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Can America’s moment outshine Rome’s

“To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false pretenses, they [the Romans] call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.”

– Tacitus, Agricola

 

“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.” 

– John F. Kennedy

 

Throughout the course of history there occasionally emerges a power so strong that it is able to dictate and enforce the rules of the game to everyone around them.  Political historians call this power a hegemon and there have been a few that have dominated our history books-  Rome, Spain, England, America.

Naturally we will focus the essay on Rome and America.  First we will outline how they achieved their position as the dominant player.  Next we will discuss how they were able to maintain this dominance.  Finally, we will list some of the key factors that led to Rome’s decline and that can potentially undermine the Pax Americana.  

Before we track the trajectories of these two great empires let’s spend a moment to outline the pillars of their control.  These are the items that enable them to wield their power.  They are military control, economic power, infrastructure networks, common currency and trade networks, and finally cultural projection.   Let’s dive in a little deeper.

Components of Control for the Hegemon

Military Power

A hegemon’s power ultimately rests on its ability to enforce order and deter rivals through undisputed military overmatch. This control is not merely about winning wars, but about maintaining a continuous, credible capacity for global or regional power projection that renders rebellion or competition futile. By establishing a security umbrella over its sphere of influence, the hegemon suppresses regional conflicts that could disrupt the broader system. In Roman times the multidisciplinary effectiveness of the legion was enough to maintain borders and quell any possible incursions from barbarians.  In modern times alliances like NATO ensured that European interests were aligned with America and that Russian/Soviet influence was limited.

Economic Power

Economic power serves as both the engine and the bank account of hegemonic dominance. The hegemon must possess a massive, technologically advanced domestic economy that allows it to dictate the rules of global finance, fund its military apparatus, and leverage access to its consumer markets as a geopolitical tool. By controlling industrial output, capital flows, and international lending institutions, the hegemon creates a system where other nations become structurally dependent on its economic health.  Rome’s control of key agricultural outputs and its economic system helped it become the platform for trade and commerce.  The US has cultivated an environment of innovation and risk taking that has enabled it to dominate critical industries.

Infrastructure Networks

Physical and digital infrastructure networks form the vascular system of an empire, anchoring its administrative and logistical control. A hegemon must build and maintain the pathways that connect the periphery to the core. These networks ensure that military forces can deploy rapidly to extinguish threats and that commercial logistics remain uninterrupted. Protecting these channels is a critical requirement for power retention because infrastructure defines the limits of power projection.  The Roman road network is the best example from antiquity.  In modern times the US dominates physical (sea lanes to fiber optic cable) and monetary (ranging from capital markets to legal frameworks) infrastructure.

Common Currency and Trade Networks

By establishing a trusted reserve currency and structuring global trade networks around its own market preferences, a hegemon drastically lowers transaction costs and locks other nations into its orbit. When the hegemon’s currency becomes the default medium of exchange for vital commodities, it gains the unique privilege of exporting its inflation, running structural deficits, and utilizing financial sanctions to isolate rogue actors without firing a shot. Maintaining this financial architecture is essential for preserving power. It ensures that international trade inherently benefits the hegemon’s corporate and state interests, transforming global commerce into a self-funding mechanism for the empire’s longevity. During the Pax Romana the Empire dominated the Mediterranean and had trade networks as far away as China and most people used their coinage..  In modern times the US controls the Global financial system from trade agreements to organizations like the World Bank and everyone trades in dollars.

Cultural Projection

Coercion can build an empire, but cultural projection—or “soft power”—is what makes it sustainable by securing the ideological buy-in of both elites and foreign publics. When a hegemon successfully exports its values, legal philosophies, language, and consumer lifestyle, it shapes the preferences, desires, and norms of the global community. Retaining this cultural influence is vital for the preservation of power because it minimizes the need for costly military enforcement; when the rest of the world aspires to live, speak, and govern like the hegemon, the costs of maintaining international order drop significantly.  Rome created a culture that facilitated assimilation into the greater whole.  With America tools like international aid and Hollywood were used to project American values globally.

Rome’s Pax Romana

Armed Peace: Military Control and Border Security

At the foundation of the Augustan peace lay the ultimate paradox: the Pax Romana was bought and maintained by the sword. Augustus fundamentally restructured the Roman military, transitioning it from the factional citizen-armies of the late Republic into a permanent, highly professional standing force of 28 legions, supplemented by auxiliary units. Rather than stationing these forces within the interior of the empire—where they could destabilize civilian governance—the legions were deployed permanently along the hostile frontiers (the limes), such as the Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates rivers.  Click here for a nice map on where the legions were stationed throughout the empire.

Their strategic positioning served a dual purpose. Externally, it projected absolute deterrence against migration and foreign incursions. Internally, the strategic absence of active garrisoning in the core provinces minimized the daily visibility of military subjugation, fostering an illusion of civilian normalcy. When internal rebellions did arise—such as the First Jewish-Roman War or the revolt of Boudica—the response was swift, total, and brutal. This balance of total frontier exclusion and overwhelming punitive capability established an absolute monopoly on violence, creating the secure space required for civil infrastructure and commerce to flourish.

The Arteries of Empire: Infrastructure Networks

Physical connectivity was the vital mechanism through which Rome transformed military domination into logistical and economic integration. The construction of the legendary Roman road network, totaling over 80,000 kilometers of paved highways, was initially driven by tactical imperatives. These all-weather roads allowed the legions to march with unprecedented velocity to any point of crisis, effectively multiplying the defensive utility of the standing army. Click here to see how expansive the roman network was or here for how roman roads were constructed.

However, the infrastructure quickly transcended its martial origins. The creation of the Cursus Publicus—the state-sponsored courier and postal system—facilitated near-instantaneous administrative communication between Rome and her distant provincial governors. Furthermore, monumental engineering projects, including stone bridges, deep-water harbors, and standard-setting aqueducts, bound the urban centers of the Mediterranean into a shared technological standard. By altering the landscape, Rome physically demonstrated its mastery over nature, anchoring the permanence of imperial authority in concrete and stone.

                                  Roman roads facilitated commerce

Commercial Integration: Currency and Trade Networks

With security guaranteed by the legions and transit accelerated by the road networks, Rome capitalized on its position to forge a highly integrated Mediterranean market. Central to this economic engine was the enforcement of a common currency. The silver denarius and gold aureus became the undisputed legal tender from the hills of Britannia to the borders of Parthia. This monetary uniformity eliminated the friction of local currency exchanges, lowered transaction costs, and provided a predictable store of value that stimulated large-scale capital investment.

Concurrently, the eradication of piracy by the Roman navy transformed the Mediterranean Sea into Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”), a maritime superhighway. Huge merchant fleets transported grain from Egypt and North Africa to sustain the massive urban population of Rome, while Spanish olive oil, Gallic wine, and British metals flowed freely across provincial boundaries. The resulting economic interdependence meant that the prosperity of local provincial elites became inextricably linked to the survival of the imperial center, aligning their economic self-interest with Roman political continuity.

Cultural Projection and Romanization

The final and perhaps most durable pillar of the Pax Romana was the sophisticated deployment of cultural soft power, a process frequently conceptualized as Romanization. Rome did not seek to crudely eradicate local identities; rather, it incentivized provincial elites to adopt Roman culture voluntarily. The state extended Roman citizenship strategically, first to loyal Italian allies, then to provincial aristocracy, and eventually to entire municipal communities as a reward for loyalty and administrative integration.

Urbanism served as the primary vector for this cultural projection. Throughout Gaul, Hispania, and North Africa, cities were intentionally built or remodeled on a standardized grid layout, featuring forums, basilicas, theaters, public baths, and amphitheaters. Participating in Roman civic life—enjoying public games, utilizing heated baths, and speaking Latin—became synonymous with high social status and civilization itself. By transforming conquered peoples into stakeholders who took pride in Roman civic identity, the empire minimized the cost of direct coercion. Cultural projection ensured that the Pax Romana was maintained not merely by external force, but through internal consensus.

