Kyle Harper Books
Kyle Harper is an American historian and professor at the University of Oklahoma. His research focuses on the history of the Roman world, environmental history, and the intersection of human societies with natural forces.
Known for: The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
Books by Kyle Harper
The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
This book explores how climate change and infectious diseases shaped the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Drawing on recent advances in climate science, genetics, and archaeology, Harper argues that environmental and biological forces played a decisive role in transforming the ancient world, challenging traditional narratives focused solely on politics and economics.
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The Roman Climate Optimum
At the height of Rome’s power, roughly between 200 BCE and 150 CE, the empire enjoyed what scientists now call the Roman Climate Optimum—a period of unusually stable, warm, and humid conditions across the Mediterranean. This was not mere background noise; it was the ecological foundation on which Ro...
From The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
The Roman Empire as an Ecological System
Rome was more than a political entity—it was an ecological empire. Its infrastructure and trade networks formed arteries through which both wealth and disease flowed. Cities were hubs of human density, animated by constant movement of people, goods, and animals. Livestock carried zoonotic pathogens;...
From The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
About Kyle Harper
Kyle Harper is an American historian and professor at the University of Oklahoma. His research focuses on the history of the Roman world, environmental history, and the intersection of human societies with natural forces.
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Kyle Harper is an American historian and professor at the University of Oklahoma. His research focuses on the history of the Roman world, environmental history, and the intersection of human societies with natural forces.
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