Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
The 2000-Year History of the Roman State and Its Lessons for Today
Speaker
Professor Edward Watts
Coordinator
Hiromi Imai-Dellario
Professor Edward Watts During the two millennia that the Roman state lasted, it evolved from an Italian city-state in which people spoke Latin and worshiped pagan gods into an empire centered in Constantinople and dominated by Greek-speaking Christians. How could Rome so completely transform itself while never losing the connection that bound its current citizens to their political ancestors? The fourth Crusade and capture of Constantinople killed the Roman state by destroying the institutions on which its continuity depended. This story is a lesson in both what it takes to make a state last and the danger of disrupting the institutions that guarantee its survival.
Speaker Bio
Edward Watts a professor and CoDirector of the Center for Hellenic Studies at UC San Diego. His research interests center on the intellectual, political and religious history of the Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire. He received BAs in Classics and Ancient and Medieval Culture at Brown University and his PhD in History from Yale University.
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