2 ms·

Why did cultural and technological development seem to subside after 476?

• jcranmer 5y ago
  What makes you think it subsided after 476 and not, say, 235? I'm not an expert in Late Antiquity, but it should be recalled that when most people think of Rome and Roman innovations, we usually harken back to Classical Rome, that of say from 200 BC to 100 or so. If you think about Roman political figures you know, or Roman escapades you remember, or Roman authors you read, chances are you're going back to that time. Of course, there is one very, very, very major cultural institution after the Crisis of the Third Century that Rome bequeathed to the world. But many--perhaps most--people would stridently object to considering it Roman. I am of course talking about Christianity.
  • hodgesrm 5y ago
    Augustine was one of its foremost practitioners and was fully inculcated in Roman culture. His writing is as good as anything produced during the classical era. The Confessions are one of the most significant texts in all of Latin literature. If we see Christianity as a shift in focus rather than a break, that pushes the “downfall” back to 400 AD or later at the least.
  • thaumasiotes 5y ago
    > there is one very, very, very major cultural institution after the Crisis of the Third Century that Rome bequeathed to the world. But many--perhaps most--people would stridently object to considering it Roman. I am of course talking about Christianity. You mean Roman Catholicism, the organisation both named after and headquartered in Rome?