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Inspired a bit by a post on r/Askhistorians. It seems at some point in the Middle Ages, the city of Rome fell from the millions of inhabitants it had in imperial times to just a few thousands. It decayed enough for a cow herd to graze in the old city's forum undisturbed. Could Rome have just gone the way of Carthage and Palmyra? And what would have this mean for later Italian history?