Rome XIX - The Fall of Rome

The episode “Fall of Rome” is the 19th and final episode in the “Unbiased History of Rome” series. It explains events from the death of Honorius to the eventual death of Romulus Augustulus (Little Augustus). It focuses on the characters ‘Flavius Aetius’ and ‘Majorian’, both dying before they could restore Rome.

## Appearances of Greats in the intro (in order)

1. **KING AENEAS**
2. **ROMVLVS**
3. **LOYAL PATRICIANS**
4. **MARCVS FVRIVS CAMILLVS**
5. **SCIPIO AFRICANVS**
6. **IVLIVS CAESAR**
7. **AVGVSTVS/OCTAVIAN**
8. **TRAIANVS**
9. **CONSTANTINVS**
10. **STILICHO**
11. **AVRELIANVS**
12. **AETVIS**
13. **MAIORIANVS**
14. **Honoria**
15. **Licinia**
16. **Placidia the Younger**
17. **V\*lentinian III**
18. **Theodosius II**
19. **Galla Placidia**
20. **Aelia Pulcheria**
21. **Aegidius**
22. **Marcellinus**
23. **Nepos**
24. **Procopius Anthemius**
25. **Avitus**
26. **Geiseric (foreshadowing)**
27. **Attila the Hun (foreshadowing)**
28. **Odoacer (foreshadowing)**

## Synopsis

*"It is the 5th century A.D. and the enemies of Rome have filtered through the provinces of Hispania and Gaul.*
As the families of Honorius and his brother plunge into power struggles on their respective sides of the divided empire, the last of the Romans fight to preserve and save their home from the greatest threat they have ever faced ... though perhaps It's too late..."

## "Trivia"

* The opening song for Fall of Rome is based on Naruto Shippuden's opening 18 song, "The Line", which Aetius took the role of Naruto, Majorian as Sasuke, Stilicho as Sakura and Attila and his allies are (possibly) Madara and Kaguya, the final villains of the series.
* The part about Arthur is based on Goeffrey Ashe's hypothesis of Riothamus being King Arthur based on correspondences with Anthemius, and mythical Avalon being French town of Avallon.
* Aetius and his Hunnic allies' role in destroying the first Burgundian Kingdom in the Rhine along with their king Gundahar, whose heroic death inspired Nibelung Saga, were omitted from this episode.
* In the part of fall of Western Roman Empire, which was done so in bias towards Roman Empire, much of the effects--namely infrastructure collapse, urban destruction, disintegration of Roman authorities, and loss of knowledges--were either exaggerated or attributed mainly to Germanic takeovers.
	+ Many urban areas were already depopulated and abandoned--even taking place centuries between the Third Century Crisis and Fall of Rome--due to plague and food shortages pushing them towards self-sufficient agrarian manors rather than Barbarian destruction.
	+ Places like Italy (Odoacer and later the Ostrogoths), Hispania (Visigoths), and North Africa (Vandal Kingdom) were well-off, if not thriving, under the Germanic rulership--many of whom were adept in administration and cooperation with local elites--compared to other parts of the Roman Empire.
	+ Much of the feudal institutions--namely the peasants--were the results of Diocletian's reforms that locked farmers to their lands and hereditary occupations along with the largely sparsely populated and rural nature of Western provinces leading to the decline of bureaucratic administration further compounded by locals relying on the Germanic warlords as their new leaders.
	+ While the infrastructure and trade did collapse in the aftermath, at least in former provinces of Britannia and Gaul; much of rural Europe saw little disruptions with a renaissance under Carolingian Dynasty in the Frankish Kingdom with its reforms (punctuations and fonts) on Latin-style alphabets, agrarian improvements (three fields system, increasing use of water and wind mills, and plough technology), and a commerce trade revival in 8th Century CE.

* in the final sequence of the chapter, specifically the segment of the Severan dynasty there is an animation error. the error is that instead of showing Ardashir alongside the Sassanid Persians, Shapur III is in his place.
* A young Majorian after repelling the invasion of the Franks, declares that the region they were about to conquer was called Gaul, not Frankia (although the Franks answer that Gaul does not really belong to the Gauls but to the Romans). this is a reference to the future of the province that would become modern france.
	+ However The Franks were the precursors of modern Germany, not France.
* The training montage with Aetius is based on Mulan's "I'll Make a Man Out of You".
	+ Dovah had to use Samuel Kim Music's version to evade copyright claims.
* the scene where the Roman army appears in front of Attila is similar to the montage of Constantine I and his army shortly before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
* Despite the series' portrayal of Germanic troops copying shield wall from Romans, such tactics were already adopted even before their migration to Roman Empire.
* The scene where Attila confronts Aetius is a reference to the Adventure Time episode "*Escape from the Ctiadel*" where Finn (Aetius) is confronted by the Lich (Attila).
* Julius Nepos makes a reference to Sasuke Uchiha from the Naruto series when he says that he will take revenge on someone, although it is not seen who he was referring to.
* Ricimer and his Massacre of the Last Romans is a reference / parody to the execution of Order 66 from Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith.
* Although Ricimer's bad image in the episode is correct in that he raised puppets to rule through them, in real life he defended the empire of Germanic tribes despite being a German himself.
* Historically, the Goths under Thorismund to return to their homeland to mourn fallen Theodoric rather than general disobedience towards Aetius, who allowed them to leave for such occassion.
	+ Furthermore, the show omitted Thorismund's assassination by Theodoric II, his younger brother, who rejected alliance with Western Roman Empire in contrast to his predecessors.