The American Century

The Pax Americana, characterizing the period of relative macro-stability and economic integration across the Western hemisphere following World War II and expanding globally after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, mirrors the structural hegemony of ancient Rome. Rather than relying on formal territorial annexation, the United States engineered a modern global ecosystem based on institutional frameworks and systemic alignment. By translating the classical pillars of empire into contemporary geopolitical mechanisms, the United States constructed a foundation where international compliance offers clear economic, security, and social rewards, establishing an enduring framework of global order.

Military Control and Power Projection

The American security apparatus has been underwritten by a global network of forward-deployed military bases, formal security alliances, and overwhelming technological superiority. Following 1945, the United States established permanent installations across Western Europe and East Asia, effectively internalizing the defense of key industrial hubs while discouraging regional arms races.

This footprint is formalized through multilateral and bilateral defense pacts—most notably NATO, as well as treaties with Japan, South Korea, and Australia—positioning the United States as the ultimate guarantor of regional security. This security umbrella provides a massive deterrent against state-on-state aggression. By securing the global commons (air, space, and cyberspace) and maintaining a blue-water navy capable of projecting overwhelming force to any corner of the globe within hours, the United States enforces a systemic monopoly on large-scale violence, maintaining international stability from a posture of continuous deterrence.

Infrastructure and Logistics

The primary logistical achievement of American hegemony is the enforcement of freedom of navigation across the world’s oceanic choke points (such as the Straits of Malacca, the Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal). By utilizing its naval assets to patrol these sea lines of communication, the United States guarantees unhindered transit for global commerce, functioning as the vital architect of modern globalization.

In the digital era, this infrastructure shifted toward data networks and financial architecture. The foundational hardware of the global internet—undersea fiber-optic cables, satellite coommunications, and root domain servers—was largely developed, financed, and secured under American auspices. Furthermore, global civilian aviation standards, space tracking systems, and satellite navigation (GPS, originally a U.S. military asset gifted to the global public) serve as the contemporary equivalents of the Roman Cursus Publicus and aqueducts, binding the world into a singular, highly synchronized technological and logistical framework.

Reserve Currency and Global Trade Networks

Just as the silver denarius unified Mediterranean commerce, the United States dollar operates as the undisputed global reserve currency, serving as the financial bedrock of the Pax Americana. Codified initially under the Bretton Woods system in 1944, the dollar became the primary medium for international trade, commodity pricing (such as oil), and foreign exchange reserves. This monetary dominance lowers transaction costs for global markets and grants the United States unparalleled capital mobility and economic leverage.

Concurrently, the United States championed a rules-based international trading system through institutions like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO). By advocating for tariff reductions, open markets, and the protection of intellectual property, the United States incentivized international partners to align their economies with the Western capital market. Because the domestic prosperity of allied nations and rising powers became explicitly dependent on access to American consumers and the stability of the dollar-denominated financial system, global elites found their economic self-interest structurally wedded to the continuity of American political leadership.

Cultural Projection and Liberal Internationalism

The soft power of the American influence is perhaps its most pervasive tool for manufacturing consensus. The United States projects its influence through the universalization of democratic ideals, market capitalism, consumer culture, and digital media. Participating in the modern globalized community is frequently equated with adopting these foundational values.

This cultural projection operates through dual vectors:

  • Institutional Alignment: The creation of multinational forums—such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank—enshrined American legal, political, and economic philosophies into the default architecture of international diplomacy.
  • Mass Consumerism: The global dissemination of American media, technology, music, and corporate standards created a shared global aesthetic.

By making its cultural and political models aspirational, the United States lowers the friction of its global leadership. Foreign populations and political elites internalize aspects of American civic and economic identity, allowing the Pax Americana to be maintained not merely through military or economic coercion, but through a deeply embedded global consensus.

Challenges to Hegeomony

The world is a dynamic place and nothing stays the same for long.  Ultimately the alpha is challenged.  This happened to Rome, and America is seeing its dominance threatened at the present moment.  The decline can be due to external forces or it can happen from within….or it can be a combination of the two.

I won’t spend much time on Rome.  It happened and has been studied ad nauseum.  Most scholars list the items below as key contributors to the decline of the Pax Romana.

  • Succession Crises and Political Instability: The empire lacked a clear, formal system for choosing new rulers. This led to constant power struggles, civil wars, and assassinations as rival generals fought for the throne, culminating in the Crisis of the Third Century.
  • Military Interference in Politics: The Roman military, particularly the Praetorian Guard and regional legions, realized they could make and break emperors. Rulers increasingly focused on bribing or paying off the military to secure their loyalty rather than governing effectively.
  • Economic Strain and Inflation: Maintaining a massive army and defending expansive borders became unsustainably expensive. To cover costs, emperors debased the Roman currency (reducing the precious metal content in coins), which triggered hyperinflation and a collapsing economy.
  • The Antonine Plague: This devastating pandemic (likely smallpox or measles) swept through the empire in the late 2nd century, killing up to a third of the population in some areas. It severely depleted the taxpayer base and decimated the ranks of the Roman military.
  • External Barbarian Pressures: As internal stability fractured, Germanic tribes along the Rhine and Danube rivers, along with the Sasanian Empire in the east, launched increasingly frequent and coordinated invasions, stretching Rome’s defensive forces to their breaking point.
  • Social and Moral Fragmentation: The shared sense of Roman identity and civic duty began to erode. Wealth inequality gaped wider, and citizens in the provinces grew increasingly alienated from a corrupt, heavily taxing central government in Rome.

How Much Longer Will the American Moment Last?

The United States is a different story.  It still has a say in what its future holds.  Since it established the post WW2 global order it has used its economic and military power to shape the world.  Since 9/11 it has seen its prominence slip due to several factors.  We’ll outline those below.

Economic Threats

The American dollar has been the currency of the globe and most deals across the world are settled with the greenback.  At the moment that is still the case but cracks are showing.  Dedollarization is taking place by China and its BRICS partners and there is doubt that a debt laden US can continue to prop up the dollar.  

Also, the US made a conscious effort during the 80’s and 90’s to move away from manufacturing towards a more knowledge based economy.  China gladly filled that void and is challenging the US supremacy in even the most bleeding edge technologies.  The white collar sector that was once so promising is under threat from AI.  While the overall GDP is still strong, the middle class is being carved out and the Government is facing a big challenge in how to assuage the growing anxiety from an ever growing percentage of its citizens.  

Unwillingness to Lead

The steady erosion of American commitment to the very multilateral institutions it built after WW2 marks a profound shift away from the post-war rules-based order. Rather than viewing bodies like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization as instruments of stabilization, Washington increasingly treats them as costly constraints on American sovereignty and leverage. This structural retreat reached a watershed moment during the Trump administration, which aggressively executed a “clearing strategy” designed to trade broad global governance for transactional, unilateral negotiations. 

This has led to the current era of strongmen where people like Trump, Putin, Xi, and Netanyahu rule in a manner that belies global norms in favor of realpolitik.  Rules are being threatened because the strongest players no longer feel constrained by past agreements or worried about any consequences associated with breaking these agreements.

Military Overreach

The U.S. has been the undisputed military power since the end of the Cold War.  To support this it routinely spends more on its military industrial complex than up to the next six countries combined.  This is part of the bargain it struck at the end of WW2 to police the world and secure the world’s trading routes in order to facilitate the great economic expansion that this period experienced.

You could argue that this bargain was exploited by certain business interests and organizations like the CIA.  Soon funds were hidden in black budgets supporting things like regime change or activities that often contradicted the stated American values of democracy and openness. It has culminated in things like the Neoconservative movement that had us chasing war and debt in failed missions in the Middle East at the behest of Israel. 

At present the US does not have the will or remaining money to keep supporting initiatives in places like Iran, Iraq, or Ukraine.  There are too many issues at home to justify military actions that neither strengthen the homeland or support the initial intentions of this military doctrine.  But the interests profiting from the largesse of  military budgets are a powerful lobby and will continue to push to for more dollars in spite of obvious constraints in our budget.

