Matthew Royal’s Reviews > The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire > Status Update

Julian-era Christianity is terrifying. It was the Romans' polytheistic open mindedness and desire to serve all men equally and fairly under the law which was the downfall of their civilization. Decriminalizing other religions allowed Christianity to gain power. The Christians claimed the existence of the pagans as being persecution, drove out the broadminded philosophers, and literally burned temples to the ground.

Learning about Julian, and his comparative advantage in comparison to other emperors of Rome.

Gibbons is painting a picture of a society that becomes increasingly willing to act only when motivated by pleasure or money.

Although frankly, it's always been hard getting soldiers to defend what they don't perceive to be their homeland. How brilliant that technology allows us to think of an entire continent as ours.

Fascinating description of so-called persecution against early Christians. There were definitely laws on the books that threatened death to anyone who blasphemed against the Roman god Jupiter, but it was seen by most people as a patriotic exercise. When things got heated and neighbors accused each other of being Christians, the magistrates attempted to guide the Christians through the legal system to help them avoid

Fascinating -- in the Roman Empire, corporate bodies were prevented from owning real estate unless a specific exception was made by the emperor. This started to change with the opulent holdings of the early Christian churches, which had increasing donations from its members.