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ANCIENT ROME
More than two thousand years ago, at a time when the people in the British Isles and in most parts of Western Europe were living off the land, making do with small huts, hunting with spears and wearing animal skins around, the people of ancient Rome were building a civilization of their own, just as great as our own now. In the history of the ancient world the Romans played the part that men of our race have played in the modern world. They knew, as we claim to know, how to govern, how to conquer and fight, how to build reliable structures, how to create education in schools and come up with a reliable supply of food and water (farms and wells). They were the first to invent many things, making life easier than it would be in other civilizations. They had specific buildings for specific tasks and specialist jobs for certain people. Overall, they were way more organized than others around the world, hence the reason they were so great.
1. SYSTEM OF WRITING
The native language spoken by Romans was Latin. Its alphabet was based on the Etruscan alphabet, which was based on the Greek alphabet. Although Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin, the spoken language of the Roman Empire was Vulgar Latin, which significantly differed from Classical Latin in grammar and vocabulary, and after time pronunciation. Romans wrote with pens and ink and communicated using tablets. They used Roman Numerals for their numeric system.
Ink Tablet
While Latin remained the main written language in the Roman Empire, Greek soon became the language commonly spoken by the well-educated people, as most information studied by Romans was written in Greek.
2. CITIES AND GRAND STRUCTURES
The R...
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... members of the Senate.
The women did not have jobs in ancient Rome, instead they were expected to do the housework. Men went to work every day except for public holidays.
10. DEFENCE FORCE
The Romans managed to conquer so many countries because they had such a good army. The Emperor used the army to protect Rome and to control the people it had conquered. Some soldiers were away from their families for long periods of time. Roman soldiers had to be tough. They were expected to march up to 20 miles per day in line, wearing all their armour and carrying their food and tents.
When a soldier had served in the army for 25 years he could become a citizen of Rome and live freely in the city.
They fought with short swords, daggers and a long spear. They also carried a shield for protection as well as wearing armour.
Prior to Augustus’s reforms, when legions were raised, they were comprised almost entirely of Italian recruits. This was out of the question with this new standing army, and filling the ranks with Italians gave way to supplementing legions with local auxiliaries, then later integrating these Romanised locals into a legions structure proper.5 This action undertaken by Augustus seems to have had ramifications as the centuries progressed, with the percentage of Italian born recruits steadily dropping, to the point where by the time of Hadrian, there were almost not Italians serving in the legions. Augustus’s methods of recruiting elsewhere to support the strength of his legions became so successful that they became the primary method of filling the requirements of the Empires new professional
By allowing more people into the army, giving them a personal reason to join, and forcing them to grow stronger, Marius made the military considerably more effective, which naturally lead to the swift gaining of territory and the transition of Rome from republic to empire, and
As you can see, Greeks and Romans were very brilliant civilizations. Their superior strategy, intelligent leaders, and crafty weapons lead them into the dawn of a new age. And basically lead us to our modern civilization.
Outward appearance was extremely important to the Romans and the first thing that new recruits learned was to march in perfect form. Once they knew how to march they were then assigned to the legions in which they would remain for the next 20 years of service. (the book) The legions were made up of between 5000 and 5500 men. In a legion there were 10 Cohorts and in those Cohorts there were 6 Centuries. Auxiliary troops, although not usually counted as part of a legion, were part of a legion and could raise the number of men from around 5000 to 6000. The number of legions active in the empire was consistently between 25 and 33. (internet, http://museum.simplenet.com/rome/military/military.htm) The average year for auxiliaries to serve was 25 years or less. After about 20 years in the legions they “graduated” to a veteran cohort, and continued service there for about 5 years. The soldiers who completed their 25 years of military service to Rome were given a “diploma” made of bronze. It was actually a record of their service throughout the years and a copy was kept in soldier’s files in Rome. (the book)
There were several strengths of the Roman Empire which enabled it to survive for more than four hundred years. These strengths included a strong foundation, having been built off of the Roman Republic; the standardization across the empire of many aspects of life, such as language, law, and especially the extension of citizenship, which made the empire more cohesive and easier to rule; and strong leaders, who were able to utilize the manipulation of the upper class and Senate, and the management of the military.