Debt Monster

I wrote about the crippling effects of debt here and it is something that is looming over the current US government. The current debt exceeds $39 trillion dollars which is 122% of the overall GDP. For historical context the US debt was only 106% of GDP at the peak of WW2 and was at 84% during the Financial Crisis 0f 2008. 

There is an open question regarding how sustainable this is and how long it can last before creditors come calling.  At present there is no real effort by Congress (Including both parties) to rein in spending and the debt continues to grow. 

Political Polarization

There’s a quaint tale from the Reagan days about how he could often reach across the aisle to people like Tip O’Neill to get legislation passed. Often it was imperfect but it was directionally good and a bill built on compromise was often better than no bill at all.

It felt like things changed with Clinton and Gingrich in the 90’s.  The opposition between the two led to the government shutdowns of 1995. The divides were accelerated by the mainstream adoption of cable news like CNN and Fox.  There appeared to be a change in incentives and politicians focused more on shouting to their bases than dealing with the other side.  The resulting gridlock has stymied any meaningful attempt to address our growing problems and anything that does get passed is usually done at the behest and dollars of the special interests that exert excessive control over both parties. (Look into Citizens United)

Nadir of Hollywood and Cultural Cachet

During the late days of the Cold War you’d hear stories of people behind the Iron Curtain smuggling jeans and rock and roll to their people. The soft power generated by programs like Radio Free Europe and Hollywood writ large carried just as much weight as an aircraft carrier laden with F-16’s. It didn’t hurt that you had the CIA behind the scenes pushing the American narrative via programs like Operation Mockingbird.

MJ: Embodiment of American cultural power

Whether it was complacency or lack of creativity the US doesn’t have the same cultural weight as it once did. Apart from someone like Taylor Swift there are very few successors to the mantle once shouldered by icons like Elvis, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, or Madonna.  Most new cultural output is seen as derivative or driven by profit and most people agree that places like Korea are putting out better pop culture.

Where does that leave us?

Rome still managed to survive around 300 years after the conclusion of its Pax Romana and the legacy carried even further through the Byzantine Empire.  America has shown its resiliency many times so it is folly to count it out.  All you need to do is look at some of the literature that came out of the stagflation days of the 1970’s.  

One could spend a few minutes observing the media coverage of America right now and conclude that it is in terminal decline. They wouldn’t be wrong but there is a much more complicated picture to observe.  America has evolved and recreated itself unlike any other people in history and one can hope and expect that it can figure a way out of its current morass.  Fingers crossed.

 

Are we still the shining city on the hill?

 

Additional Resources:

  • Article outlining how Rome thrived during the Pax Romana- link
  • Interesting article from 2006 offering a critique of the Neoconservative movement with their “New American Century”- link
  • Opinion piece on how Trump exploited Maga and is furthering America’s decline- link
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Architectural throughlines from Greece to Rome to Palladio to America

 

“Captive Greece took captive her rude conqueror.”

– Horace

 

“Here I am, Madam, gazing whole hours at the Maison Quarrée, like a lover at his mistress.”

— Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to the Comtesse de Tessé (1787)

 

It’s well known that the Founding Fathers looked to many ideas from Greece and Rome as they sought inspiration for what would be some of the core principles of the US Constitution and government.  And the affinity for those two beloved past ages extended beyond politics and also into the realm of architecture.

There’s a story from the Thomas Jefferson biography that states that he fell in love with the Maison Carrée in Arles, France while he was serving as a minister there in 1785. He wasn’t the only Founding Father who felt inspired by the glimmering marble from these ancient buildings and this essay will chart the path from Greece to Rome to the Renaissance to the early United States.

Greece

With that in mind we will start in Greece.  (We apologize to those from ancient Egypt and Persia that helped inspire the folks who gave us the Acropolis)  They had a very specific and consistent aesthetic when it came to their buildings.  This pronounced style makes it easy to identify a Greek building whether you are in Agrigento or Corinth.  

Ancient Greek architecture wasn’t just about functional utility; it was a physical manifestation of their philosophical ideals. They viewed the universe as an ordered, rational place governed by mathematical principles, and they believed human buildings should reflect that cosmic harmony.

This fixation led us to the Classical orders that we all learned about in history class.

  • Doric: Robust, heavy, and austere. The columns feature sharp fluting and simple, unadorned capitals (tops), resting directly on the temple floor without a base.
  • Ionic: More slender, elegant, and decorative. It is easily recognized by its capitals, which feature scroll-like ornaments called volutes.
  • Corinthian: The most ornate and slender order, featuring highly stylized capitals decorated with double rows of acanthus leaves. This would later be adopted heavily by the Romans.

Rome

When Rome conquered the Greek world, they were both enamoured and fearful of their culture, philosophy, and architecture.  Eventually the suspicion felt by people like Cato the Elder gave way to admiration and emulation.  Regarding architecture, Roman builders fell in love with Greek aesthetics and adopted them wholesale. However, they didn’t just copy Greece; they fused Greek style with their own engineering genius.

When it comes to matters of beauty, the Greeks had the advantage. Most Roman sculptures, for example, were simply Greek copies. Where Rome excelled was in matters of engineering and construction. I’ll use structural columns as an example to show how they built upon what they saw in places like Athens.

  • The Greek Way: Columns were built for function and symmetry. They used a post-and-lintel system (vertical blocks supporting horizontal ones) to hold up the roof.
  • The Roman Twist: The Romans invented concrete and mastered the arch. Arches and vaults carried the structural weight, meaning they didn’t actually need columns to hold up big buildings anymore. Instead, they sliced columns in half and pasted them onto flat walls as engaged columns or pilasters purely for decoration.

Over time the Romans perfected what the Greeks built and incorporated many of their elements into their own construction. Look closely at the Colosseum: it’s a massive concrete grid of arches, but the exterior is dressed up in Greek columns (Doric on the bottom, Ionic in the middle, Corinthian on top) to make it look civilized and grand.

And if there was one Roman architect whose name has echoed throughout history it was Vitruvius. A close second might be Apollodorus of Damascus but we’ll save his name for a later post.  The legacy of Vitruvius is primarily attributed to his seminal work De Architectura. His teachings are still taught in school today.

One of the fundamental concepts he gave us was the Vitruvian Triad and it helps guide architects as they look to strike a balance between form and function.  See below for a greater description.

The Vitruvian Triad

Principle (Latin) English Translation What It Means
Firmitas Strength / Durability A building must stand up robustly. It requires excellent material choices and structural integrity to withstand the elements and the test of time.
Utilitas Utility / Functionality A building must serve its intended purpose efficiently. The interior layout should flow logically, and the spaces must be highly usable for the inhabitants.
Venustas Beauty / Delight A building must be visually pleasing. This isn’t just arbitrary decoration; Vitruvius believed beauty comes from mimicking the perfect proportions found in nature.

 

Vitruvius argued that true architectural mastery happens only when these three elements are in perfect equilibrium. A building that is beautiful but collapses fails firmitas. A building that is structurally sound but unusable fails utilitas. 

Maison Carree: Jefferson’s perfect structure

Beyond the triad, Vitruvius was obsessed with the idea that nature is the ultimate blueprint. He famously pointed out that a well-built human body is perfectly proportional: the distance from the chin to the top of the forehead is exactly one-tenth of a person’s total height, and so on. These ideas would later inspire DaVinci and his “Vitruvian Man”.  He believed that if you stretch out a human body with arms and legs extended, it fits perfectly inside the primary geometric shapes: the circle and the square.

Let’s pivot to building materials.  I might devote a separate post to their ingenuity when it comes to usage of certain materials and building styles but I just want to call out a few.

