Ask twenty different people what led to the fall of Rome, and you’ll get twenty different answers. Experts will give you an array of opinions, depending on their area of specialization or what thesis paper they’re writing. There is no single right answer. Political squabbling, weakened borders, a diluted army, disease, economic crises... some even say it was because of lead in the pipes. The fall of the Roman Empire—why it happened, and when exactly—it’s a huge subject.
Yet there were people living in ancient Rome who saw it coming. In fact, an ancient prophecy—a big one—basically predicted the whole thing.
Here, I’d like to talk a little about the fall of Rome—a changing Rome—through the eyes of a very important woman who was about to become very unimportant. The last chief Vestal priestess of the Roman Empire, a woman named Coelia Concordia.
Statue of Coelia Concordia