Ebook: The Decline of Rome: The Metamorphosis of Ancient Civilization

Joseph Vogt’s profound and scholarly work gives us a fresh perspective on the last three centuries of the Roman Empire. His focus is not on collapse, but on continuity. Survival and Evolution are stronger themes than decay: survival of the Roman aristocratic classes in Gaul and of classical culture in Italy; evolution within the Imperial frontiers of a feudal society from its slavery-based predecessor. Most significant of all was Christianity, ensuring that a Catholic tradition destined to be at the core of Western civilization was, in fact, a Roman tradition too.

Translated from the German by Janet Sondheimer.