  • Roman Concrete: People are amazed that Roman buildings and aqueducts still stand.  The Pantheon, for example, has the world’s largest unreinforced dome and it is still holding up after almost two millennia.  What is the secret to their concrete? That would be pozzolana, a volcanic ash that has a special chemical composition that actually strengthens with water and over time.  To this day people haven’t quite figured out the formula for their cement.
  • The Vault: These are arched architectural ceilings constructed using heavy masonry or ancient concrete. They distributed immense weight outward and downward, allowing Romans to span massive indoor spaces (like the Colosseum or the Pantheon) without columns. This greatly opened space for other things.
  • The Basilica: These were large, multi-purpose public buildings, usually featuring a central nave and flanking aisles. Originally used for law courts and civic meetings, this open, scalable design was later adopted and adapted as the primary blueprint for traditional Christian church architecture.
  • Amphitheater: Take two semicircular Greek theaters to create a freestanding “theatre-in-the-round”. This oval shape allowed thousands of spectators to safely view high-action blood sports and spectacles from every angle. Also, Greek theaters were limited to being built into hillsides but the Romans created freestanding structures. This and other innovations like the vomitoria, hypogeum, and velarium basically paved the way for the modern theaters, stadiums, and arenas that we use today.

As the Empire declined, its architecture became more massive, centralized, and often less refined.  Interiors grew larger and leaned into the more austere style of the basilica.  Buildings often reused older materials or simplified decorations.  In many places the emphasis shifted from elegant classical proportion to sheer scale, fortress-like solidity, and symbolic authority.

Ultimately, Greece provided the aesthetic vocabulary (the beauty, symmetry, and columns), while Rome provided the engineering muscle (concrete, arches, and scale).  Once the main empire dissolved many of the practices and techniques were lost to time only to be rediscovered centuries later during the Renaissance.  

The Renaissance and Palladio

Florence, Italy was the cradle of the Renaissance and in the early 14th centuries their rediscovery of Greece and Rome led to one of the most innovative and creative periods in human history.  These people devoured anything considered classical.  And Filippo Brunelleschi’s Duomo in Florence officially kicked off the rediscovery of ancient building designs and techniques. 

Like many of the great minds of the day Filippo spent much time in Rome soaking up the buildings and sculptures there. He spent countless hours at the Pantheon and other buildings drawing inspiration as well measuring and surveying their proportions.  He took these observations and his understanding of De architectura and blew the minds of his contemporaries with his herringbone approach that actually built upon the genius of antiquity. 

The Jewel of the Arno

Roughly 60 years after Brunelleschi came another Italian who also drew inspiration from Rome. Andrea Palladio was raised in Padua and he would take these learnings and codify them into a new book,The Four Books of Architecture. It came from his time absorbing the buildings in Rome.  While there, Palladio became utterly fascinated by the symmetry, geometry, and engineering of the ancient world. He spent years meticulously sketching, measuring, and analyzing surviving Roman baths, temples, and triumphal arches.

He too discovered Vitruvius and from his work, Palladio developed the core principles that defined his career.  They were-

  • Symmetry and Balance: The idea that one side of a building should perfectly mirror the other.
  • Harmonious Proportions: Using mathematical ratios derived from musical harmony to determine the height, width, and depth of a room.
  • The Classical Orders: Strict adherence to the proper rules of Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite columns.

The ultimate culmination of his craft is the Villa Rotonda outside of Vicenza. It is a pure embodiment of Renaissance ideals, blending architecture seamlessly into its natural surroundings.  The exterior contains four identical facades and the floor plan used the circle in a square design that was made famous by Pantheon.  I would have loved Geometry

Villa Rotonda: The perfect house

a lot more in High School if I understood how it could be applied in a building like this.

The American Dream

A couple hundred years later some plucky upstarts in New England were dreaming up an idealized form of government that drew upon the ideas of Locke, Montesquieu, Cicero, and Aristotle. And with this new Republic would be a need for buildings that reflected these ideals. 

No one was more drawn to Rome than Thomas Jefferson.   He actively championed the Neoclassical movement to give the new United States its own distinct, republican architectural identity.  His love of the classics stemmed from his childhood and he was drawing inspiration from Palladio with the construction of Monticello 8 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson’s home

This love was deepened by his time as Minister to France in the 1780’s. As I mentioned earlier, it was there that he visited Maison Carrée, an exceptionally preserved ancient Roman temple in Nîmes, France. He famously called it “one of the most beautiful… pieces of architecture left us by antiquity.” He used it as the direct inspiration and blueprint for the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, marking the first time a classical temple form was used for a modern civic building. 

The Roman Republican and Enlightenment views reached their peak influence when George Washington commissioned French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant to design the new capitol, Washington DC.  He drew heavily from Rome as well as contemporary European cities like Paris that were also inspired from Rome.  Some of the notable examples include-

  • Symbolic Topography: L’Enfant utilized the Roman strategy of placing key government buildings on elevated terrain. The U.S. Capitol was built on Jenkins Hill (Capitol Hill), a commanding position intended to mimic the famous Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome.
  • Diagonal Avenues & Plazas: L’Enfant laid a baroque, grid-based street system but overlaid it with diagonal avenues radiating from the Capitol and White House. This network was heavily inspired by the monumental planning seen in Roman urban design, creating grand vistas and public open spaces.
  • Neoclassical Design: Nothing spoke to the purity of the Republican ideals than the whitewashed stones.  Instead of Carrara marble the Americans relied on ‘Potomac Marble’ and Aquia Sandstone.  Beyond the Capitol other famous pieces inspired by ancients include the Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington Memorials as well as the Supreme Court building. 

Architecture is a key way that governments and people project their values.  Whether that be open spaces that suggest equality or building on specific locations to merge their power with local myth, architectural buildings are one way that we understand the vision of the people who built them.  And as we see with places like Washington DC, there was a clear desire to demonstrate that America represented the evolution of values from Greece, Rome, the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Think about that next time you are dragging your kids along the National Mall on a muggy June afternoon.

 

Additional Resources:

  • Good piece on the Duomo in Florence- link
  • Smithsonian article on design of Washington DC- link
  • How Rome inspired modern architecture- link
  • Excellent website covering Palladio’s masterpieces- link

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How Political Power Attracts the Corruption

 

“When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‘Present’ or ‘Not Guilty’.”

–  Theodore Roosevelt

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“No place is so strongly fortified that money cannot capture it.” 

– Marcus Tulllius Cicero

 

In our high school civics class we were taught that the primary role of our federal government is to serve the citizens through things like maintaining the domestic order, providing for our security, and protecting personal liberties.  It’s a testimony to the strength of the Constitution that this has primarily happened over the past 250 years.  This is manifest through our historically strong economy and presence on the global stage.

But as money and power pool together, you will see avarice and greed circling in search of an opportunity to exploit.  This is universally true in every country and throughout history.  They say you can buy anything in the world with money and that includes politicians who can shape policy that reflect your interests.  It just so happens that the United States is the biggest golden goose today just as Rome was the biggest target back in antiquity.

Moral societies all decry greed and corruption and some governments even try to establish laws and norms that limit the ability of a few to exploit the system for their benefit.  In this post I will focus on Rome and the US and provide examples of tactics deployed in both empires that have fostered corruption.  But to prove that I’m not all doom and gloom I will also provide in a later post examples in both empires where corruption was tamed to the benefit of the wider public.

Roman Corruption

“Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.”

– Aristophanes in Assemblywomen

 

Let’s start with Rome.  I’ll try to move beyond the more prominent examples, think Nero or Commodus, and provide some more nuanced examples.  Where possible I’ll call out corruption that happened towards the end of the empire.   But for now, I’ll start with the days of the late Republic.

One of the best examples that was sort of baked into the Roman system was the exploitation of governorships or other positions that had the ability to collect taxes.  During the Republic era this was often a stop along the cursus honorum that ambitious politicians would make in order to gather the necessary funds to curry favor and buy enough support to claim one of the two consul seats.

Cicero: The man who took down Verres

Gaius Verres was the ultimate poster child for provincial extortion. His time governing Sicily was so deeply corrupt that it prompted the locals to hire a young Marcus Tullius Cicero to prosecute him in Rome. This corruption included:

  • The Grain Tax Scam: Verres was supposed to collect a tenth of Sicily’s harvest (decuma) for Rome. Instead, he systematically over-estimated the crops, forced farmers to pay the difference in cash at inflated rates, and threatened to execute anyone who complained.
  • Art and Heritage Plunder: Verres was an obsessive art collector. He used his position to literally steal famous statues, gold plate, and sacred relics from Sicilian temples and private homes.
  • The “Three-Year Plan” Quote: Verres allegedly joked that a governor needed three years in a province: one to pay off his campaign debts, one to bribe the jury at his future trial, and one to keep for himself. His corruption was so undeniable that his own defense lawyer gave up, and Verres fled into exile before the trial even ended.

