The End of Antiquity: The Last Days of Rome and the Rise of Islam

Fall of the Roman Empire Book #5

by Nick Holmes

How did a remote desert people change the course of world history? In the seventh century AD, the Eastern Roman Empire collapsed—defeated by the rising power of Arabia. How did this happen? And why then?
In this gripping new history, Nick Holmes offers a fresh view of the end of the Ancient World and the rise of Islam—it wasn’t just religion and war that shaped history, but a hidden force also played a vital role—climate change. A mysterious climatic shift—the Late Antique Little Ice Age—devastated the Roman and Persian empires while Arabia thrived.
The End of Antiquity brings together history, science, and religion to uncover the truth behind one of the most enigmatic centuries in history. It's the fifth book in Holmes’ acclaimed series on the fall of the Roman Empire—and the most surprising yet.

Praise for Nick Holmes’ Books'A talent for storytelling' Kirkus Reviews
‘Clear, succinct and compelling’ AudioFile Magazine
‘Perhaps the best historical story-teller alive’ Amazon Reviewer

Genres: History, Ancient History

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 8, 2025

About the author

Hello, I'm a British author, podcaster, and historian, and welcome to my series of books on the Fall Of The Roman Empire. My passion is Roman history. I've wandered among the ruins of the Roman Forum and wondered what happened to this great civilisation? I've stared into the dome of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and reflected on how the Roman Empire lasted for centuries after Rome itself was sacked, even when its capital moved to Constantinople. So, I've embarked on writing the full account of this momentous time.

Immerse yourself in this incredible story. It may surprise you to find that those events so long ago are strangely relevant to our modern times, from the changing climate to religion, and from war to peace. Let us listen to the voices from the past.

And if you like podcasts, try mine "The Fall of the Roman Empire", which accompanies my books, and please check out my website which offers a free book and much more at www.nickholmesauthor.com

Reviews

[A M Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been an exceptional series following the spectacular story of Rome from the crisis of the 3rd century up until the Arab siege of Constantinople in 718.

this last part focuses on the key period from 590 to 642. it asks the key question how did the arab armies come from seemingly no where to win a series of huge victories which in the space of a generation transformed the middle east for ever.

Holmes places emphasis on 2 developments that few others have.

firstly the religious split within the eastern empire which maybe helped the arabs. the monophysites of Egypt seemed to have liked the 11 years of Persian rule from 617 and probably saw the arabs in a similar light. The jews of palestine had plenty of reasons to not like the Romans as well.

secondly he makes a big play for climate change. As he notes from about 530 onwards global average temperatures fell by maybe 3C. This produces huge changes everywhere. But a big winner may have been Arabia which became cooler, wetter and greener than before, probably supporting a population boom. Add in the unequal effects of plague (devastating in Rome and Persia, not so much in Arabia), and for perhaps the 1st time in history the demographic scales tipped to the Arabs. Mohammad's great success was to unite the arabs into 1 coherent state behind a shared ideology. This gave the arabs the means to exploit their demographic position.

[Burt D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and readable

The author takes a very complex time in human history and distils out the essentials, clearly explaining what (in his opinion) brought about the most drastic and improbable change that distinguishes antiquity from the modern era.

[RANGER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vital, Popular History of the Transition of the Middle East from the Roman/Byzantine Era to the Islamic Era

This is a truly great and essential read. Author Nick Holmes has written a series on the Fall of the Roman Empire and this is the fifth in the series. I consider his work a companion to another popular historical writer who focuses on Byzantium, Lars Brownworth, and I suggest reading his book, Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization, for further study on the period covered by this book, The End of Antiquity. It truly is a shame that English reading audiences are so ignorant of the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, AKA the Byzantines, and the transition of the Middle East from the Christian era to the Islamic era. Virtually everything we learn about this period is either overly focused on Rome and the Western Empire (which collapsed by the fifth century) or on the crusades -- and written from an Islamic, anti-crusader perspective. Thankfully, this book goes a long way toward correcting that.

The End of Antiquity, besides being a well-written popular history, is also exceptional because of a bold decision by the author to include the latest historical research on two somewhat controversial developments in our knowledge of this period.

