The Fate of Rome : Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

by: Harper, K.

Price: 34,00 EURO

1 copy in stock

How devastating viruses, pandemics, and other natural catastrophes swept through the far-flung Roman Empire and helped to bring down one of the mightiest civilizations of the ancient worldHere is the monumental retelling of one of the most consequential chapters of human history: the fall of the Roman Empire. The Fate of Rome is the first book to examine the catastrophic role that climate change and infectious diseases played in the collapse of Rome?s power―a story of nature?s triumph over human ambition.Interweaving a grand historical narrative with cutting-edge climate science and genetic discoveries, Kyle Harper traces how the fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians but also by volcanic eruptions, solar cycles, climate instability, and devastating viruses and bacteria. He takes readers from Rome?s pinnacle in the second century, when the empire seemed an invincible superpower, to its unraveling by the seventh century, when Rome was politically fragmented and materially depleted. Harper describes how the Romans were resilient in the face of enormous environmental stress, until the besieged empire could no longer withstand the combined challenges of a “little ice age” and recurrent outbreaks of bubonic plague.A poignant reflection on humanity?s intimate relationship with the environment, The Fate of Rome provides a sweeping account of how one of history?s greatest civilizations encountered and endured, yet ultimately succumbed to the cumulative burden of nature?s violence. The example of Rome is a timely reminder that climate change and germ evolution have shaped the world we inhabit―in ways that are surprising and profound.

Prologue: Nature's triumph
Environment and empire
The happiest age
Apollo's revenge
The old age of the world
Fortune's rapid wheel
The wine-press of wrath
Judgment Day
Epilogue: Humanity's triumph?

Subjects:
30 B.C.-476 A.D
Civilization
Climat et civilisation Rome
Climate and civilization
Climate and civilization Rome
Electronic books
Epidemics
Epidemics Rome
HISTORY Ancient Rome
History
Rome (Empire)
Rome Civilisation
Rome Civilization
Rome Histoire 30 av. J.-C.-476 (Empire)
Rome History Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D

The Fate of Rome : Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

by: Harper, K.

• ISBN-13: 9780691166834 / 978-0-691-16683-4
• ISBN-03: 0691166838 / 0-691-16683-8
• Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2017

Price: 34,00 EURO

1 copy in stock