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Interesting. What about the accumulation of people who remember good things? The Empire that exists today just had several new countries willingly join it's m

Interesting. What about the accumulation of people who remember good things? The Empire that exists today just had several new countries willingly join it's military Alliance. When Rome fell people felt like the world had ended and it took 1000 years to get back to what the Romans had at their peak.

Retric 3y ago
Europe 500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire was well past the Roman peak in just about every respect. Stuff like literacy rates and population density are hard to compare. Yet look at say yields per acre, metallurgy, defensive fortifications, armor, siege weapons, etc and Europe was far more advanced technically. The general population saw a net lifestyle improvement fairly quickly, excluding the direct advantages of being part of a large empire. We tend to think of Math as not recovering for 1,000 years but ditching Roman numerals was a clear advantage that didn’t take nearly as long. So, objectively it’s more complicated. Instead, it’s the myth of the Roman Empire which took a long time to surpass.
- qwytw 3y ago
  > population density are hard to compare Gaul and Germany were way past their Roman peaks by that point. Probably most of the Western Empire besides Italy.
cardanome 3y ago
> When Rome fell people felt like the world had ended and it took 1000 years to get back to what the Romans had at their peak. When did Rome end exactly? Yeah, exactly, we can't even agree on that. It is insane how the idealization of the antique that happened during the Renaissance is still forming the basis of our pop science understanding of history to this day. The fall of the Roman empire was a slow, gradual and complex process that can only really be understood in retrospect. It wasn't replaced by unwashed "barbarian hordes" as is still the narrative but people that had close ties or were part of the Roman empire, often spoke Latin and saw themselves in the tradition of the Roman empire. The slave-holding Roman empire had to die so that humanity could evolve. It was holding back progress. The feudalistic serf-based system of agriculture allowed for a more efficient use of human labor. It is the medieval period that set the foundation towards our modern future. (See also the other comment for in how many aspects the medieval society quickly surpassed antique[0]) Still despite the "empire" title, modern imperialism has barely anything to do with the Roman empire, so you missed the topic anyway. The only link that both the south and the Roman Empire have, is that their slave-holding societies had to die so that economic progress could happen. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=39953692& https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=39953692&

Retric 3y ago

Europe 500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire was well past the Roman peak in just about every respect. Stuff like literacy rates and population density are hard to compare. Yet look at say yields per acre, metallurgy, defensive fortifications, armor, siege weapons, etc and Europe was far more advanced technically. The general population saw a net lifestyle improvement fairly quickly, excluding the direct advantages of being part of a large empire. We tend to think of Math as not recovering for 1,000 years but ditching Roman numerals was a clear advantage that didn’t take nearly as long. So, objectively it’s more complicated. Instead, it’s the myth of the Roman Empire which took a long time to surpass.

qwytw 3y ago
> population density are hard to compare Gaul and Germany were way past their Roman peaks by that point. Probably most of the Western Empire besides Italy.

cardanome 3y ago

> When Rome fell people felt like the world had ended and it took 1000 years to get back to what the Romans had at their peak. When did Rome end exactly? Yeah, exactly, we can't even agree on that. It is insane how the idealization of the antique that happened during the Renaissance is still forming the basis of our pop science understanding of history to this day. The fall of the Roman empire was a slow, gradual and complex process that can only really be understood in retrospect. It wasn't replaced by unwashed "barbarian hordes" as is still the narrative but people that had close ties or were part of the Roman empire, often spoke Latin and saw themselves in the tradition of the Roman empire. The slave-holding Roman empire had to die so that humanity could evolve. It was holding back progress. The feudalistic serf-based system of agriculture allowed for a more efficient use of human labor. It is the medieval period that set the foundation towards our modern future. (See also the other comment for in how many aspects the medieval society quickly surpassed antique[0]) Still despite the "empire" title, modern imperialism has barely anything to do with the Roman empire, so you missed the topic anyway. The only link that both the south and the Roman Empire have, is that their slave-holding societies had to die so that economic progress could happen. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=39953692& https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=39953692&