The first is the use of climate change research to show that the Middle East experienced a climate event during this period that briefly changed the balance of power in the region. Apparently there was a brief, mini-ice age during this period which cooled the region, causing the fertile European and Asia Minor areas of Byzantine to lose crops and undergo economic decline. This coincided with an outbreak of the Black Plague in the same regions. This led to a population decline. But that same cooling climate increased agriculture production in Arabia, which also escaped the Black Plague. Thus, Arabia's wealth and population both expanded, giving them a brief period of ethnic and national resurgence that fueled Islam's rapid expansion in the seventh century. Thus, as Byzantine declined, Arabia surged.

The second is the inclusion of the newest research on Islamic historical roots. While this angle only covers one chapter, it represents an earthquake in the realm of our understanding of the Seventh Century. Recent archaeological, and paleographic research suggests that much of the ancient "lore" about Islamic roots is a recent (modern) invention for which there is little or no historical basis. Mohammed himself may not have existed, at least not in the way that modern religious scholars depict him. Islam began as a Christian heresy rejecting the divinity of Christ that took hold among those Arab tribes known as Hagarites or Ishmaelites (AKA Arab descendants of the Biblical Hagar and Ishmael). These Arab tribes experienced rapid growth due to the era's brief (but beneficial for Arabia) climate change. Their earliest religious identity had Christian roots -- although of a non-orthodox and heretical variety. Islam as we know it, developed later as Arabs seized on a religious identity that rejected Byzantine Christianity and ethnic Judaism for something that was more distinctly "Arab."

I wrote all that to encourage others to seek out this book even if it is just for these two interesting historical angles that have only emerged recently thanks to better science and better access to ancient sites and texts. But there is so much more here. And having read a bit up on this era previously, I know the material here holds up very well indeed. Nick Holmes has done us a service with his series on the Fall of Rome.

This book is such great reading--I could not put it down. Of course, Ancient and Middle Eastern history is my thing. But this book is a popular history. Despite excellent academic research, this is written for those who may be new to this material. Don't be intimidated by it. Learn from it.
And enjoy this fascinating read by Nick Holmes. It is HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good 5th installment in the author series - energetic, reads like a novel. Presents two interesting takes on the (fairly well known and documented events of the book) - one that the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Egypt and Persia was due not only to the great weakness of both the Roman and Persian empires after a decades long brutal war between them, as well as recurrence of devastating plague, all during the period of climate cooling (3 degrees in a very short time) due to powerful volcanic eruptions in the 530's, but also to the fact that Arabia united by the Prophet Muhammad actually prospered during this period (untouched by the plague due to sparseness of population centers, climate cooling helping increase agricultural production and population) so could field large armies that overwhelmed the remaining armies of the Persian and Roman empires - for the Romans, another issue was the age and illness of emperor Heraclius the victor over Persia who was probably suffering of prostate cancer and lacked energy to muster a more vigurous response - in the Persian case, actually their army defeated comprehensively the caliphate army in the first battle, but the Arabs returned with a larger and more powerful army within a few years which argues for the author thesis.

Second and more of a matter of interpretation, the author argues that Heraclius was the last Roman emperor and his succesors were the first Byzantine ones as until the Arab conquests, what we call the Byzantine empire was actually the continuing Roman empire - Justinian's conquests for example, were never seen in their time as "conquests" but retaking Roman territory - so a large multiethnic and multi religious state (the division between the Catholic/Orthodox religion - what the author calls Chalcedonian - and the monophysite religion of Egypt and Syria especially severe during the Persian wars and their aftermath). After the Arab conquests, what remained was a much more unitary "modern" state, ethnically and religiously, properly called Byzantium, and which survived for another 800 years or so.

Highly recommended book and series.

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Argues that Climate Change (little ice age) was responsible for weakening the Sassanid and Byzantine Empire to allow for an opening for a new force coming out of Arabia, Islam. Things like the Nike Riots and the Plague of Justinian certainly didn't help the Byzantines, and similar evidence for the Sasanids. I wonder if such dice rolls with climate are in the works today.