Two thousand years ago, this civilization was at the height of power. So how did she end up in ruins? Exhibition in Trier, Germany, seeks to find answers by exploring antiquity and building bridges with the present. Roman salvete: welcome to the Roman Empire. The ancient kingdom stretched from Great Britain to the Black Sea and from Spain to Egypt. Military art and technical and cultural achievements were unparalleled. There was a sewage system and piped water, transported through aqueducts. The houses had underfloor heating. Even the most remote regions had well-paved roads and thriving trade. People refreshed themselves in public thermal baths, ate exquisite dishes and enjoyed themselves in theaters and circus arenas.
Witnesses to the ancient heyday of the empire are the numerous legacies left by Roman civilization around the world – including Trier, Germany’s oldest city, founded around 17 BC Known as “Augusta Treverorum”, it was the seat of the Roman Empire for several decades in the 4th century.
The “Porta Nigra” (black gate, in Latin), for example, has been a World Heritage Site since 1986. North of the Alps, it is a tourist spot that offers a glimpse of the ancient Roman heyday. For all this, the exhibition “The Fall of the Romans” is in the right place in Trier. Three museums in the city are dedicated to the question of how the gigantic empire fell.
With a rich archaeological collection, including articles on loan from the Louvre Museum in Paris; the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; and the National Public Museum of Antiquities, in Algiers; the Rhineland-Palatinate State Museum (Rheinische Landesmuseum) recapitulates the last centuries of the empire. The Cathedral Museum (Museum am Dom) shows how the church filled the political power vacuum left by the Romans, while the Simeonstift Museum of the City of Trier (Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier) showcases the empire’s legacy in the history of art and culture.
What is clear is: it was not an isolated storm that toppled the Roman Empire. “If it were that simple, we wouldn’t have to do a big exhibition on the subject and researchers wouldn’t have to deal with this topic for centuries”, comments Anne Kurtze, art historian and project manager at the Rhineland-Palatinate State Museum, adding that the fall came about by “a series of circumstances.”
Did Rome collapse for its grandeur?
“Of course, the size of the Roman Empire has always been an insane challenge,” says Kurtze. Roman generals conquered more and more countries and annexed them as provinces. High military expenditures were the order of the day to protect the empire’s borders, which spanned up to 15,000km, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates in modern Syria, and relied on structures such as Hadrian’s Wall in the north and the Limes. , in present-day Romania. Building and maintaining these lines of defense, as well as paying the Roman legions, consumed enormous sums of money.
Wild Germans, bellicose Goths, or uncivilized vandals. It is common to associate the image of barbarians with the groups that invaded the Roman Empire and undermined it through migration. In museums, however, these terms are avoided. It is true that there were refugees fleeing invading Huns (a kingdom of nomads that moved across Europe in the 4th century), but Rome was no longer able to defend its own borders. This was because there were fewer and fewer Romans, as the prosperity of the empire caused the birth rate to fall.
Thus, the need to fill gaps in the military was glaring. Therefore, foreign mercenaries were recruited from among the “barbarians”. However, this did not make them “Roman”. In their hearts, they remained Germanic and did not always obey the Roman commanders, even going so far as to instigate civil wars. Most of the time, the revolts were aimed at improving their pay or status. All these internal conflicts weakened the empire more and more.
The last shovel: high taxes and the decadent upper class
From the 2nd century onwards, the expansion of Rome came to a halt. Which meant that neither abundant spoils of war filled the state treasury nor new slaves were brought to work. Then, between 429 and 439, members of the Vandal tribe conquered the most important province of the Roman Empire: North Africa, the granary of Rome. The revenues of this rich province were lost, and the rulers had to seek other funds to cover expenses.
For this very reason, Rome continued to increase the taxes levied, which left many citizens in difficulty. At the same time, the decadent upper class lived in opulence and had little interest in politics. A classic example of the eccentricity of the dominant strata is Emperor Caligula. According to historians Suetonius and Cassius Dio, he appointed the horse himself as consul and gave him a palace and slaves.
The famous painting “The Favorites of Emperor Honorius” by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) is on display in Trier. “This work shows that the emperors were no longer interested in their duties as state leaders. But does this painting reflect reality or is it just a cliché that posterity makes of this empire?”, asks Anne Kurtze.
Christianity and the Division of the Empire
For centuries, the Romans believed in different gods, until, under the reign of Emperor Theodosius, Christianity was elevated to the status of a single state religion in AD 380, weakening Roman beliefs. “The Church, even as a young institution, took on many tasks previously performed by the administration of the Roman Empire”, explains Anne Kurtze. “But that was not the reason for the decline, but rather a process of change in a civilization already in ruins.”
In 395, after the death of Theodosius the Great, the Roman Empire was divided between Western and Eastern Rome, each being in the hands of one of his sons. Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) became the eastern imperial residence. In the west, the headquarters were in Milan, then in Ravenna and sometimes in Rome. Although everything was still understood as a single empire, there were two emperors ruling. While Eastern Rome only fell in 1453, with the conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II; the last emperor of Western Rome, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by the Germanic general Odoacer.
the leftovers
Anne Kurtze believes that, at first, the imperial residence felt very little of the imperial crisis. Even during the decline of civilization, trade relations helped Rome to flourish. However, as time passed, the Roman Empire was replaced by smaller empires, dominated by Franks, Burgundians or Goths.
It lacked strict administration, as well as infrastructure maintenance. Gradually, the changes became visible, especially in cities. The aqueducts fell into disuse because no one knew how to maintain them. Instead of ornamental gardens with fountains, the Germans cultivated vegetable gardens. Marble statues were destroyed because they needed the material to build houses. Little by little, after the fall of the empire, Roman culture also disappeared.
The exhibition “The Fall of the Romans” continues in Trier until 27 November. The exhibition also makes bridges with current issues. According to Anne Kurtz, climate change may have influenced the fate of Rome and caused migratory movements in late antiquity, due to worsening harvests and famine. Furthermore, just like the present-day coronavirus pandemic, other epidemics may have afflicted the Roman Empire.
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