Negative Effects On The Roman Society

The rise of the Roman Empire had many contributors. These factors would include strength in the military, society, leadership, religious, and architectural aspects of the

As Rome conquered communities, more and more people were becoming Romanized, and noticed as Roman citizens. Of course these new citizens were expected to pay taxes, allowing the empire to grow economically as well as militarily. During the Roman rule of Augustus, Caesar and Trajan, Rome's laws were continually improved making Rome ever more powerful and ethical. (Ferril)

The Roman Empire conquered land at a previously unparalleled rate, within the known world, affecting its institutions from the rest of the Empire’s prevalence. From Hispania to Britannia sweeping across the mediterranean, gaining Egypt, ending in Persia; the absorption of Carthage and North Africa, and finally the civil war being won by Augustus, all brought upon the negative effects of their conquest. The Empire continued to grow from the year 200 B.C.E. to the year 200 C.E.; this growth had many effects upon the Empire. Although expansion and conquest are often good, seen as liberating, or wholly expansive in mathematical, philosophic, and scientific thought, this is not inherently the case. The Roman Empire’s expansion was not entirely as powerful and awe inspiring as many claim it to be; the greedily performed collection of lands resulted in many negative outcomes. These outcomes largely presented Rome with an issue they would never be able to recover from: empiric decay. The effects of militaristic expansion, of the Roman Empire, resulted in the decay of previously prosperous economic, political, and social institutions.

The Roman Empire was one of the greatest empires around it’s time period. They ruled their region with an overpowering military force. They also had compelling agriculture and religion. Much of their music, clothes, and other agriculture continued on throughout other empires. They shaped the world with their beliefs and ideas and without this empire the world would be very different. There were strong Roman emperors and also horrible emperors who ruined the empire. Caesar and Constantine were among the most popular emperors of Rome. Constantine ruled later in the Empires lifetime while Caesar earlier. The death of Caesar had a huge impact on this empire. Constantine gave the Roman Empire the main religion of Christianity. This questioned the original beliefs of the Romans. They totally changed their culture. Towards the fall of the Roman Empire, the empire was split into two parts. This weakened their strong military force and led to an invasion. Evidently this caused Rome’s fall. The Roman Empires fall was due to the death of Caesar, mass poverty among Rome’s citizens, rise of Christianity, split of empires, and the invasions of the barbarians.

Due to the mass amounts of civil war taken place on Roman land, farming and agriculture greatly suffered. Land was over worked and overused causing the land to become infertile. Soon food shortages and diseases caused the population to decrease. From the cumulations of lost money to war and farming the economy weakened and inflation became high. The gap between the rich and poor gradually increased and the economy weakened. Between civil wars, high taxation, and food shortages, citizens lost a sense patriotism that once flourished throughout society.

To begin with, one of the main problems of the Roman Empire was their economic problems and corruption. For example, in an excerpt of a historical text written by Priscus, which was a Roman ambassador to the Huns in 449 C.E, he reported a conversation he had with a former citizen whose land had been conquered by the Huns. In their conversation the former Roman citizen stated, “ The conditions of [Roman] subjects in time of peace [is worse than war]...taxes are very severe, and unprincipled men inflict injuries on others… A [wealthy lawbreaker] … is not punished for his injustice, while a poor man … undergoes the legal penalty… The climax of misery is to have to pay in order to obtain justice…” This supports that one main problem that ended the Roman empire was economic problems and corruption because it shows that if rich people in Rome committed a crime they would only have to bribe their way out of trouble while on the other hand poor people will have to face their consequences which is unfair so when they got invaded by the Huns they decided that it was best if they conquered than to join the military to help their empire. In addition another economic problem is that the the Roman Emperors had to pay their own soldiers to stay loyal which lead to emperors having to mint more coins which is further supported by BrainPop which states, “Roman emperors often bribed their soldiers with money to make sure they remained loyal. And when emperors didn’t have enough to pay their troops, they would mint cheaper coins. This caused the value of Roman money to plummet.” This also supports that one important cause that caused the Roman Empire to decline was the corruption and economic problems because in order for a empire or a civilization to function efficiently, they need to respect all people

