Outlining the Pitfalls of Empires
There is a long-standing charm to empire ruins – the beauty and elegance of a once-prestigious and advanced infrastructure of society. But such charm lies beyond the reminder of something that once was; rather, the question always posed is ‘what happened’? To begin dismantling a civilization as great as the Roman empire requires a plethora of facets, but two things are certain: firstly, the overarching theme is that all empires expire sooner or later; and secondly, during the period in which they exist, do the ends justify the means?
Looking back at Tuesday’s lecture, two things must be taken into consideration: the reason behind building an empire and their benefits.
As discussed on Tuesday, Professor Zissos gave the example of an ape asserting its dominance over another ape in which this exhibited a shot of dopamine in the alpha’s mind – hence, behavior such as imperialism is also reflected in human nature and even assumed to be inherent. However, if the theory of Darwinism holds true, as humans we’ve evolved from apes. Our brain structure and psychological behavior may hold consistent across the charts but our intelligence, moral values, and conscience supersedes that of an ape – we’ve developed the capacity to overcome our primordial instincts. So in actuality, the misguided perception that imperialism is an intrinsic characteristic is an excuse to condone slavery, genocide, and greed. However, contemporary scholars and education have already reconciled the aforementioned to be an atrocity. What still remains in question is whether or not the ends justify the means. Does the genocide of pockets of human civilizations measure up to the services afforded to these conquered nations by Rome a good thing?
Unlike many other ancient civilizations, Romans exceptionally valued their adversaries – so far as to include them in Roman culture, privileges, and ultimately citizenship. Such notions were often rejected by every ancient society – including the Romans’ predecessors, the Greeks, thus leading to the demise of their civilization. In fact, one of the reasons why the Romans were so successful in their conquests is because they didn’t just strive to conquer and expand their empire, they wanted to adopt and Romanize those under their reign. In developing an inclusive mindset and providing these conquered nations with advanced technology, better hygiene, an education, etc. Roman culture becomes more generally accepted into which the shame of being conquered fades over time, so to speak, their past civilizations rendered obsolete, and the war between their forefathers seems almost inconsequential to their current lives. It’s not to say that the death toll was justified, but rather, Rome has united so many regions so that they no longer identify as heavily with one distinct culture without being Romanized.
However, when we examine the Romans’ population at the height of its empire to be 65 million people, this equates to Romans owning about 21% of the world population which was only 300 million at the time. Hence, their methods of decimation and willingness to sacrifice their infantry in order to conquer neighboring countries spotlights the idea that the extinction of neighboring civilizations and their own men laid the footwork for the Roman Empire. In other words, other nations – such as the Gaul, Carthaginians, and so forth – were forced to die at the expense of the Romans’ ambition.
Despite these staggering statistics, the Romans remained unfazed throughout their reign in which slavery and death were essential trade-offs to supposed sovereignty – which was notably selective amongst its people. This prerogative, while successful in building an illustrious empire, speaks volumes on the Romans’ view of their superiority. The Romans notoriously sought to inculcate Roman doctrine and beliefs into all those they conquered – and any nationalist with the audacity to rebel were crushed swiftly and brutally.
Hence, in spite of the Romans’ progressive methods of cultural integration, 30% of Italy’s population constituted of slaves. In fact, 75,000 out of the 300,000 Carthaginian soldiers were taken as captives during the first Punic War – most of which were sold, bargained, or even acquired through piracy which significantly proliferated the slave market.
In many ways, slavery was a predominant edifice to Roman society – the practice was so pervasive that Romans staunchly held onto the belief that subjugation was necessary for their empire to function optimally because slaves occupied virtually every conceivable labour, save office positions. It wasn’t until the latter centuries under Emperor Caracalla that all Romans were extended citizenship – in which case, the slaves were still denied this privilege.
Nonetheless, one must also take into account that history tends to sensationalize over the body count and ‘extinction’ of one race in the wake of a collective formation – empire – in which empires are generally delineated as evil in nature. But let’s not forget that not all the indigenous people lived in harmony; in fact, these nation-states that were conquered by Rome were also conquering neighboring populations. The Romans just beat them to it.
Sure, there will always be flaws in every empire, but in the long run, it’s undeniable that each seek to better the lives of the immediate population so long as they exist. Nonetheless, as humans have evolved as a population, there’s a genial consensus that the needs of one nation are just as tantamount to its counterpart nation. Hence, subjugation and death through wars have been significantly reduced, and only then have people living within democracies and free societies been able to live in peace in the last several decades.
Works Cited
Cartwright, Mark. “Slavery in the Roman World.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2 Dec. 2018, http://www.ancient.eu/article/629/slavery-in-the-roman-world/. Accessed 06 December 2018.
“Roman Empire Population.” Ancient Roman History, http://www.unrv.com/empire/roman-population.php. Accessed 06 December 2018.
Zissos, Andrew. Humanities Core Lecture. ALP 1300, Irvine, CA. 09 Oct. 2018. Lecture.
the reason behind the crumbling of a civilization 