire 476 AD Western Roman Empire collapses. 1025 AD Eastern/Greek/Byzantine Empire is still a significant power 1204 AD Sack of Constantinople It's hard to say exactly how long they were a power. Behaviorally, they were a strong, aggressive power for 250 years before becoming an Empire. And they were a significant power for 1000 years after losing Rome. So for over 1500 years they were an important state in the Mediterranean. You've got a good point that major events we think of when we say Roman Empire occur in a fairly short span, but I think it's quite accurate to say "The Roman Empire last[ed] the better part of a thousand years" So I think it's fair to say the Roman Empire lasted 1000 years.