The loss of Roman concrete happened before the collapse of the Western Roman empire. This is one exception to your insightful comment. Major public works were halted in the last century before the collapse. The last major project in Western Europe was the Temple of Minerva around 325 CE.

In Constantinople, a small church, tha Hagia Irene, has concrete walls. Larger works, like the famous city walls, don't have any concrete. It honestly may not have been an appropriate material choice, but other projects didn't use Roman concrete either. I think this might be because volcanic ash wasn't readily available.

[–] lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Actually, it's not entirely disconnected.

Concrete was mostly used in large building projects. These were expensive and thus usually sponsored by those wealthy enough to invest in such projects, particularly if they were vanity projects. In Rome, that would be the Emperors. Outside, it would typically take multiple sponsors.

The decline in economic stability around the Third Century, the reduction in profitable conquest due to military power being invested in civil wars of succession and the increasingly expensive bribes for the Praetorian Guard all contributed to Emperors having less money to spend on such projects, with predictable results: Less projects were built.

This is vaguely recited from an AskHistorians post, all errors are on me.

[–] KazuchijouNo@lemy.lol 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What started out as a half assed comment with only 2 braincells, sparked a very interesting conversation about economics and antropology. It's been really insightful and it's captured my curiosity. Now I want to learn more.

Thank you nerds! Keep up the nerding, you guys are the best <3

[–] lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 weeks ago

Now I want to learn more.

That is just about the greatest compliment you could give me, and I'm delighted that my own fascination has lit some in you too.

One blog I can't recommend enough is A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, a Roman and Military historian's look at pop culture depictions of history like the Siege of Gondor or the general stereotype of Romans, interspersed with general info about the social patterns around making bread, a discussion on the nature and severity of the collapse of western Rome, an argument on "Why We Need the Humanities" and even some thoughts on spaceship gun placement and a followup on starship design extrapolated from the factors that informed those decisions historically (like firing arcs or protection of vital components).

I'll give you a single, half-hearted warning that you may end up sinking hours and hours into binging this, but I honestly think that it's a good way to spend those hours.