[hinckley buzzard]

You are right. Rome never had a genuine "official" religion before Christianity was declared by Constantine. In any case many of the "barbarians" such as the Goths were already Christian when they rejected Roman suzerainty.

Religion had nothing to do with the Fall of Rome. Notwithstanding all the other signs of decline, the most fatal defect was Rome's failure to solve the problem of succession. Every time an emporer died there was basically a free for all for power, which sometimes even resulted in multiple "emperors."

[BenKenobi]

Hmm? Not true at all. Rome had a very strong civil religion.

[gleeaikin]

Another factor in the fall was the kind of greed syndrome we have seen on Wall Street. Romans had huge absentee landlord estates often with slave labor. Diocletian decided to fix the class structure, almost destroying any possibility for upward mobility. This move basically destroyed any Roman middle class. This is what I am afraid is happening today. I have been in Mexico and seen what it is like when you only have the very well off and rich and at the other end grinding poverty.

[eleni121]

Yes you are right-—In general Gibbon has done more damage to the accuracy of historical narration than not. He is the most well known of historians to allow his biases to take over when reporting historical events.

[Flag_This]

"Notwithstanding all the other signs of decline, the most fatal defect was Rome's failure to solve the problem of succession. Every time an emporer died there was basically a free for all for power, which sometimes even resulted in multiple "emperors."

I've always heard that was one of the contributing factors, but if it was, it was a problem they had for over 400 years before the collapse.