Replies

You are absolutely wrong. It is a fact that malaria"bad air" was endemic in much of the Western Empire, and took a heavy toll on the population, as it still does in much of the world today. Survivors are greatly weakened and susceptible to many other infections and ailments. Smallpox and many other diseases took a heavy toll on many civilizations, and many contemporary accounts of the plague of Justinian relate the devastation. Plague and famine were common partners, and given inefficient agricultural techniques, natural disasters, and climate changes, many cultures suffered declines, and were conquered or absorbed by others.

The facts are up until the last century, daily life was hard, short, and brutal for most of the world's population. Of course, those who use Gladiator and other Hollywood tripe as a basis for sanctimonious judgment of ancient cultures aren't going to be too interested in facts.

" The facts are up until the last century, daily life was hard, short, and brutal for most of the world's population. Of course, those who use Gladiator and other Hollywood tripe as a basis for sanctimonious judgment of ancient cultures aren't going to be too interested in facts."

Wait a damn minute! Who is being sanctimonious? Who is using what as judgment here? You're using little-supported disease theory of civilizational decline, ignoring that nearly every culture, nation and civ has diminished and fallen because of factors that were definitely NOT microbial.

Who is ignoring the reality of human life until very recently? in fact, smartass, in that "tripe" I mentioned, Maximus says to Aurelius, "I have seen much of the rest of the world--it is brutal and cold and dark. Rome is the light!" And indeed it was, but that does not stop the natural developments of human nature and human social organizations and instincts from taking over.

If anything, because of its distinct greatness, Rome teaches us a lesson about what not to become, what not to embrace. I thought this was Free Republic, I thought the defense of the values that built this country is what we were about. You'd have me believe that the fall of the US will be brought about by malarai. Bah! Go to Bio Republic then.

You are still wrong, the malaria theory of the decline is not one with the majority of the scholars backing it, just as the SAME EXACT Theory for the fall of Angkor Wat is little-supported academically.

Some of us did study such things in school, ya know.