When did the Roman Empire fell?

Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD); Visiting Professor, Department of Liberal Education, Kyungpook National University, Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Answer: Some scholars look for a date after the middle of the fifth century. Others for a date earlier around 330 AD (see EdwinThiele). Isaac Newton in his treatise on the The Fourth Trumpet, in Latin Tuba Quarta, said that the fall was in 538, when the Imperial official titles were removed.

E. Thiele asked the question: “Did the empire really fall in the fifth century? Already in the fourth. . . “

Evidence from Isaac Newton and his use of Procopius on 538

Before 535 [under Trumpet III] was the fall of the Caesars, says Newton. This year in 535 was the beginning of the fourth trumpet of Revelation of John, he says and four years later in 538, the imperial offices were removed from secular Rome.

Evidence from numismatics and 538

Newton is right since archaeology proves him right. The numismatics of 538 compared to 537and earlier indicated that he was portrayed as soldier on his horse before, but because the soldiers became the most important in the Roman Empire in 538, Justinian had to announce that he from this year will not be known as a soldier but a theologian. The coins show him to be a theologian.

Isaac Newton’s original text and commentary on Revelation

Porrò tenebrarum initium incidit in initium Obsidij Romæ, Feb 20 A.C. 537, anno scilicet tertio belli Gothici ineunte. Primo anno bellum Dalmatiam tantum et Siciliam invasit, secundo Italiam ingressa est, sed Romam non attigit ante obsidium istud quod per annum et novem dies durabat, et tam acre erat, ut ante hiemen sexagies et septies certatum fuerit, præter velitationes minoris notæ: ne commemorem rapinas etiam internas et famem gravem quibus urbs affligebatur. Tunc certè dignitates Occidentis, lumen illud et splendor Imperij, obscurari cœperunt., ut ex dignitatibus sola nomina restarent, rerum præteritarum umbræ quædam; imò verò ne nomina quidem. Nam omnes pene Magistratus a Romanorum ducibus Vrbe potitis sublati sunt. Ipsi Consules anno quarto post hoc obsidium desierunt & post alios quatuor annos Senatorum reliquiæ in perpetuum dispersæ sunt.

“Furthermore, the beginning of the darkness falls at the beginning of the Siege of Rome, Feb 20 A.C. 537, i.e., at the beginning of the third year of the Gothic war. In the first year the war [535] affected only Dalmatia and Sicily, in the second [536] it reached Rome, but it did not touch Rome before the siege that lasted for a year and nine days, and was so fierce that before the winter there were six or seven battles, apart from skirmishes of lesser note; not to mention also the plundering within the city and the serious famine which afflicted the city. At that time [Feb 20 537] without doubt the high offices of the West, the light and splendour of the Empire, began to be obscured. For now the soldier was everything, with the consequence that only the names survived of the high offices, mere shadows of their former dignity, and indeed not even the names. For nearly all the Magistracies were abolished by the Roman commanders once they took control of the City. The Consuls themselves came to an end in the fourth year [538] after this siege, and four years after that the remaining senators were scattered forever.”

Source:

http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00001

Isaac Newton, 'Tuba Quarta' ('The Fourth Trumpet'). In Keynes Ms. 1, King's College, Cambridge, UK.