Taking a Look at the Ancient Roman Culture

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Out all of the cultures to rise in the Mediterranean, Rome would establish itself as the most powerful and its territory stretched over 3000 miles from Scotland in North Europe to the rivers of the Sahara Desert in the south, from the Asian minor in the East to the Iberian Peninsula in the West. Rome took great pride in its building programs of the imperial city such as its Amphitheaters, theaters, race tracks, baths, forums, temples, triumphal arches, broad streets and aqueducts as most or all these amenities were incorporated and replicated in territory Rome conquered. Regardless of where a Roman city was, Gaul or North Africa, Anatolia or Spain, they deserve to live as if they were at Rome. One of the things the led to the success of Rome and lasted as long was due to its military power. The Roman military at its height may have seen over many millions in the members of its ranks. The Roman was founded from the discrete social classes. The Roman army was composed of soldiers from various parts of the world: Africa, Spain, France and Balkans. The diversity in its composition help to assign different responsibilities and ranks to the different types of people. The effectiveness of Rome’s military is displayed in the third Punic war were Cartage was destroyed and ultimately led to Rome being an opposed power for many years to come. The second thing that led to the success of Rome was it openness to other people beliefs and religions. The life of a Roman citizen was centered upon religion. Religion to the Roman was a very public and civil affair. We Romans” said Cicero “owe our supremacy over all other peoples to our piety and religious observances and our wisdom in believing that the spirit of the gods rules and directs every... ... middle of paper ... ...e kind of intellectual cultivation and the search for the highest good. The Ancient Greek pantheon of gods had been developed by this time, but the nature of the pantheon left humans able to question and debate the significance of the gods and their actions. The Hellenistic period observed some major developments in religion. Zoroastrianism arose as one of the first documented monotheistic religions, with Ahura-Mazda as the single god and the intercession of magi (priests) on earth. Mystery cults also permeated the period, stressing ecstatic mystical union and otherworldly salvation. Mithraism, another monotheistic religion, also arose in the time period, with the god Mithra having been born on December 24 and holding Sunday as a sacred day. The Roman had numerous Gods and the Pantheon temple found in Rome exclusively housed the most important deities of Rome.

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