At which point did the Roman Empire really end?

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by Traianvs


Eh I don't understand that part. You mean the son of the last sovereign of the defeated land returns some years later exacting a revenge on the great empire... and that son is the rebellious ruler you mean?

If that's what you mean, that's not really what the Romans did when they took control of Asia Minor for example. They did relatively little 'true conquering' there. It's more the case that lots of kings there favoured the Romans by putting into their will that the kingdom will go to Rome if they die. It was a perfect protection against assassination attempts.
The various kings and rulers were in effect client-kings though, but they seldomly installed them in Asia Minor through warmongering, because that was not necessary anyway

I guess he means Arminius the Cherusc (Herman the German).

But beside that I guess the "Roman ideology" thing is pretty constructed.

[Alexander's Horse]

The Roman empire hasn't ended - just ask the Pope.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
The Roman empire hasn't ended - just ask the Pope.

What about Vatican II and the end of Latin as the universal language of the Roman Catholic Church, not to mention the repudiation of the Syllabus of Errors?

Time will tell if this is truly the end of Rome or merely an interim, after which the Roman Catholic Church wil be re-Latinized and the peoples of Western Europe, tired of modern fads, will once more accept their true rulers and all will joyfully embrace their designated places in the divinely ordained order of the Roman universe.

[Alexander's Horse]

Yes we still pray for your return

there is continuity, the one holy, roman and apostolic church

remember also the papal state ruled Rome, and still does a small part

[Traianvs]

Unless we go through a terrible crisis soon, catholicism is nearly dead and buried in Belgium. There's no more new priests enrolled in the seminars, and on average priests have to attend 5 different parishes or so, and they're all over 60-70 years old. And nobody (literally) ever attends church except the royal family for a te deum or someshite. Monasteries are dying out with no new recruits to fill the ranks. However Cathilicism is a pitiful waste of energy, it's still a bit sad to see some of those communities die here because some of them were good people.

On the other hand, the poor countries' religious zeal is flourishing, as is usual in that kind of circumstances. Finally the pope can return to its function of leader of the paupers

[Alexander's Horse]

it might say something about christ identifying with the poor...