Are we like Rome?
Some historians set the start of the decline of the Roman Empire at around the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus. The Roman and US constitutions have a number of likenesses and similar evolution from their beginning until they became essentially a political tool used, interpreted or ignored. The US constitution seems to be at the same “evolutionary” place that the Roman constitution was just before Julius Caesar installed himself as emperor. If this is true and we can use Rome as a template, maybe we can expect the US to drift into a long decline for the next 250 years until Washington D.C. is sacked.
The above scenario would probably fit into a picture of people sitting around in a futuristic fantasy world with embedded electronic devices. Inflation will get out of control while higher and higher taxes are required to fund ever expanding entitlements. The decline will be exacerbated by poverty, cultural decay, loss of borders and language degeneration.
Magic Dog
The above scenario would probably fit into a picture of people sitting around in a futuristic fantasy world with embedded electronic devices. Inflation will get out of control while higher and higher taxes are required to fund ever expanding entitlements. The decline will be exacerbated by poverty, cultural decay, loss of borders and language degeneration.
Magic Dog
In the so-called "Dark Ages" the king Offa of Mercia (in England) 757-796 struck gold coins in imitation of Islamic dinars. Some claim that Offa was a Muslim, but the easiest explanation was that there was trade between England and Arabia. Some of the largest hoards of Islamic silver are from Sweden and Lithuania because of the trade between Vikings and Arabs.
The book, _Merchants and _Moneymen: The Commercial Revolution, 1000-1500_ by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies opens in the 10th century with an Italian merchant planning a trip to Constantinople.
Again, in China, their 3000-year recorded history tells of rises and falls, expansions and contractions. It was just that we Westerners found them at a low point. It is interesting how quickly things like newspapers and beer were adopted by Chinese mercantile interests of the 19th century. But if you read about the Three Kingdom or the Sung, you get to pick and choose as to whether a militarily expansive ruler is good for learning, culture, and commerce, or whether times of nominal "chaos" allow new ideas, new methods, and new people to enter the social scene.
I also must take extreme exception to the claim that Julius Caesar made himself "emperor." Fearing that he would declare himself king and rule Egypt and Rome with Cleopatra a conspiracy of republican senators assassinated him. You might have heard about that.
No Roman emperor ever ruled _as_ "emperor". The title IMPERATOR meant only "field marshall" or "general." It was one of several ceremonial titles bestowed by the Senate. PM = Pontifex Maximus (fixer of the bridges); PP = Pater Patriae (father of his country). GER = Germanicus (for defeating Germans). DAC = Dacius for defeating Dacians. If you really want to know Roman history, you must know Roman numismatics. Roman coins were the newspapers of their day.
If we are "like" any other time in Western history, it might be the Hellenistic Era about 250-200 BCE.
(I deny, also, that we are at the end of an age. I do keep an eye out for the Black Swan: the Bronze Age Collapse 1206 to 1150 BCE.)