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Summary: Roman Empire’s Fall (Press, 13 April 1985)
In a letter to the editor, Philip Rainer from Wellington argues against the idea that homosexuality contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. He asserts that reputable historians dismiss this view. Rainer highlights that the Roman Empire reached its peak expansion under Emperor Trajan and its cultural high point under Emperor Hadrian, both of whom were known to be homosexual. He notes that Julius Caesar, a pivotal figure in Roman history, was bisexual and that his contemporaries referred to him in ways that reflected this. Rainer contends that the decline of the Western Roman Empire in 476 can be traced back to its Christianisation by Constantine the Great in 337, who also relocated the capital to Byzantium. He adds that the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453 was a result of the Ottoman Empire's conquest, led by homosexual janissaries. Rainer concludes that the sexual orientation of Roman leaders has no bearing on the political outcomes of the Empire.
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