Rome needs money to strive and without it, it was more likely to collapse as the economy went down the drain. Due to deadly illnesses being transmitted to the Roman Empire, it allowed the economy to suffer severely. The illness, measles that had arrived from southern Asia, had decimated the population leaving 250,000 people left from a million in the Roman Empire (Doc. #8). Due to the military having to hire Germanic soldiers to guard their frontiers, they needed money to pay the troops. The demand for money to pay for these troops then added to the demands on the state’s budget, just as declining production cut into tax revenues. Taxes became severe on the citizens of the empire, wealthy men were treated more valuable than the poor and unprincipled men inflicted injuries on others (Doc. #6). The Roman Empire treating the wealthy with more respect could be due to their need for money in the state’s budget and hoping some of them would have the heart to donate money, preventing the fall of Rome. Taxes were raised for obvious reasons. The empire knew they were having money problems and needed to get more out of the citizens spending habits, also to prevent the fall of Rome. The natural disaster that struck the Roman Empire in 366 CE could also contribute economically to the fall of Rome since the there was a devastation left and all recoveries to the city cost money (Doc. #7). The

The Roman Empire was, overall, an immensely successful and innovative empire; this success derived from the implementation of the Christianity religion, spreading of Romanization so that Roman subjects were united and had Roman rights, and the economical and technological advancements that flourished under the period of Pax Romana. While these benefited the Roman Empire greatly and made Rome a prosperous civilization, Rome gradually weakened and, conclusively, fell. The eventual and definite decline of Rome was caused by excessive territorial expansion, economic issues, and foreign invasions.

Primarily social and economic factors influenced the downfall of the Roman Empire. External economic forces gradually brought their effects into the empire whilst internally Rome’s social fabric began to degrade. This socio-economic degradation seen in Ancient Rome is likely due to both Rome’s social and economic instability as well as the birth of the Christian faith in the Roman Empire. Part of the downfall of Rome can be attributed to external economic factors such as a lack of conquest and a large influx of slavery from without. Much of Rome’s economy “was fed by plundered wealth and by new markets in the semi-barbaric provinces” (Document 2.)

The Ancient Roman Civilization was so large and advanced that it was able to influence the entire Western Civilization today. Some things influenced include modern architecture, entertainment, sports, and the calendar. The Roman Empire was so powerful, militarily and technologically, that their influences can still be seen around the world, and in people’s daily lives.

The citizens of Rome needed to pay heavy taxes in order to finance Rome’s armies. The taxes weakened the economy making trades suffer. Farmers couldn’t compete with rich families leading for them to go into the city, hoping for work. Infamous emperors would waste money and crime rates rose, making the streets unsafe.

The Roman empire expanded and influenced a large region of the Indo-European continent. This influence served as a model, in some ways,by shaping the present day culture and laws we have. The large expansion of the Roman empire during the reign of Augustus brought about the assimilation of the Roman influence into various systems of politics, law, religion, and culture.

The culture in Ancient Rome has a massive impact on our society today, it influenced our sports, language, government, technology, etc.

Carthaginians were wealthy and from the North Africans city that was founded by Phoenician’s they had more power, military, and naval experience than the Romans (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.184). Because Carthaginians were trying to expand into Sicily which held just one of Rome’s greatest grain producing cities this unsettled the Romans, who feared being cut off from a great food source (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.184). Though they tried a workable solution of sharing control of the Mediterranean this was not to be. This inability to work together was one of the reasons for the start of the Punic wars, a series of three different wars (Jones, Rome, Podcast 1). In the bloody 3rd war of the Punic wars Rome defeated the Carthaginians (Jones, Rome, Podcast 1). After the Punic wars the Romans had found they had accumulated vast amounts of wealth and land. This put them in an awkward position, because they had no plan in place for this and did not know what to do with it (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.187). This huge wealth also created a problem for Rome, one of greed and corruption which began to take control over Rome (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.187). Senators who amassed wealth begun to become lazy and accustomed to a life of leisure, also the more wealth they got the more they wanted (Jones, Rome, Podcast 1). The next problem for Rome was these greedy senators not only wanted the wealth they wanted power too

Ancient Rome was known for its rich history and vast influence that is still attributed into modern day society. When speaking about Rome itself and the reason of influences it has made over the course of years, many people only seem to recognize the male figure. But looking at the course of history at a closer glance, women have made their marks not only within the Roman Empire but within the history itself. Before going further, one must first understand what goes into an average day and the lifestyles and customs the Roman Woman took. One must also understand that what may seem abnormal in today’s society, would fit a perfectly normal life for the ancient Roman citizen, most especially of the Roman women.