The Fall of Rome Podcast
31: Interview: Historian Kyle Harper on Disease, Climate and the Fall of the Roman Empire
Apr 3, 2018
Kyle Harper, Professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma, discusses the impact of climate change and disease on the fall of the Roman Empire. Topics include the decline in trade and resources, the role of paleoclimatic and genomic evidence, the relationship between waves of plague and archaeological genome data, and the vulnerability of the empire's trade system.
38:09
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Quick takeaways
- Climate change and emergent diseases played a critical role in the fall of the Roman Empire.
- The sudden climate cooling and outbreak of the bubonic plague in the sixth century led to the ultimate fall of the Roman Empire.
Deep dives
Explaining the Fall of the Roman Empire
The podcast episode discusses the book 'The Fate of Rome' by Kyle Harper, which argues that the fall of the Roman Empire can be explained by the powerful role of the natural environment. Harper emphasizes the impact of climate change and the emergence of new diseases caused by unfamiliar bacteria and viruses. He suggests that these natural forces played a critical role in the demise of one of the most important political formations in pre-modern history. Harper also highlights the sixth century as a turning point when trade declined, population decreased, and climate and disease became the larger reasons for these shifts.
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