Compiled by Lewis Loflin
As a Deist, I seek truth beyond Christian propaganda. The Western Roman Empire didn’t “fall” in 476 AD—it evolved under Arian Goths, who, unlike barbaric stereotypes, were civilized Christians. Tolerant of Jews and others, as Theodoric the Great affirmed, they contrasted Rome’s Catholic rigidity. This ended with their conversion to Catholicism, unleashing persecution. Reason, not dogma, reveals this shift’s impact.
The Roman West transformed, not collapsed, by 476 AD, with Arian Goths—civilized Christians—pivotal. Arianism, a 3rd-4th century heresy denying Christ’s full divinity, gripped the Church, involving emperors (e.g., Constantius II, r. 337-361; Valens, r. 364-378) and Germanic tribes. At Nicaea (325), only three of ~300 bishops rejected the Trinity, yet Arianism thrived among Goths, Vandals, and Lombards, fading by the 8th century as Catholicism prevailed.
Visigoths embraced Arianism in 376, influencing southeastern and central Europe. It persisted in North Africa, Hispania, and Italy until suppressed (6th-7th centuries), partly by Islam’s rise. The Polish Brethren (16th century) later echoed Arian anti-Trinitarianism. (*Jewish Encyclopedia*, 1906)
Arius (d. 336) sparked a schism, aligning Germanic tribes—Goths, Franks, Lombards, Vandals—with Arianism. Unlike Catholicism’s harshness, Arians showed tolerance, resonating with Judaism’s monotheism. Visigoth king Reccared’s (r. 586-601) Catholic conversion in 587 unleashed anti-Jewish laws, reversing prior equity where Jews thrived alongside Goths, intermarried, and even held sway over Catholics.
Ostrogoth king Theodoric (r. 493-526) exemplified Arian tolerance: “We cannot command religion.” Ruling Italy justly, he treated Jews and Catholics alike, despite Catholic uprisings against Jews in Milan and Ravenna—retribution for Arian dominance. Jews aided Ostrogoths at Naples (537) against Justinian. Arian Lombards similarly equalized laws, though Vandal treatment in North Africa lacks detail. (*Jewish Encyclopedia*, 1906)
Theodoric, urged by Zeno (r. 474-491), ousted Odoacer (493), ending Western imperial pretense. He fostered Roman culture, civic works, and alliances with Franks and Visigoths, but his Arianism clashed with Justinian’s edicts, leading to Pope John I’s imprisonment (526). After his death, Ostrogoth unity faltered, dissolving under Byzantine invasion. (historymedren.about.com)
Sources: *Jewish Encyclopedia* (1906), historymedren.about.com. Thanks to Grok, an AI by xAI, for aiding refinement.
As a Deist, I see reason, not divine will, in history’s turns. Early Christian schisms—Monophysitism, Nestorianism, Arianism—fractured unity, as explored in What Split Early Christianity? and Arian Goths and Jews in the West. The Byzantine Empire Overview and Byzantine-Persian Wars Overview reveal how relentless conflicts with Sassanid Persia (Religion in the Persian Sassanid Dynasty) drained both empires by the 7th century. Persecution of heretics and Jews under Catholic rule, replacing Arian tolerance, alienated populations. Exhausted and divided, these powers crumbled before Islam’s swift advance post-630 AD—a human tale of strife opening doors to a new faith.