In essence, the Roman Republic had incorporated from the Spartan constitution but had reformed it in the way that it had taken away what faults they had. The Roman Republic had taken the idea of unifying the people of the country with both “courage and high morality,” “combined in one soul or in one state,” to make it difficult to be overcome by enemies (Page 146). due to the forceful rule of Sparta, the Helots surrounding the Spartan polis decided to break free and revolt. This allowed for the larger powers to capitalize on the weakened infrastructure and leave Sparta defenseless since they could not fend off both forces. Moreover, a key to the success of the Roman Empire was also the downfall of the Greek city-state Sparta. On behalf of the neighboring powers, Sparta they had ruled over them to work the land under slavery. In contrast, the Romans had let the surrounding landowners and city-states to govern autonomously without taxes or any tribute payments and had only required for the people to be loyal to the Roman Republic and contribute troops to Rome’s armies. This allowed for the size of the Roman republic to grow alongside with its army all under one rule. Furthermore, a settler might forfeit its Roman citizenship to land in a new colony and consolidate Italy under the rule of the Roman Republic. Additionally, these roman citizen colonies were smaller in size but would protect the coasts from any invading naval armies, creating a widely system of
Throughout history, no other era was more significant than that of the Roman Empire. The power and influence of the Roman government and it=s rule over the world was accomplished by the Roman Army. The Roman army was the ultimate weapon of war because of the well trained men, their effective weapons and their brilliant battle tactics.
The Roman’s had its ups and downs, but they made a lasting effect on today’s world, the establishment of law, the creation of the democratic government and the increase of Christianity ("Roman Influences," n.d.). We were also left with tangible items such as art and the delicate and beautiful artifacts. The empire was also known to help spread Latin Language, which formed the foundation of the English language ("Roman Influences,"
Years ago, the Romans created one of the biggest and best organized empires the world has ever seen. Throughout their lands, they built towns and roads, and spread their way of life. One of the reasons why their empire was so successful was that, unlike other ancient states, the empire welcomed outsiders. Foreigners could become Roman citizens. At first this was a given as a reward for the loyalty or f...
It was so much more advanced than any empire that came before this time. Romans took a lot of pride in their their buildings and architecture and many of the structures they used back then are still used today, like columns and arches. The Romans used columns and arches in structures like the colosseum and the Circus Maximus, both which were buildings where gladiatorial games or chariot races were held. These structures are still used today, for example, you can see these structures at one of the most famous buildings in the United States, the White House. The architecture from the roman era has impacted modern day by giving us structures to add into our cultures and to important buildings around our
The empire that the Roman’s built can be argued to have been the greatest in world history. The Roman Empire controlled the largest land area in European history and influenced a huge region, acting as a cultural center for the entire continent of Europe. Their strength derived from their prowess and skill on the battlefield. The Roman Army was extremely effective and became the basis of our military structure today by utilizing technological advances in strategy and weaponry, and simply having more discipline.
In the Greece city-state of Athens women were very restricted. A women had very little property right even less than in other city-states. However women were able to make dedications and loans some in fairly large sums too. Also priesthood was a public activity open to all women (ancient Greece Civilization). In Rome women were in charge of the household and called masterfamilias. They were expected to behave modestly, gracefully and with dignity. Women were married in their early teen years. The Roman state gave rewards to women who had successfully given birth. After having three children a women was considered legally independent. In the case of a divorce the women got their dowry back in full and returned to her father’s household unless she was independent before marriage. If unmarried a women could own a business, and could own inherit and dispose of property. However women were not considered equal to men in front of the law (Life in
Although, many might say that the Roman Empire was already very successful even without the Greek influence, the Romans were already known for their very great army. The Romans were able to conquer so many lands and keep a great structure to the point where other communities feared them because of their army. It is true, Rome was already very successful they had conquered many lands before the Hellenistic period, and were already known to be a very rich and powerful community. Just as Chris Truman states on the website the History learning site where du...
The Romans were a powerful civilization and had one of the largest and greatest empires of all time. Their vast civilization allowed for the integration of many different types of people into one large country, no weak and certainly no ill-advanced civilization could do such a thing. The Romans were responsible for the near destruction of Christianity, killed its savior, then embraced it.
Unlike the Greeks, Roman education was practically nonexistent before the development of official school systems in the Roman culture (Dobson 91). By law, early Roman education required that the father be the only schoolmaster of his son (Dobson 94). The mother would teach children basic principles until age seven (Avi-Yonah 176). Afterward, the father was in charge of the upbringing of his child (Avi-Yonah 176). Aside from teaching basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, the primary subject of instruction consisted almost entirely of battle tactics and farming procedures (Avi-Yonah 176).