TOUCHING THE PAST: I’ve been studying the history of the Roman Empire a bit lately. In a lot of ways, it was the United States of two thousand years ago. There were plenty of great empires that came and went after Rome fell in the Fifth Century. One was the great Islamic caliphate of the 11th and 12th centuries, which inherited the southern and eastern part of the Roman Empire and merged it with the former Persian Empire. Al Qaeda and its imitators draw much of their inspiration from this, just as we here in the USA unconsciously draw inspiration from Rome. Maybe that’s why we can’t get along with the new Islamic imperialists; deep down, we’re just too much alike.
But in the west, there really wasn’t anything like Rome until the USA conquered the Pacific frontier in the 19th Century. Sure, there was the British Empire and the other European colonial expansions. But they were mostly inspired by trade and by natural resources, by the establishment of an exclusive right to exploit the timber, minerals and people of far-off lands in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Like the United States, Rome didn’t just want your copper and gold and frankincense; they wanted your soul. They wanted to turn all the barbarians into good Romans, not simply into slaves (although that was certainly part of it too).
That’s still our policy today; consider the situation in Iraq. We could leave right now and declare victory, having successfully deposed a vicious dictator. But no, we want to turn the Iraqis into responsible voters. Is that good or bad? As with Roman assimilation, it’s a mix of both. Rome started going downhill when it lost the strength to keep forcing the tribes beyond the borders into the Roman mold (mostly because of all the civil wars it fought in selecting new Emperors). It’s uncertain whether America has the strength to stay in Iraq long enough until everyone gets to like our way of doing things.
Thus my interest in the ancient Romans. I was surfing thru eBay the other day and I checked out the ancient coins section. It turns out that old Roman coins are pretty common, and thus you can pick them up for between 5 and 10 dollars. I decided to buy one, given my interest. It turns out that the bidding is rather competitive; you’ve got to be a little Roman yourself to avoid getting outbid. But I finally managed to win this provincial bronze coin with a portrait of emperor Severus Alexander, from about 225 AD. You see it below in the palm of my hand.
It’s pretty neat to touch something that was actually a small part of what you are studying. That coin was used day to day by common people, folk who were depending upon the Roman system for their jobs, their food, their security — just as we depend upon the United States of America today to provide us with civil order and economic opportunity. The Roman system would continue to work for another 200 years after my coin was minted. When I look at those nifty quarters that our government mints today with tributes to the provinces (the newest one I’ve seen is Kansas), I can’t help but wonder, how much longer does our empire have?
