The fall of the Roman Empire was a long – lasting process. To this day, scientists argue about when the fall of the Roman state began and what were its causes. The second we start to talk about the degeneration of the great empires, ancient Rome inevitably comes to mind. Edward Gibbon had no doubts: all the evil began at the end of Marcus Aurelius’ reign, and the main reason was the fall of ancient virtues caused by the spread of Christianity. Some of more traditionally thinking historians agreed with Gibbon, the others pointed to the political crises that plagued the Empire and the continuous barbarian invasions.
