Hi everybody, welcome to the 11th episode of the Fall of Rome.

As always, I'm your host, Patrick Weiman.

This is the first of a three episode arc where we'll focus on the Roman Empire as a space

where people, things, and ideas moved freely.

In the first piece of this, we'll talk about the Roman economy as it had come to exist

in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

In the second, we'll talk about how the Roman economy fell apart in the 4th, 5th, and

6th centuries and what replaced it.

In the 3rd episode, we'll discuss mobility and communications, my actual specialty, and

the subject of my dissertation.

What all of these topics have in common is an emphasis on movement, of people, of things,

and ideas.

The same roads, the same shipping routes, the same ports, the same ships that carried

grain and wine, also carried travelers, pilgrims, soldiers, books, and religious concepts.

When one pattern changed, so did the others.

That's why we're going to treat them all together in dialogue.

We can talk all we want about the political structures of the Roman Empire, about the barbarians,

about the army, whatever.

But we can't truly understand what made the Roman world Roman until we understand what

and how it tied its various places and regions into a coherent whole.

That's why the economy matters.

So let's talk about the Roman economy.

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