you are saying that the city of Rome imported most of its goods, I may live with that. If you are implying that wheat was travelling half way across Europe to make it to every citizen, then I need some proof.
The City of Rome, which around 100 ce held about a million people, imported its wheat from North Africa. That's what I'm saying.
Yes, yes, the Roman Empire had badly broken down by the 6th ce, esp in the West, where it was a series of Gothic and Visigothic kingdoms. But if you look at documents of the day you see the realization that things were no longer as they had been, but there is not sense of a break with the history of the Roman Empire. That came later, after the Arabs took the sea and European civilization had to reinvent itself, pretty much from scratch, switching from a sea-based to a Northern based civilization.
An empire can at best provide a so-so goods at a "great" price for its citizens (and it can do this only for a limited time). But a cooperative confederation based on fairness and equality makes for a great "business" at a fair price for a very very long time.
Empires of force last for a generation at most. Every empire that lasts is a confederation that has something to offer as well as something to impose. Rome was swamped at the end by Goths who didn't want to destroy it, they wanted to enter it and get the benefits. |
