Ancient History

[sonic]

I find it odd that many of the recent posts have been about political events in the modern world.

 

Has the site finally finished answering all of the questions that members interested in Rome or the ancient world ever had?

[Viggen]

...dont think all has been answered

 

I for example always wondered about the complete freezing of the Tiber in 177 bc, i mean Hannibal crossed the Alps with Elephants just 40 or so years earlier, pretty violent climatic changes, isn`t it? Is the climate importance/significance something historians tend to neglect?

[sonic]

I think it is either forgotten or, if the historian is interested in climate, it is placed at the forefront of any conclusions reached.  It is then often dismissed as 'over the top' by some historians (sometimes probably with good reason).  The difficulty lies in identifying how long any climatic change lasted and over how wide an area prior to estimating the effects it could have had.

 

(For example, it is the experience of Charles Dickens' childhood, with several winters of snow, that played a part in his concept of Christmas in, for (obvious example) 'A Christmas Carol'.  This has allegedly affected the way anglophones in the 'West' have seen Christmas, hence all Christmas films and cards etc. tend to have snow.  But was this a widespread phenomenon?)

 

It's the same with population and disease, especially in Late Antiquity.  The population has first to be estimated, then the effects of the pandemic/endemic is estimated, and then it is put forward as a major reason for the Fall of the West.  How accurate is this?

[caldrail]

 

 

Is the climate importance/significance something historians tend to neglect?

Not recently. Climate has been used as the villain in a number of dicumentaries, with some justification, but over-exaggerated in others, since the biggest problem with television history is the tendency to sensationalise. Watching Mike Loads fall over in Roman legionary kit in the face of a wind machine was amusing - and intended to be - but the Romans did mention this particular problem with regard to the event. A problem, or a cause of failure? It's easy to get carried away, especially since the production of such programmes often look for alternative explanations purely to arouse interest.