Let’s move on to the richest man in the Republic, Marcus Crassus. He used his position under the First Triumvirate to secure the governorship of Syria. While he wanted military glory to rival Caesar and Pompey, he didn’t mind lining his pockets along the way. This included:

  • Profiting from Sulla’s Proscriptions: During Sulla’s reign of terror, Crassus capitalized on the political purges by buying confiscated lands from political enemies at rock-bottom bargain prices. In some accounts, he even manipulated lists to ensure certain individuals were declared outlaws so he could seize their properties.
  • Sacking the Temples: Upon arriving in the East, Crassus targeted local religious centers that had accumulated centuries of wealth. He marched into Jerusalem and stripped the Second Temple of its immense treasures, carrying off thousands of talents of gold. He did the exact same to the temple of the goddess Atargatis in Hierapolis.
  • Bribery of Voters and Courts: He consistently used his vast fortune to buy political power, heavily bribing jurors to secure acquittals for allies, paying off magistrates, and funding the election campaigns of younger politicians who would be useful to him.
  • The Toll of Greed: Crassus spent his first months checking ledger books and weighing treasure rather than training his army. His distractions cost him dearly; his poorly prepared legions were decimated by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae, where Crassus was killed. (Legend famously claims the Parthians poured molten gold down his throat as a symbol of his unquenchable greed).

One key facilitator of corruption during this period was the Publicani. You might remember from your reading of the Bible that this was the profession of Matthew. Governors didn’t always collect taxes themselves. They partnered with publicani (private tax-farming corporations). The Senate would auction off a province’s tax revenue to the highest-bidding publicani. Anything these corporations collected above that bid was pure profit. Governors were bribed to use their Roman soldiers to forcefully squeeze those excess profits out of the locals. 

Now let’s move on to the types of corruption that occurred in the later Empire.

During the later stages of the empire one of the key mechanisms that was exploited was a program called the latifundia.  Like most programs it started off with good intentions, a way to give some of the land from conquered people to military veterans, but over time it evolved to almost exclusively benefit a small few at the expense of many former farmers who were now displaced by large private estates driven by slave labor.

What exactly was a latifundia? It was essentially an industrial scale private agricultural estate that benefited from confiscated land and depended on cheap labor primarily driven by slaves. It was supposed to benefit the entire citizenry but, as with most things, the well connected political/business class used their influence to get the best leases or outright squat on the land.

The rise of the latifundia fundamentally altered Roman history. It pushed millions of unemployed, landless citizens off the countryside and into urban centers like Rome, creating a volatile underclass dependent on state grain subsidies. This stark inequality ultimately sparked violent political upheaval, inspiring the radical land-redistribution reforms championed by the Gracchi brothers and paving the way for the fall of the Roman Republic. It only grew and became more exploitative in the days of the Empire.

Another manifestation of corruption was the potentiories.  Like oligarchs there are people who understand that the government has the power and they use their money to effectively shape policies in their interest.  They undermined the tax code by creating loopholes and exemptions for themselves.  Examples of this included things like bribing tax collectors to undervalue their properties, hide key assets, or secure tax breaks. This placed a greater burden on the middle and lower classes.  Sound familiar? 

By the end of the Empire there simply wasn’t enough revenue to pay for the enormous government bureaucracy and support the military during times of crisis along its long borders.  Faith in government waned as the common citizen saw a smaller return on what they were getting for all the taxes that they were paying.  

American Corruption

“Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.”

-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

In America we pride ourselves on doing things better and better and that includes perfecting the art of corruption.  Behind a polished veneer of international rules, the “American dream” and “American Exceptionalism” lies a complicated and sophisticated network of corruption managed by accountants, lawyers and financiers and facilitated by things like tax havens and favorable tax treatment.

We will call this crony capitalism and it has bastardized a lot of the pure tenets of capitalism that Adam Smith originated. For purposes of this essay I will focus on three tools of this nefarious beast- Regulatory Favoritism, Corporate Welfare, and Non-Competitive Bidding.

The first, regulatory favoritism, can be sold to the public under the guise of protecting key industries. But the reality is somewhat different.  Governments craft regulations, tariffs, or licensing requirements that intentionally shield established, well-connected firms from new competition.  Tariffs have been in the news lately and they serve a similar purpose.  While a case can be made to protect certain strategic industries (i.e. Advanced Chip Manufacturing) there is a long history of economic failure when these policies are enacted.  Just think of Smoot-Hawley.  

Recent examples of regulatory or tariff favoritism include:

  • Private Equity: As returns within the industry have slowed down in recent years the Trump Administration has given into industry pressure by opening up these investments to the retail investor and with less oversight.
  • Cryptocurrency Industry:  In exchange for massive donations to his 2024 campaign the Trump Administration has used agencies like the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Office of the Comptroller to create favorable conditions for cryptocurrency.  It should be noted that the Trump family has numerous investments in this space.
  • Repeal of Glass-Steagall under Clinton in 1999: This action led to megabanks who could now originate loans, securitize them, sell them to investors, and even bet against them. This led to things like CDO’s and Mortgage backed securities and were a principle cause of the Great Recession.

Next up we have Corporate Welfare. This is when well-connected companies receive disproportionate subsidies, tax breaks, or government bailouts.  All you need to do is look at the about-face that many leading CEO’s (I’m looking at you Mark Zuckerberg) made when Trump came back to office.  All of the sudden they were showing up at the White House bearing gifts like Tim Cook and cutting deals with Trump to benefit their companies.

Some notable examples from recent history include:

  • Wal-Mart: The world’s largest retailer received numerous large subsidies while it continues to pay among the lowest wages in America.
  • Big Oil: The largest companies (Exxon, BP, Conoco, Chevron, Shell) receive in excess of $4 Billion in breaks annually. In 2025 the combined profit of these same first was about $193 Billion.  (Source: Perplexity AI) 
  • Tesla: Yes, this one will sting but if it wasn’t for government funding (~$38 Billion) there would be no Tesla and Elon Musk wouldn’t be the towering figure that he is today.

Tim Cook: One of many who groveled for favors

The final example is non-competitive bidding.  This is when government contracts are frequently awarded to politically favored insiders rather than the most qualified or cost-effective providers. While one the surface there measures in place to prevent this from happening, we all know the value of well-placed relationships

Among a long list is:

  • Vulcan Materials: This small magnet company teamed up with Donald Trump Jr. to score a $620 million dollar loan from the Pentagon.
  • Family Endeavors: During the migrant crisis in the Biden years it awarded, through the HHS over $530 Million a no-bid contract to Family Endeavors, a non-profit that was supposed to operate intake sites within Texas.
  • The Trump Ballroom: Leading donors won $50 Billion in contracts after giving to the Ballroom that might or not have a hidden data center underneath it.

Ok, I’ll have to end the post here. I will spend some future time exploring other forms of corruption through things like special interests and lobbying groups as well as create a post regarding how these two empires attempted to limit corruption through legislation or penalties.  

Unfortunately there are plenty of examples of corruption across these two vast empires that can span multiple entries from me.  We aim to live in a political system that serves the people but most times that government ends up serving the interests of a connected few.  That’s just the nature of power and no system of government has successfully held it in check.  It doesn’t matter if you have an elected President or a crowned Emperor, the results will generally be the same.

 

Additional Resources:

  • Good piece on how latifundias worked- link
  • Heritage Foundation article on what Adam Smith would think of Crony Capitalism- link
  • American Bar Association (ABA) article on Trump “Pay-to Play” corruption- link

 

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Reccomendation: Darius Arya

Like you, I find YouTube to be a great source of video content on Rome and I like to call out great channels.  I’m a big fan of archaeologist Darius Arya and recommend that you check out some of his content.   Better yet I’ll introduce you to some of it here.

