Classique et Germanique

Ok, I think I should do the same. The theory was just fascinating. It really choked me. Therefore I have felt the need to share it. One would have had to imagine the Italians of the Empire not as an European people as commonly thought, but as a mostly Oriental breed, perpetually on the dole, which was devouring the wealth of conquered territories in an everlasting feast , and guarded on the limes by Gallic, Balkan, and Teutonic legionnaires. Then during the late Empire, this disparate people would have been elimitated from the peninsula in a massive die-off triggered by the collapse. Indeed, the population of Rome went gradually from roughly 1.000.000 to 30.000. Later, the Italians would have been replaced by different waves of invaders, because they do not look Semitic today. So Ancient Romans as a kind of dwellers of Atlantis? But if it looks as a crank theory, most probably it is. Thanks for your opinions.

Elagabalus, without a doubt. Young, fickle, excitable, and sexually degenerate, he epitomized the lewdness of the worst Romans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus

I am delighted to see so many people interested in the issue. But apparently nobody has downloaded the document, so I have edited my post in order to provide the whole text in extenso for an easier reading. Most of your questions are adressed here and the discussion may keep going on now.

From Tenney Frank, Race Mixture in the Roman Empire. According to him, the original Latin population suffered a massive and devastating displacement from the Servile Wars onwards. By the 2nd century, the overwhelming part of the Italian population was of Oriental or mixed-race stock, which has led to the embrace of foreign cults, chronic laziness, and lower ethic. That is, the Romans did not change their mood and soul, it was the people who changed dramatically. This hypothesis is very tempting, albeit it brings us back to Arthur de Gobineau and other Romantic racialists, if not to stuff like the Bell Curve. I would like to get opinions from the numerous pundits dwelling this board. (please apologize my poor English, I am French) The work from Tenney Frank => [edit by PP] complete work removed for both size and concerns over fair use... here is the link Race Mixture in the Roman Empire by Tenney Frank