References to the fall of Rome often evoke images of wild bands of Germanic invaders and a swift and sudden physical destruction of Roman society. Indeed, popular culture, including films and television, perpetuates this image of the Roman Empire’s demise. Yet historians challenge this view, with most arguing that Rome’s collapse happened slowly.

The Roman Empire’s conclusion did not involve the total destruction of all things Roman; medieval rulers, many of whom were Germanic or Celtic in background, viewed themselves as successors to Rome. The eastern half of the Roman Empire survived well into the Middle Ages as the Byzantine Empire. The first Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, viewed himself as Roman and is responsible for the codification of surviving Roman law, which was reintroduced into the West during the 12th century. The Frankish king Charlemagne, for example, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800 in recognition of his preeminence and acknowledgment that he was like the glorious Roman emperors of bygone days. Some scholars suggest that rather than "falling," the Roman Empire—at least in Western Europe—morphed into something new that blended Germanic, Celtic, and Greco-Roman traditions.

Cahill agrees that elements of Roman knowledge and culture survived in the West, though he perpetuates stereotypes about Rome’s collapse at the hands of marauding “barbarians.