428 AD An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire

The study of Late Antiquity always has to face up to one overriding factor: in 476 (the traditional date), the Western Empire of Rome ceased to exist. The difficulty with reading many books on the period is that the story and analysis revolves around this pivotal date.

Analysis of events prior to 476 are seen in hindsight as leading to the Fall, whilst events after 476 are interpreted as if the participants at the time knew that a major event had just occurred. Obviously, such interpretations are misleading. The vast majority of the people living at the time saw only gradual change, with only the rapid turnover of ineffectual political leaders and the now-omnipresent barbarian settlements indicating that something was going wrong...

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