The Roman Empire was, without a doubt, the most powerful governing body in the Mediterranean that ever was. At the peak of the Roman Empire, in the mid part of the first century, it covered about half of Europe, much of the Middle East, and the north coast of Africa. So why did Rome fall? There was not one cause that led to the fall of Rome, but many things occurring in succession to each other. After the reign of Tiberus, there were many poor leaders, two of which were Caligula and Nero. Caligula killed his sister, among many other people and made his favorite horse a senator. Nero murdered his wife and mother and was accused of setting fire to Rome. Such deeds were common because the laws of the empire favored the rich landowners and who ordered and were the target of many assassinations (Gibbon, 70).It is true when it is said that Rome was not built in a day. Nor did it fall in a day. Many factors contributed to the ruin of the Roman Empire. The two most important factors were this: the cities consumed without producing and disease ravaged the Roman world. After the Punic wars with Carthage, Rome acquired many new lands that it did not have before. The farmers of these lands came to the cities, only knowing how to farm and fight wars. With their farms were destroyed, some were able to fight for the professional army, but others were left with nothing to do. These first families had no skills to pass down to their descendants. Generations passed and soon there were no more people that knew how to farm or earn a living. The powers of Rome made this worse by not educating the masses that first came to the cities after the Punic Wars (Stambaugh, 125). During peace times it was easy to govern these areas but during war times it proved difficult. The government had to pay soldiers to patrol the frontiers of the empire; it could no longer rely on the loot to serve as the pay for the soldiers. This took a significant amount of money o...