The Pantheon is quite possibly the most impressive architectural feat of all-time.  You’re probably already aware of the dome, portico, and other familiar features, but did you that are some hidden rooms in the back that were part of a structure known as the Basilica of Neptune?

Watch this video to uncover a whole new layer to this fascinating building.

 

 

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Distraction in the service of Deviousness- The Bread and Circus

“Governments don’t want a population capable of critical thinking. They want obedient workers… It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.”   

–  George Carlin

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“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command… now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” 

 –  Juvenal

 

 

Great Britain gave the Chinese opium.  In America we have the NFL, doom scrolling and polymarket.  In Rome they had the coliseum.  The Soviet Union?  I guess they had the Gulag.  Whether it is through a carrot (distraction) or a stick (hard labor in Siberia) a government needs mechanisms to maintain a compliant, agreeable, and distracted population as it seeks to execute its plans.

Machiavelli (Chapter 7 of the Prince) advised leaders that being both feared and loved is ideal. But it is much safer for a leader to be feared if they cannot be both.  Democratic governments try to openly focus on love and openness for fear of repercussions faced during the next election if they don’t win over the hearts of the population.  Even authoritarian governments know that the population has a tipping point and that a balance must be struck. To the naked eye government propaganda will portray a utopian happy citizenry but behind the scenes crafty statesmen take Machiavelli’s counsel to heart.

While the imperium in Rome was more absolute than modern democracies, there was still a threat of dissension from a large urban population should expectations not be met. Just like the fictional character Senator Gracchus said in Gladiator, “Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them, and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom, and still, they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate; it’s the sand of the Colosseum.”  In Rome there were two distinct ways to keep the population happy, the bread and the circuses.

The Roman Bread

Let’s start with the bread.  Yes, it was literally bread and it came in the form of generous grain doles supplied from places like Sicily, Egypt, and even as far away as the Crimean peninsula.  Known as the Cura Annonae it was essentially a massive state run welfare program. At its peak it supported approximately 1 million people and consumed up to 30% of overall grain production. (link)

Like with most social programs it started off to address a temporary emergency or need. In this case it was to support indebted and dispossessed citizen-farmers at the end of the Republic.  Soon enough it became a permanent expectation.  Augustus reluctantly maintained it and it expanded under later Emperors.  It started off simply as grain rations but towards the end of the Empire it evolved to Bread and Olive Oil.  Maybe by that time the citizens had become so dependent that they even lost the skill of baking bread?

It was a well oiled bread making machine. At its peak qualifying citizens received a tesserae or token that could be reimbursed for 5 modii (approximately 73lbs) of grain per month.  The Hunger Games books/movies do a pretty good job depicting something similar.   

Why the need for such a program? You could say that things changed when the Government pushed small farmers off their land so that they could scale production and profits through latifundias.  These large estates concentrated wealth into the hands of a small elite and forced the once proud spiritual ‘descendants’ of  Cincinnatus to seek new opportunities in the ever growing city of Rome. 

This migration from the rural areas of Italy led to a rapidly growing and anxious urban population within Rome. Some joined the military and others joined a trade.  But there were only so many opportunities and the last thing an Emperor and his Senate wanted was a large population within the city walls who were dissatisfied with their economic prospects.  At the very least the state sponsored bread kept the mouths fed.  

The Roman Circus

That solved one problem but what about those citizens who couldn’t find a decent paying job?  The Emperors probably ran the calculus and determined it was cheaper to keep these people distracted than it was to provide meaningful employment. Hence the second component, the circus.

Most people think of Gladiatorial events when it comes to distractions.  This would be correct but they were far from the only attraction.  Gladiators were expensive to train and most of these events had to be sponsored by wealthy benefactors or politicians looking to curry favor.  These were exceptionally expensive and were typically only held a few times a year.

Just as, if not, more popular were the chariot races. They could cram up to 64 days of races each year and each day could have up to 24 races. The main home for these races was the Circus Maximus.This venue completely dwarfed the Coliseum  (150k people could attend an event) and popular riders were among the biggest celebrities in the Empire.  Among the most famous was Gaius Appuleius Diocles and historians figured that he earned over 38 million sesterces (Approximately $20 million USD) throughout his career.

The final key distraction for the average citizen was the theatre.  While not quite as renowned as their Greek predecessors you could still expect each Roman settlement of any note to contain their own theatre or odeon. While you still might get the Greek classics like Sophocles, Euripides, or Aristophanes the populace liked to also revel in hometown heroes like Plautus, Terrence and Seneca.  The most famous play was Plautus’s Menaechmi and it served as a principle inspiration for Shakespeares Comedy of Errors. 

The Bread and Circus template was successful and modern governments have taken note.  It has been adopted in one form or another by everyone from the British to North Korea.  For purposes of our discussion we will focus on the United States.

The American Bread

Like the early Republic, the foundational myths of America are replete with virtuous farmers who valued honor, hearth, hardiness and their interpretation of basic rights.  Even Washington was compared to  Cincinnatus. But like Rome, America evolved.  The open plains and ranchers were replaced by burgeoning cities, international bankers, and aspirations of international dominance.

Fueled by the Industrial Revolution of the late-1800’s the US experienced what is called Urban Transition. With that transition came a change in values from qualities like self sufficiency and rugged individualization to specialization and conformity.  Americans were now living in cities and with that came a need for new and increased social programs.

Let’s start with the Bread and let’s start with a specific year, 1913.  That year, thanks to Woodrow Wilson, led to the creation of two things that have forever shaped the United States- the introduction of the Income Tax and the creation of the Federal Reserve. That greatly expanded the role of the government and changed the relationship between Washington and the average citizen.  The government was now more reliant on the citizen, at least their money, and the citizen now expected more of the government.

Up through the 1920’s there was little in the way of entitlement programs. Charity was still handled through private organizations and within the community.  But things changed with the Great Depression and FDR.  Like Wilson before him, Roosevelt envisioned a more expansive role for the US government.

The key initial push was the New Deal.  While its primary role was to employ citizens during the depression it still has a footprint today.  The more lasting legacy during his Presidency was the introduction of Social Security in 1935. It is now considered an untouchable right and currently makes up around 21% of the overall US budget.  

Further expansions took place under Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) in the 1960’s with Great Society programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP. This is considered a critical safety net for the lower end of society that is struggling to make ends meet.  Clinton tried some welfare program reforms during his administration but once entrenched, these types of programs are hard to shrink.  There’s a reason why the Romans didn’t stop passing out the bread.  Our politicians know this as well and will generally keep these programs in place if they want to be reelected.

And like the late Roman Empire, the American Empire is saddled with debt.  Between Military expenditures and social programs the government relies on a tax base to keep things going. Some day this bill is going to come due but until then Congress will just either ignore this reality or continue their game of chicken.

But before I move on to the circuses portion of the essay, let me plant this little seed in your head.

 

“The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.” – Noam Chomsky*

The American Circus

The wealth of America is immense and as the government expanded it became a fattened goose for greedy businessmen to feast upon through their purchase of politicians.  The modern model started with Tammany Hall but has been expanded and perfected through special interests and protections offered by things like Citizens United. 

It would shock the average citizen to know how much power the Pharmaceutical industry, Military Industrial Complex or even foreign groups like AIPAC have on the shaping of US policy.  If you don’t believe me then check this out.  Those in power know this and they go to great lengths to prevent this knowledge from making it to main street.

The internet makes it hard to hide most activities and that is a good thing. At least right now you can still track the digital trail of someone with relative ease. With that in mind most major players know how to distract and confuse with misdirection.  This takes many forms today and is usually a private-public partnership.  This can include but isn’t limited to things like:

  • The NFL and its active partnership with the Military to foster patriotism and sell the next war.
  • All major sports and their new found relationship and profit center in the form of gambling. 
  •  The expansion of betting sites from sports to just about everything with prediction market sites.
  • An internet and social media environment that is so addictive that the figures in Silicon Valley developing these platforms won’t let their children use them.
  • An 24 hour Cable ecosystem that distracts us from the true source of our problems by framing everything in a left-right paradigm.
  • The insane TMZ and influencer culture that sucks up countless hours of available hours with inane and pointless celebrity babble.

