Roman Empire Religion

Oh, has the world evolved! I was so ignorant not to interfere with the destruction of Rome. Even though I was not communicating with them, one would think they would still have some faith. Now look at humanity. They have created false gods, and they have become out of touch with our ways. The events that followed caused mass destruction and the falling of the all-controlling Roman Empire.
First was the spreading of Christianity. It was one of the leading causes for the fall of the Roman empire. Then Christianity lead to love and devotion to another god. This god people prayed to was one god, and Romans now practiced monotheism for the first time in history. The Christians then changed ancient temples into churches and places of worship
for another god. Roman-Christians were quite lazy, and they didn’t seem to try to pick a fight like they always had in the past. “Christian religion valued idle and unproductive people.”(Gibbon, The History of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) Christianity spread like wildfire, taking over the minds of fine Roman citizens. Overall, Rome and it’s government became weak and was no longer a threat to outsiders. Rome was arrogant and underestimated outsiders’ beliefs in its society.
Roman society originally was luxurious and rich, if you were wealthy. As the plethora of years went by, so did the glamor. Infrastructure was in terrible shape, despite trying to hold it together with “band-aid” repairs. Overpopulation demolished the thought of repairing buildings. Poor leadership, lead to no tax surplus for important repairs to the Roman empire. Even the ethics of the Roman people were obscured. Barbarians used this to their benefit and infiltrated Rome. Romans became so peaceful, that unexpectedly that the soldiers took off their armor and became inadequate to fight off enemies.
Inflation was also a contributing factor. Emperors started to tarnish currency in order to make more. “The amount of silver in a supposedly (100%) silver denarius was only .02%.” (Ancienthistory.about) Rome started taxing citizens more, but by then it was too late. The government then started using land as its currency. However the land only lasted about two emperors’ life times. Taxes then became so outrageous that some low-income citizens sold themselves into slavery.
The enormity of the Roman empire inevitably split, not just by land and sea but also by culture.
Eventually it was indefinately split in half. Each half, known as eastern or western, had two rulers. For example, a president and a vice president, officially known as a senior augustus and a junior caesar. The Eastern half was the Latin portion. The Western half was the Greek portion. Lead poisoning was also theorized to decrease population caused from bad pipes around the now split empire.
Mass migration struck when there was nothing left to stay for. Thousands of people left, destroying the economy and the military. People set out for a new place to inhabit rather than the now run down and corrupt, once power-house empire. As they went on to become what Romans called barbarians, and emperors were not getting any better. They took what they wanted and had no respect for Rome’s history. Many killed innocents, paranoid about losing their throne.
The thing that Rome lacked the most was an arduous defense. Rome was pummelled and battered by invaders. These invaders include, the Saxons, Franks, Angles, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals. They had no strategy nor manpower to defeat its enemies. Each of these marauders took their piece of Roman land. To name a few, the Saxons and Angles occupied the British Isles, and the Franks made France their
home.
The climax started when the last emperor of the west was Romulus, who was taken over by the Germanic leader Odoacer. This was the first barbarian to rule a Roman civilization. Soon after, the Western half fell, but the Eastern portion still lasted. The emperor on the Eastern side struggled to rebuild the ruins and make new monuments. “The Roman empire not only survived the collapse of its western partner in the third quarter of the fifth century, but went on to thrive in the sixth.” (BBC) After years went by, migrants and slaves then came together and revolted against taxes. Then at its final collapse, money, land, and culture disappeared along with the broken empire.
In conclusion, after all the suffering and death, the Roman empire was one of the most intriguing and knowledgeable civilizations.
There were extraordinary leaders and villains in its society. It had an even more noteworthy ending. A once taboo religion turned into the literal hail mary of religions, and the Romans watched their civilization crumble in front and on top of them. Hereafter, Romans watched the value of everything they owned decrease to nothing. The power house that was once Rome split into two, each ruled by different leaders. There was mass migration, with thousands of Romans leaving for something better and new. Consequently, the already dwindling and unstable military turned into a small group of inexperienced fighters. Soon after, the West is toke over and was ruled by barbarians. Finally, after struggling to hold on, the East was taken over and ultimately destroyed by it’s own people and the Roman empire was forever gone as we know
it.
As Zeus, I have to say I could not have made a more glorious, ‘fighting till’ the end’ story. Even though the ancient civilization was gone. Keep your head up past Zeus, everything will be alright. The history still exists, ancient Rome still lives on, in the past as the indestructible empire that never stopped it’s action packed society.