Roman decadence
Empire's lavish decline
Roman decadence refers to the moral and cultural decline supposedly characteristic of the later Roman Empire—luxury, sexual excess, political corruption, and self-indulgence replacing earlier republican virtues.
The phrase often appears in moralizing contexts: The party was a scene of Roman decadence.
Historians debate whether such decline actually caused Rome's fall, but the image persists as shorthand for civilizational decay through hedonism and corruption.
- hedonismPursuit of gratification
- epicureanismPursuit of refined pleasures
- toga partyCostume event with draped sheets
- wineFermented grape beverage
- opulenceShowy, abundant prosperity
tyranny · nepotism · bribery · luxury · despotism · bread and circuses · gluttony · exploitation · erotic poetry · Caligula · satire · feast · moral relativism · decline and fall · incompetence · authoritarianism · blood sport · civil unrest
- SatyriconMenippean satire
Roman decadencegravitas
Dignified, weighty manner
civic virtue · moral rectitude · temperance · self-restraint · asceticism
Roman, Rome, Romans, Romance, Romanesque, romanize, romanization, decadence, decadent