The government and those who influence/buy those in government know that all of the items above distract us from more seriously scrutinizing their actions. These distractions also placate us by offering simple pleasures that speak to our biases and pleasures.   It’s hard to do focused deep dives into subjects when the prospect of three hours of doomscrolling seems so appealing.

That’s certainly not to say that all media, games, or websites are deliberate attempts to distract us from the nefarious deeds of others, but the government does have a track record of getting involved in misinformation or other efforts to shape a narrative to the public.  If you don’t believe me just check out Operation Mockingbird, Black Cube, or look at the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal.   There are plenty of examples where the Government is either trying to hide something from you or steer your sentiment in a specific direction. 

What do we make of all of it?

What is the lesson, if any, in all of this?  I guess it is that we are well served to have a healthy amount of skepticism about government programs designed to appease the public.  Take a deeper look and ask why would these programs exist?  Could it be to engender simple and blind loyalty to a political party, distract us from other activities, or even to fulfill the wishes of a special interest?

Ultimately, where there is money there is power.  And in their quest to obtain both people will go to great and evil lengths.  A moral public will usually stand against the actions of these kinds of people.  But if the public doesn’t know what is truly going on or is distracted, where is the outcry and the opposition?  And that could be the point of why they give us the bread and the circus.  They don’t want us truly aware of what is really happening.

 

 

Additional Resources:

  • Augustus and fabricated grain shortage- link
  • Economic issues created by Latifundia model- link
  • Cool article from the University of Chicago on Gladiators- link
  • Good article that covers how the CIA manipulated the media through Operation Mockingbird- link

 

* Pretty ironic quote given that Chomsky was friends with Jeffrey Epstein (link)

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Debasement and the debt monster

“Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt”

Herbert Hoover

 

It is a weakness that has probably plagued humanity ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden. Why deal with a problem today when you can kick it down the road to be handled by someone who is not you? Our world is filled with temporary fixes meant to placate the public today at the expense of burdening the future.  

Some of the best examples today and throughout history come through short-sighted economic decisions. And the bigger the Empire the bigger the calamity.  Such as it was in Rome and such as it is in the United States.  Two predictable paths to calamity involve currency debasement and excessive debt*. Whether it is debasing a coin or moving off the Gold Standard, the cost of the Empire cannot be hampered by the limitations of a metal backed currency or the demands for a balanced budget.

Debt and debasement are also commonly cited characteristics of a country in decline. There’s a popular YouTube video that’s been floating around lately. It outlines seven stages that each late stage Empire goes through as it returns to earth. It is supposedly ascribed to John Bagot Glubb. It’s been applied to Spain, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and now the United States of America.

Empires rarely collapse from a single cause. They weaken when military overreach, fiscal strain, currency decline, and political decay reinforce one another, each making the others worse. Rome and the United States are separated by two millennia, but both have faced the hard problem of financing global power without destroying confidence in their money.

Back to the theory.  I’ve seen a couple variations of the stages but the most popular version lists the stages as such-

  • Stage 1: Military overextension
  • Stage 2: Currency debasement
  • Stage 3:Debt spiral
  • Stage 4: Loss of productive capacity
  • Stage 5:Social decay (consuming not creating wealth)
  • Stage 6: Loss of currency reserve status
  • Stage 7; Collapse

Generally speaking it makes sense. I don’t know if each step needs to happen in sequence but we can all agree that the list above contains characteristics of an Empire in decline.  For purposes of this essay I want to focus on Stages 2 and 3- Debasement and Debt. We will start with Rome and then see if we can draw some connections with America. 

Roman debt and debasement

As Rome’s empire and obligations expanded, emperors repeatedly reduced the precious metal content of the denarius and related coins, stretching the money supply while keeping face value constant. That may have solved  short-term revenue problems, but it also weakened trust in money, contributed to inflation, and pushed the burden of adjustment onto ordinary people.

As a specific example, let’s look at the Roman Denarius.  It was the highest value silver coin and was considered the workhorse of the Empire.  It had been around since the days of the Republic but its place was cemented when, in roughly 23 BC, Augustus standardized Roman coinage establishing a highly structured trimetallic system (gold, silver, and base metals) with fixed weight standards and exchange ratios. (Note: For a more detailed view of Roman coinage I suggest you visit the Economics page here)

At this time the Denarius weighed just under 4 grams and was minted at 98% purity.  A typical laborer or soldier could expect to earn approximately 1-2  denarii a day and its value has been estimated at around $50 today.  As a point of reference, during the time of Trajan a soldier could expect to pay around 15 denarii for a good pair of boots.  (link) 

This consistency didn’t last long and Nero was the first Emperor to debase coinage by pushing the silver purity down to 93% and overall weight down to 3.4 grams. He did this primarily to pay for the reconstruction costs associated with the great fire of Rome as well as pay for the costs of the Parthian War. Initially there was little economic consequence to these actions as the Empire’s growth and expansion continued to ensure prosperity.  In light of this prosperity, successive Emperors would continue this trick such that by the end of the  Pax Romana the silver content was down to about 70% during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

Things only accelerated during the Severan Dynasty (193-235 AD). To ensure the loyalty of troops, Severus needed to increase their wages.  And to accopmlish that feat he reduced the silver content to nearly 60%. His son, Caracalla, introduced a new coin called the antoninianus (the “double denarius”), which was intended to equal two denarii but only contained a fraction of silver in the original denarii.

This led to the eventual collapse during the Crisis of the 3rd Century.  During this period of intense political instability and civil war, the denarius became entirely debased. Silver content plummeted to between 2 and 5% with the coin merely consisting of a copper core thinly dipped in silver. The population noticed this and tried to hoard older coins as a store of value. It was also during this time that “coin clipping” became a wider scale practice.  If you’re interested in reading more about coin debasement I suggest you read this. 

Later Emperors like Diocletian (updated reforms of three metal system) and Constantine (introduction of the Solidus) made significant reforms to try to restore stability within the monetary system.  These actions coupled with tax reform, we’ll get to that in a moment, and price fixing created a momentary reprieve but they ultimately didn’t solve the problem. In fact it could be argued that they helped lay the groundwork for the rigid system that paved the way for the serfdom model of the middle ages.

Coinage was the empire’s trust mechanism, the medium that let people buy, sell, pay taxes, and store value. When the state diluted that medium, it effectively asked citizens to accept less real value for the same nominal coin. The result was predictably corrosive: people hurried to spend money before it lost more value, prices rose, and the government had to debase again to keep up with its own obligations.

Now let’s pivot to the reason why debasement had to take place in the first place- debt. Rome did not use “debt” in the modern Treasury-bond sense, but it did live with a permanent fiscal problem: the state needed more resources than its tax base could reliably supply. Military costs, bureaucracy, civil conflict, and frontier defense all demanded spending, while expansion slowed and the easy gains from conquest declined. As illustrated above, emperors responded by debasing coins with cheaper metals, which increased the money supply and raised prices.

Roman tax pressure

Debt became so toxic that the Imperial government ultimately forced the local government to collect taxes through the Curiales. These were local magistrates and mid-level landowners and they were held personally liable for collecting their city’s imperial tax quotas.  You can imagine how the locals took to this approach.

Debt did not occur in a vacuum. Roman writers described a state growing heavier, more predatory, and less productive. Ammianus Marcellinus wrote of “the burden of tributes” and taxes so severe that distinguished families fled the countryside and others were crushed into poverty and prison. Gibbon likewise argued that the multiplication of officials and ministries increased expenses while oppression fell on the population.

That tax pressure damaged the very base Rome depended on. As Gibbon observed, “the lands were left without cultivation” and “the arts were neglected,” so the public revenue fell from the same policies used to raise it. The empire was, in effect, eating its own tax base. Higher taxes and more coercive collection may have bought time, but they also weakened productive activity, encouraged evasion, and reduced the long-term capacity of the economy.

