What was Rome like at the end of the Empire?

Short answer

In the late fifth century, the city of Rome and its surroundings were a strange mix of continuing Roman grandeur and visible decay. The great monuments of the past were still standing, but the imperial administration had collapsed, the city was no longer the capital of the Western Empire, the population had fallen dramatically, and the countryside was dotted with abandoned villas and small, defensible settlements. The picture is complicated, with significant differences between the city, the Italian countryside, and the rest of Italy.

A longer answer

The Rome of the late fifth century is hard to describe, because the situation was so different from the high Empire of the second century. To understand what it was like, it helps to look at several different aspects of life.

The city of Rome

The city of Rome in 476 was a shadow of its former self. In the second century, the Roman historian Tacitus had estimated the population of the city at perhaps 800,000 to one million inhabitants. By the late fifth century, the population had fallen sharply, perhaps to 100,000 or even less. Many of the great public buildings, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Forum, the Baths of Caracalla and Diocletian, were still standing, but they were no longer maintained in their former glory.

The population of the city had been declining for centuries, but the decline accelerated sharply in the fifth century. The sack of Rome by Alaric’s Visigoths in 410, the Vandal sack of 455, and the long political instability that followed had all taken their toll. The city’s population had depended heavily on the annona, the free grain dole, which was financed by the African provinces. The loss of Africa to the Vandals in 439 reduced the grain supply, and the dole was eventually cut.

The great public baths, which had been a central feature of Roman urban life, were beginning to fall into disrepair. The aqueducts that brought water from the surrounding hills were still in use, but several were damaged. The streets were, in many places, in poor condition. The Forum, the political and ceremonial heart of the old Republic, was largely abandoned as a public space.

Yet the city was not dead. The great churches, the Lateran, St. Peter’s, Santa Maria Maggiore, were still major centers of activity. The bishop of Rome, the pope, was one of the most powerful religious figures in the western world. The Roman aristocracy still held many of the great houses on the Palatine and Caelian hills. The Roman senate continued to function, meeting in the old Senate House in the Forum.

The Italian countryside

The countryside of Italy in the late fifth century was in even worse condition than the city. The great villas of the high Empire, the luxurious country houses of the Roman aristocracy, had been abandoned in many areas. The typical pattern of late Roman settlement had included large villas, often with mosaics, baths, and elaborate agricultural systems. By the fifth and sixth centuries, many of these villas had been abandoned, and the population had shifted to smaller, more defensible hilltop settlements.

The agricultural system was in decline. Many of the great estates of the Roman aristocracy had been broken up or abandoned. The slave labor system of the high Empire had given way to a system of coloni, tenant farmers tied to the land. By the late fifth century, many of the great agricultural estates of Italy were no longer producing the surpluses they had once produced, and the long-distance trade that had been a feature of the high Empire was much reduced.

The political situation

The political situation in 476 was a strange one. The Western Roman Empire had effectively ceased to exist, but the institutions of Roman government continued in many ways. Odoacer, the Germanic king who had deposed the last emperor, ruled Italy as a subordinate of the eastern emperor, but he maintained the Roman administration, the Roman senate, and the Roman legal system. The transition from empire to kingdom was, in this sense, less abrupt than the symbolic date of 476 suggests.

The political situation was also complicated by the presence of the eastern Empire. The eastern emperor, Zeno, was nominally the sovereign of the entire Roman world, and within a few years he would be encouraging the Ostrogothic king Theodoric to invade Italy, ostensibly on his behalf.

Religious life

Religious life in late fifth-century Rome was vibrant. The city was the seat of the bishop of Rome, the pope, who was beginning to acquire a special authority in the Christian west. Pope Leo I (440–461) and his successors claimed a special role as the successor of St. Peter. The great basilicas, the Lateran, St. Peter’s, Santa Maria Maggiore, were major centers of religious life, and they were also major landowners.

Christianity in the late fifth century was not, however, a single monolithic religion. Arian Christians were numerous among the Germanic peoples. There were also significant disputes within the Catholic church, including the Monophysite controversy in the east and the Pelagian controversy in the west.

The experience of ordinary people

The experience of ordinary people in late fifth-century Italy is hard to recover, but the available sources suggest a mix of continuity and change. The literate upper class continued to enjoy many of the comforts of Roman life, at least for a while. The lower classes, including peasants, artisans, and laborers, lived in much more difficult conditions. The collapse of the imperial tax system, the decline of long-distance trade, and the loss of the African grain supply all had direct effects on the standard of living. The archaeological evidence suggests a significant decline in the quality of pottery, glassware, and other consumer goods.

Yet the change was not as dramatic as some historians have suggested. The Roman legal system, the Roman road system, and the Roman Catholic church all survived the fall of the Western Empire. The basic rhythms of agricultural life, the calendar of religious festivals, the local markets, and the small communities of the Italian countryside all continued, in many cases, for centuries.

Conclusion

The Rome of the late fifth century was a strange mix of continuing grandeur and visible decay. The great monuments of the past were still standing, but the imperial administration had collapsed, the population had fallen dramatically, and the countryside was dotted with abandoned villas and small, defensible settlements. The fall of the Western Roman Empire was, in this sense, a long and uneven process rather than a single dramatic event.