25| Arrivederci!
Like the great empire itself, the sun sets on these Riflessioni di Roma.
A few concluding thoughts:
CATCH-UP
I had a primary school level knowledge of the Ancient Romans&hadn't properly thought about them since watching Gladiators aged 11.
apparent foolishness. Growing up in the West, which has been marinated in this for centuries, it's hard to get how subversive this was.
And yet it transformed the whole course of human history.
24| Dead but not Extinct
Latin spread along w/ the Empire. It became (&remains) the international tongue of literature, philosophy, theology&law.
But given its reach, how did it die out? & why so quickly?
W/ the fall of the Western part of the Empire,
there was no unifying influence. So language did what language does - evolve. First into Vulgar (#$%!) Latin and then into Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian.
As the rest of the Empire died, Latin went with it.
23| "There was a dream that was Rome..."
Last week @BorisJohnson suggested last week that the fall of the Roman Empire was due to the influx of immigrants. I've no idea why he chose to highlight tha over the arrogance, corruption & narcissism of their rulers. Curious.
馃挵 VANDALS: the Eternal City raided in 455 by the sumptuously-named Vandals.
Game over in 476 - the Western part of the Empire is no more. It takes another thousand years for the Eastern part to get the Game Over treatment.
馃か "There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile."
The dream had died.
#Istanbulievable #vandals #Rome #paxromana #caesarsalad
