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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ancient coin hunter, post: 2774844, member: 87200&quot;]Interesting thread. Agree that the empire wasn&#039;t overly dynamic in terms of innovation. And the policy of requiring wealthy city dwellers to fund local government past the point where they could contribute led to the depopulation of cities and other problems. The army, also, was a huge drain on resources and remained so throughout the Imperial period, the civil wars of the 3rd and 4th centuries also contributed to a loss of manpower and the necessity of enrolling increasing numbers of barbarians in the ranks, til the point where they made up the majority of the forces in the 5th century. </p><p><br /></p><p>The monetary economy also suffered so that in the fifth century taxation was often in kind, a preview of the middle ages. I don&#039;t agree with Gibbon&#039;s thesis that Christianity was to blame, but the decline of the centers of learning (Alexandria, Athens) also was a factor, along with a certain close-mindedness of the population and also amongst the elites. Witness the destruction of the Serapeum by an enraged mob of Christians. Financially, too, the empire started to crumble in the 3rd century with the debasement of the coinage, and the policy of paying off barbarians in gold to not attack led to a net outflow of payments that was not offset by increasing the tax burden. The British empire faced a similar financial crisis in the early 20th century, where productivity declined and the political structure had to be abandoned.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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