Answer to Question #175981 in History for Everlyn Ndirangu

Question

What factors led to the decline of the Roman world? Which of the various difficulties Rome faced do you think were the most important in explaining the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire, and why? In a paragraph

According to Octavian, in what ways was Antony “in-Roman”? What role did Cleopatra play in pulling Antony away from Roman values and traditions? In a paragraph

What connections did Octavian make between Rome and masculinity? What about between “foreignness” and femininity? How did those connections shape his presentation of the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra? In a paragraph

Answer 1

Factors that led to the decline of the Roman world include: invasions by Barbarian tribes, economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor, the rise of the Eastern Empire, overexpansion and military overspending, government corruption and political instability, the arrival of the Huns and the migration of the Barbarian tribes, Christianity and the loss of traditional values.

The most important difficulties in explaining the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire included: military overreach, invasion by emboldened tribes of Huns and Visigoths from northern and central Europe, inflation, corruption and political incompetence.

According to Octavian, Antony in-Roman, they received control of the east, including Graecia, Asia, Syria and Aegyptus. For a time, Rome saw peace. Octavian put down revolts in the west while Antony reorganized the east; however, the peace was short lived. Antony had been having an affair with the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra

The role played by Cleopatra in pulling Antony away from Roman values and traditions was that while queen of Egypt (51–30 BCE), Cleopatra actively influenced Roman politics at a crucial period and was especially known for her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She came to represent, as did no other woman of antiquity, the prototype defeated Antony to believe that Cleopatra has betrayed him to Octavius. She is so angry that she retreats to her monument and sends false word to Antony that she has committed suicide.

The connections that Octavian made between Rome and masculinity was of Cleopatra and Octavian Caesar as they opposed each other, and how he was a wealthy man, and vastly increased the wealth of Rome, thus making the man, Antony a respected soldier, and possibly this virile connection bonded the two. Also, Octavius donned the toga, the Roman sign of manhood, at age 16, and began taking on responsibilities through his family connections.

The connections that Octavian made between “foreignness” and femininity was the relationship between gender and power, and this was the accession of Elizabeth I to power and how the figuration of Cleopatra in early modem culture made her such an appropriate ruler. Cleopatra was highly sexualized and manipulative in nature. Also, Octavia, full sister of Octavian (later the emperor Augustus) and wife of Mark Antony at the time was ruling the Roman state with Octavian and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus who met extraordinary women who dared to bring gender equality and other issues to the forefront. Octavian followed Cleopatra and made good use of her own connection to the divine, even going so far as having an affair with Antony, as well as that of women and gender roles, and these differed greatly from how the queen was to act according to images of fertility and motherhood and focusing on her foreignness.

  Those connections shaped his presentation of the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra when they returned to Alexandria.