The Fate of Rome

Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

By: Kyle Harper

Narrated by: Andrew Garman

A sweeping new history of how climate change and disease helped bring down the Roman Empire

Here 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 listeners 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, 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.

Author bio: Kyle Harper is professor of classics and letters and senior vice president and provost at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425 and From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma.

©2017 Princeton University Press (P)2017 Recorded Books

Indispensable reading

This book is so full of interesting information that I would have considered it a valuable scholarly contribution at any time. Read in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic it acquires a relevance that the author probably never imagined. It gives us a chance to rethink the profound political and social changes of Late Antiquity from the lens of climate change and microbial evolution and interaction with ancient civilizations. The timeframe covered is from the Antonine Plague up to, and very much including, the Plague of Justinian and its aftershocks until the seventh century CE.

While I enjoyed the narration and listened to the end, I decided half way through that this book merits to be bought as a physical copy as well, for it contains a wealth of data the significance of which is easily lost when one doesn't see the figures written down. I think it will also be invaluable as a reference book in the future.

Just a terrific book. Every chapter is enlightening and substantive.

I have a degree in classics and have read many books about Rome. I will say that this is one of my favorites. It’s inclusion of scientific techniques and how they are reshaping our understanding of the Roman world is brilliantly done.

Read it now

The author begins by admitting that the new methods and discoveries which fuel this book are progressing at such a rapid pace that the whole book will probably be out of date in five years.
All the more reason to read it now. It's a wonderful book. It has revised so much of what I thought I knew about Rome, and not just facts, it has changed my base narrative.
It's one of those books where at least daily I found myself pestering my family with anecdotes.
I love it, and I'll probably come back to it again.

Outstanding!

Wonderful to see history as we have learned it, supplemented, expanded and enriched by ecology, microbiology and climatology. This allows a deeper, richer and much more nuanced understanding of this most famous “decline and fall.” Yes the players in this drama made good decisions and bad. But forces they could not imagine much less understand or control often were often decisive. Well written and well performed. Deserving of a second or even a third read/listen.

Wonderful update of Gibbons

Delighted to learn about all the research and new discoveries that have updated the fate of Rome. Well narrated and very well written. Ideal book for my daily two mile walk.

Rating Change

I rated this book a 5 in all categories several months ago and greatly enjoyed it. With time on my hands due to Covid I decided to listen to it again. I was quite surprised how little I had remembered and during my second time around I could see why; the book was organized in a nonchronological way, moving back and forth through the centuries, chapter after chapter. The relevant centuries, primarily the 2nd- 5th centuries, were so mixed up that the book lacked a cohesive narrative. The subject matter was great but it was difficult to remember much of it when presented in such a disorganized manner. Imagine a book centered on the climate and disease of the United States, or some other historical subject, that jumps back and forth with no chronological order. As I listened each chapter made sense but I had no idea how little of the specifics, or the general content, I had retained until my second listen. Should have rated it a 4 overall and story, at best.

excellent

was very interesting, a blend of medical and economic history as well as political

Captivating story

The broad perspective and narrative style are compelling. Hints of parallels in modern times are inescapable and bring the past to life.

Very interesting and new content

This book brings in new findings to explain what happened in the late Roman Empire. Very interesting indeed. This is not an introduction book, however. Definitely more for the academic type or someone somewhat familiar with the Roman Empire.

Fate of Rime

Well researched, obviously. New thoughts about weather and bacteria as regards to the demise of the Empire. I learned a lot, and I’ve read around 15 books on the subject of Rome and its citizens. A fifth star wasn’t given because I needed a dictionary to translate....but maybe the onus is on me!