I'll Blame Catastrophe..

The collapse of the Roman empire is pretty confusing to historians.  I agree with the catastrophic collapse cause/idea.  The fall of the empire did not occur in one event, but a domino effect based on multiple events. I also agree that these events were inevitable.  All of them were bound to happen at one point or another.  J.B. Bury states that "a number of crises" lead to the fall of the empire.  All of these crises being catastrophic  and harmful to the empire.  This cause is also thought to have a cycle of events that seem to lead to the fall of an empire.  I also agree with this because it makes sense for certain events, all being similar, to lead to the end of an empire.  The venn diagram shows that both the Han and the Roman empire fell because of similar events and reasons, so the cycle of events makes sense and has evidence supporting it.  The fall of the Roman empire was pretty catastrophic for the Romans.

Roman City Prompts

b. What is the Forum and where is it located? Why is that symbolically significant? What other Classical Era society located politics in this way?

Th Forum was the center of the city and it was the center of politics. The Forum had important buildings and shops. It is symbolically significant because it shows like the center of the commerce and culture. This is similar to the Greek society as the city-states had cities as the center of politics and everything else and outside of the city was rural land where most people lived.

c. How does an aqueduct move water? How is this like or unlike the way a qanat worked in Persia?

The aqueduct of Rome uses gravity to move water from like a mountain. In the case of rivers and other bodies of water, they use arcs when they cannot use the large columns or pillars. In qanats, the Persians dug underground canals from a source of water.

f. Why can’t Marcus Fabricius marry Aiden? How does this compare to attitudes about marriage in Classical Era India?

Marcus can't marry Aiden because he has Roman citizenship and she does not.  This is similar to the attitudes about marriage in Classical Era India as marriage between castes was frowned upon.  It is basically the same idea here, people in different social standings are not permitted to marry.