This matters because Roman fiscal decline was not just about money creation. It was about the interaction between tax burden, military spending, and falling confidence in the state. Debasement was a symptom of a deeper structural problem: Rome had expanded beyond the fiscal and administrative system needed to support it indefinitely.

Aurelian

Inflation and collapse

The clearest economic consequence of Roman debasement and debt was inflation. Simply put, when too much money chases too few goods, prices rise. In Rome, the increase in money supply was not matched by equal growth in productive output, so the purchasing power of each coin fell.

Cassius Dio captured the broader meaning of the decline when he described a transition “from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust.” That phrase is memorable because it links monetary decline to civilizational decline: when money loses quality, institutions, discipline, and political coherence often weaken too. Ammianus and later observers also described corruption, declining morale, and an empire increasingly dependent on extraction rather than growth.

The Roman state tried reforms, including the monetary reforms of Aurelian and Diocletian, but these did not solve the underlying problem for long. Once trust is damaged and fiscal demands keep rising, reform can slow the decline but not necessarily reverse it. The lesson is that monetary fixes without structural reform tend to postpone, not prevent, crisis.

The U.S. parallel

The modern United States is not Rome, but there are real parallels worth considering. The U.S. has operated under fiat money since the end of gold convertibility in 1971, when President Nixon closed the gold window and effectively ended the Bretton Woods system. The Federal Reserve History account explains that this move responded to inflation, a looming gold run, and the imbalance created by large overseas dollar holdings.

That change was not the same as Roman debasement, but it did mark a shift away from commodity restraint and toward policy-driven money. Fiat currency is sustained by trust in institutions, productive capacity, and the credibility of monetary authorities. When that trust weakens, inflation can become a signal that the currency is being stretched faster than the economy’s real output can justify.

Rome debased their coins….why don’t we try it too?

Like Rome the US faced pressure as it tried to balance its growing governmental obligations and a recession with the need to maintain confidence in the dollar. Even before Bretton Woods took place the US was already on the path to debasement. You could argue that it started with the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 which nationalized privately held gold and began the devaluation of the dollar.  In 1949 a quarter was 90% silver and 10% copper.  1964 would be the last year that dimes and quarters were struck with this much silver.  The Coin Act of 1965 would mark the end of any attempts to ensure quality metals in our coins and today our quarters are 92% copper and 8% nickel.

And like Rome debasement was a symptom of the need to pay for expanded government initiatives. In this case it was the Vietnam War and newly created entitlements under Nixon.  A few years of balance at the end of the Clinton years notwithstanding, the US debt has continued to grow consistently regardless of what party or President is in office.  The concept of fiat currency means that coin debasement is less problematic than it was in Rome but it still reflects the reality of a government straining its monetary stability.  

As of May 5, 2026, total gross US national debt was $38.91 trillion, with debt held by the public at $31.26 trillion and intragovernmental debt at $7.65 trillion. That is not an imperial collapse by itself, but it is evidence of a government that increasingly relies on borrowing to sustain spending.  And behind this debt is the lurking prospect of inflation.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the CPI-U rose 3.8 percent over the 12 months ending April 2026, with food up 3.2 percent and energy up 17.9 percent. Separate forecasts in May 2026 suggested inflation could remain elevated for the rest of the year. A modern economy is very complicated and it is difficult to definitively measure cause and effect, but it is very safe to say that increased government spending coupled with a deliberate printing of ‘fiat’ currency has been a major contributing factor to inflation.  It’s currently far from Weimar Germany or Turkey levels but don’t be surprised if it continues to increase.

A good way to help explain how things like debasement, increased spending, and the resulting inflation negatively impacts purchasing power is to look at home purchases over the past 50 years. In the 1970’s an average home price was roughly 1.8 to 2 times the median family income.  Today it is closer to 7 times. Sure certain consumer goods, think electronics have consistently gotten cheaper, but most permanent goods have continued a steady climb towards expensive.  This chart from the Visual Capitalist also does a great job illustrating the decline in our purchasing power.

Similarities and limits

It is pretty easy to draw comparisons between the current U.S. Economy and the later stage Roman Empire based on observations tied to debasement, debt, and expansion of government spending and programs. But is it that easy?  Are our destinies that closely tied? This kind of review is useful as a warning model, not as proof of destiny. Rome fits the pattern strongly because fiscal extraction, debasement, and administrative overload fed one another until the state could no longer command the same loyalty or productivity.

The U.S. shares some features of the early stages, but not all. America still has enormous productive capacity, deeper capital markets, stronger institutions, and a global monetary role that Rome never had in the same form. At the same time, the end of gold backing in 1971 and the large debt burden today show that the U.S. relies heavily on confidence rather than convertibility.

That distinction matters because reserve-currency status can delay consequences, but not abolish them. If a country can borrow cheaply in its own currency, it can defer hard choices for a long time. But if debt keeps growing faster than productive capacity, and if inflation repeatedly erodes trust in the currency, the state eventually faces a choice between reform and decline.

Final judgment

Rome can serve as a logical comparison for America, but only as a partial one. The strongest parallel is not that the United States is doomed to “fall like Rome,” but that great powers often make the same mistake: they confuse short-term financial tricks with long-term strength. Rome debased its coinage to pay armies and preserve order; the modern U.S. expands debt and manages inflation within a fiat system to preserve growth and stability.

So the right conclusion is not that America is Rome, but that America should learn from Rome. Rome shows that when a state grows too dependent on military spending, bureaucracy, debt, and monetary erosion, it can hollow out the economic base that sustains it. The United States still has the ability to correct course, but only if it treats debt, inflation, and productive capacity as serious limits rather than accounting abstractions. In that sense, Rome is a warning, not a prophecy.

If Americans continue to tolerate rising debt, persistent inflation, and a political culture that rewards consumption over production, the Roman analogy becomes more persuasive. If instead the country restores fiscal discipline, protects the value of money, and rebuilds productive capacity, then the comparison remains only a historical lesson. Rome fell because it lost the ability to match power with solvency; America’s advantage is that it can still choose not to repeat that mistake.

 

 

 

 

Additional Resources

Told In Stone- link

Forbes article about decline in purchase power- link

A series of charts from the conservative leaning Peter G Peterson foundation breaking down the current US budget- link

How Roman elites beat inflation with gold (Classical Numismatics YouTube)- link

 

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* It can be argued that a nation should incur a certain amount of debt in order to fuel healthy growth.  How much debt can be sustained probably determines what side of the political aisle you fall.  Here’s one article from the UN and one from the Brookings Institute.  Interpret them however you’d like.

 

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The Journey begins….

This effort is a long time coming. Like many people born in the Western world my early years and childhood education was steeped in the stories, myths, and principles tied to ancient Greece and Roman. And like many people that interest has carried over into adulthood.

What started off as a passive rediscovery through shows like Gladiator or HBO’s Rome soon blossomed into a more intense and mature discovery of a fascinating time and place. A time and place that still permeates in many aspects of our current life ranging from legal principles to building concepts to ideas around national identity.

This website and eventual YouTube channel represents a culmination of that interest. The topic of Rome is broad and I will try to limit the scope of my efforts to a study of the later Empire (3rd Century through early Byzantine). I will focus on the various facets of the Empire (Economic, Political, Military, etc.) that led to either its extension or decline. And where feasible, I will seek to draw comparisons with the current Western Order as led by the United States.

I know that history doesn’t repeat itself but I am positive in the myriad lessons that can be learned through studying the actions and consequences of our ancestors. With that said, feel free to join me as I seek to better understand one of the most fascinating times in history.

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Recommendations: The Ancients Podcast

There are so many incredible sources of information on Rome and so many people who share this passion.  From time to time I will call out creators who I think are worth your time.  The Ancients Podcast is one of those great sources of information and insights.

Enjoy this sample episode- What If Alexander Fought Rome?.  Subscribe to the channel for many other great discussions like this.

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When Hollywood does history…

It will take a little time building out content for the blog.  In the meantime enjoy this little piece from the amazing Mary Beard.  Hollywood can sure entertain….but is the history it tells always accurate?  Does it matter?

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