Achievements of Ancient Rome
The most obvious achievement of the Romans was their vast empire, which
spread over three continents. It lasted for a long, long time. From 625 BCE to
476 CE = 1101 years ! In comparison the United States of America has only
existed since 1776 - less than 250 years.
Government and Laws
Ancient Rome’s form of government was a republic. This is
when citizens have the right to vote someone into power,
such as a president. There were no monarchs, which are
kings or queens. The difference between the Roman republic
and the Greek democracy was that in Greece all men could
vote, but in Rome, only men with money and property could
vote. The more wealth a man had, the more power he had in the government.
Like in ancient Greece, slaves and women had no place in the government. The
Romans also had a lawmaking group called a Senate. The Senate was the most
powerful part of the government. Ancient Romans developed two new laws for
their people that we still use today. One is that people are innocent until
proven guilty. This means that if you are committed of a crime, there must be
evidence that you committed the crime before you can be penalized. Before
this law went into action, the opposite was true: people were guilty until proven
innocent. Imagine that you are accused of a crime that you didn’t commit! A
second law that ancient Romans developed was that people did not have to
speak against themselves in court. This means that if you are accused of
something, you have the right to remain silent. Today we call this “pleading the
5th” amendment.
Entertainment
The Greeks had their theater and the Romans had gladiator
fights and chariot races. People would gather in the
Colosseum, which was a huge public entertainment center
(like our stadiums today). The Colosseum could seat 45,000
spectators! This is where the ancient Romans gathered to
watch bloody combat between gladiators, and battles
between men and wild animals. This is where they threw people to the lions!
Gladiators were slaves, prisoners of war and convicted criminals. Some
gladiators were volunteers (mostly freedmen or very low classes of freeborn
men) who chose to take on the status of a slave for the monetary rewards
(money) or the fame and excitement. Anyone who became a gladiator was
automatically infamous beneath the law and by definition not a respectable
citizen. To see men being killed was very entertaining to the ancient Romans.
On occasion, they flooded the Colosseum with water, to hold naval battles,
where many competitors died! Another event that people crowded around to
watch was the chariot races. Imagine today’s car racing, only
with horse-drawn carriages! The event was so popular that
whoever won the race could become rich and famous
throughout Rome. The groups were fierce rivals which would
sometimes lead to violence among groups.
Architecture/ Art
Ancient Romans borrowed many of their architectural ideas from the ancient
Greeks. For instance, they used columns in many of their buildings. But they
also developed new forms of architecture. Romans were famous for using
arches in their buildings. The Colosseum, the famous stadium that still stands
in Rome, was built using many arches. The Romans applied
the arch to many of their buildings for two reasons: as a
support and for decoration. Another invention of the Romans
was the dome roof. These arches and domes were built out
of cement—something that the Romans created (and that we
still use today sidewalks!). Concrete allowed them to build
much stronger buildings that could last much longer than other building
materials. Like the ancient Greeks, the Romans were also brilliant statue
sculptors. Unlike Greek statues, which showed people as perfection, Roman
statues were more life-like. If someone has a large nose, their statue would
also have a large nose! (The Greeks would have given the statue a much
smaller, cuter nose.)
Scientific Inventions
The Roman empire was large in size and large in population, so the people in
charge had to make sure that everything in society ran smoothly. One area of
concern was transportation. Ancient Romans began building
miles of road ways that would connect every area in
the empire to Rome, the capital of the empire. These 53,000
miles of roads were designed to last forever and they have—
over 2,000 years! These roads not only allowed citizens to get from one town
to the next quicker and easier, but the roads also allowed armies to move
through to distant areas in order to conquer them. Another scientific discovery
of the ancient Romans was their use of stone structures called aqueducts.
Aqueducts were used to transport water from far away wells
and springs, to the cities and neighborhoods (much like
today’s pipes). Aqueducts tunneled through mountains and
crossed deep valleys or even rose above towns. Without the
use of aqueducts, the civilization might not have grown to be
so large because of the shortage of water in certain areas.
The Romans borrowed another of their discoveries from the
Greeks: the calendar. Their calendar consisted of 10 months in a year of 304
days. The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in
the middle of winter. The 10 months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius,
Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. The
last six names were taken from the words for five, six, seven, eight, nine, and
ten.
Language/ Literature
The native language of the Romans was Latin. Latin has been developed into
many other languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.
These Latin-based languages are called the Romance languages. The Roman
alphabet was borrowed from the Greeks and changed by the Romans for their
own alphabet. Although most people in ancient Rome could not read or write,
Rome developed an important form of literature. The Roman poet Virgil greatly
admired Homer’s epic poems and borrowed ideas to write his own original epic
stories. Roman numerals were another invention of the ancient Romans.
Instead of numbers that we are familiar with, Romans used other symbols for
numbers. You may have seen these symbols on clocks, on the first few pages of
text books, and at the end of television shows and movies to show the year it
was made.
Romans Numerals:
I or i for one,
V or v for five,
X or x for ten,
L or l for fifty,
C or c for one hundred
D or d for five hundred
M or m for one thousand