Active Users:423 Time:17/06/2025 11:17:12 PM
OK, think this one's been pretty thoroughly covered in my absence. Joel Send a noteboard - 13/04/2010 11:51:16 AM
I would make it not happen.

Rome doesn't resort to tactics which would result in their fall and the dark ages never happen. Europe doesn't go through the intellectual lull it did and religious dogma and irrationality isn't able to take over.

As a result, mankind is much further along today.


Didn't the Plauge happen several hundred years after the fall of Rome? Or am I just being an idiot and not quite getting what your saying?

In some cases, the same diseases were responsible for multiple instances of plague, and it's hard to accurately diagnose each of them hundreds or even thousands of years later. "Plague" killed Pericles and a host of others when Athens was besieged in the Peloponessian War; WHICH plague remains an open question.

I don't agree the Romes plague near the end is what killed it though; overextension and complacency during the Pax are more attractive candidates. Christian unity and the assimilation of so many "barbarian" German tribes kept Rome on life support and hid the decline for at least a century after its peak, but had the Empire been sustainable Constantinople would never have been founded.


The plague that came through Rome crippled its army, killing most of the young Roman soldiers. This eventually forced them to try and assimilate barbarian tribes and resort to the measures that kept it on life support.

Without the plague, Rome's population might have been strong enough to sustain Roman troops and a Roman identity, instead of seeding power to outsiders.

Of course, the reason Rome fell can be debated endlessly. I'm one of those that thinks it was the plague.

Either way, if Rome hadn't fallen like it did, I think we'd be better off by a lot today. But "Have Rome not fall like it did" doesn't sound like a very good reply

Just wanted to let you know I DID read it; I always read replies, even if work and other responsibilities often mean I don't get to respond in turn as promptly as I'd like anymore. Oh, for the days when I could go back and forth in a half dozen wotmania CMB threads at once for thirty hours before collapsing in an exhausted heap then rising to re-enter the lists. On the plus side (sort of) I couldn't do that now even if I had the time.
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I know I just did a survey, but this was too good to pass up. - 07/04/2010 12:44:15 AM 741 Views
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The Plague - 07/04/2010 12:52:33 AM 492 Views
Re: The Plague - 07/04/2010 01:05:35 AM 396 Views
Maybe; there were episodic plague epidemics before and after that time. - 07/04/2010 02:05:18 AM 537 Views
I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 02:50:25 AM 489 Views
Re: I am talking about one of the plagues not THE plague - 07/04/2010 08:45:26 PM 485 Views
I'm so glad you have the time and inclination to type up these replies. *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:09:22 AM 323 Views
...? - 08/04/2010 07:51:14 PM 394 Views
Sounds like he was thanking you for saving him the effort of writing a similar reply. *NM* - 08/04/2010 09:28:55 PM 345 Views
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OK, think this one's been pretty thoroughly covered in my absence. - 13/04/2010 11:51:16 AM 550 Views
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Re: The spread of Christianity - 07/04/2010 08:47:06 PM 392 Views
Re: The spread of Christianity - 08/04/2010 09:29:17 AM 416 Views
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Re: But wasn't Christianity the inspiration for a whole era of art? - 08/04/2010 01:44:36 PM 532 Views
precisely. - 08/04/2010 05:37:26 PM 505 Views
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NOOOO1111 - 07/04/2010 01:11:33 AM 414 Views
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Fair enough. - 07/04/2010 12:51:16 PM 490 Views
I read the Bernard Lewis article referred to at Wikipedia... - 07/04/2010 01:19:03 PM 473 Views
So it's borrowed propaganda. - 13/04/2010 09:30:39 AM 464 Views
Re: The spread of Islam - 08/04/2010 09:24:31 AM 560 Views
Haha, are you kidding? - 08/04/2010 07:59:39 PM 323 Views
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Ask yourself the question... - 08/04/2010 09:33:33 PM 326 Views
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Considering the way history is taught, is it surprising? *NM* - 08/04/2010 07:11:03 AM 298 Views
Nope, not really - 08/04/2010 10:24:54 AM 494 Views
Here's one that'll be more to your liking... - 08/04/2010 10:40:53 AM 340 Views
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I know - 08/04/2010 02:46:41 PM 509 Views
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just as you thought it would be? *NM* - 08/04/2010 08:44:49 PM 295 Views
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The 1987 Rugby World Cup Final - 13/04/2010 12:23:17 PM 539 Views

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