Peculiarities of Roman Civilization - Essay Example

?Roman Civilization Introduction The Roman civilization is one of the oldest and most influential civilizations in human history. Roman civilization has given great leaders to the world along with rules and principles. Most of the continental Europe was the under the Roman Empire. Roman language has been a base of many European languages like English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. Rome has been a centre o f attraction of Olden times and dates back to Eighth century. The most famous ruler of Rome was Julius Cesar and he has conquered many regions during his reign. During the rule of Augustus, Rome experienced prosperity and peace and it is regarded as the golden age. Rome had an autocratic form of government and Augustus ruled Rome for around 40 years. Rome had a civilization which has set an example for other countries. The civic life, religious principles, culture and norms, economic ties everything was worth praising. The Rome had a superior infrastructure and the building and transportation was of high quality. Roman Empire was the largest in the world history and covered much of the world’s regions from Europe and Africa to Middle East. Even the population of the Empire was largest and was around 60 million inhabitants. The military and army of Rome was superior and many battles have been won by them. Roman had laws which were based on morality and justice. Rome had multi -cultural society and believed in shared identity. For the very same reasons, Roman civilization has had a great impact on the modern world. Impact on Law and Political System The major influence of Roman civilization on modern world was the Roman law. The Roman law distinguished between public law and private law which we can see in the modern law constitution. This is the basis of Western law and is known as civil law. Also the private international law is also influenced by the Roman law. In Roman civilization, they practiced jury trials, same as today’s’ practice. The Roman can also be credited with many defense techniques practiced by the modern people. The concept of “innocent until proven guilty “which is the basic rule of American Judiciary system came from ancient Rome law. The written law to protect the human rights and freedom was also a system followed by Roman people. The law regarding taxation is also taken from Roman civilization. According to Roman law, people were to be treated equal and fairly. Their laws were based on common sense and practicality. Most of the legal system in the world is following Roman practice of law. Roman has also influenced the way in which the political system works today. The voting system which we followed today is the legacy of Roman people. Even they had lower and upper class senate like we do. They had legislative bodies and senate just like modern political system. The Impact on Language The language of Roman civilization was Latin and they depended little on order of words. The Roman alphabets were formed with Greek alphabet as a basis. The Roman people mostly studied literature that was in Greek. As the Roman Empire grew, so did their language spread to different parts of the world,With some time the classic Latin took a form of Vulgar Latin in some parts of the world which gave birth to different Romance language. So it can de definitely said that Indo European languages evolved from Latin, which is the language of ancient Roman civilization. Later, Latin language gain prominence in Western empire and became the foundation of French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian languages. Even though, they all started as bad Latin as time passed by these established themselves as different languages. Latin language also had influenced many words used in other different countries. For Example, English has many Latin words although it does not follow Latin syntax- grammar. Since Latin was the language of Roman Catholic Church it influenced even the non –romance languages. The Impact on Infrastructure The Roman civilization had an immaculate infrastructure and the city was superior in style. The way in which the roads were built by Romans was followed by people of modern era. Roman built road with three levels of substructure before paving stone on top. The centre of the road was uplifted for the rain water to drain off. This is what we follow almost while constructing roads in cities. Also they used sign post like we do to map the distance of travel and the amount of distance to the next city or town. They also had underground pipe which had an extensive network and was used to supply clean water. We in the modern society also make use of underground pipes for clean water supply and definitely this concept evolved from Roman civilization. The concepts of parks, libraries and plazas even existed during the time of Roman civilization. The modern city planning is based on the Roman concepts. Rome had huge monuments and buildings and they were expertise in architecture. The modern cities like London and Paris were made with Roman civilization as a basis. Even the buildings in Washington D.C were constructed in Roman style. The theatre construction in modern cities also has been greatly influenced by Roman theatres. The Impact on Religion Another significant influence of Roman civilization on modern society is religion .Roman Civilization is solely responsible for spreading Christianity throughout world. The biggest proof is the Roman Catholic religion which is the largest religion in the world. Religion was an important aspect of Roman civilization and Romans believed that God had ultimate control on their lives. Christianity played an important role in the culture of Romans. The greatest religion in the world is Christianity and its origin can be traced to Rome. The message of love and peace preached by the Roman Pope still has a divine place in the hearts of Christians. Romans can be credited to the spread of gospel which led to the spread of Christianity throughout the world. Rome is the birth place of democracy and Christianity. Conclusion The most important impact Roman civilization had on modern world is definitely the religion. Religion is the base of a society and it gives moral and ethical values to the whole humanity. Christianity being the largest religion in the world definitely shows the power and mighty of Roman people still, the customs and rituals followed in Churches all over the world can be accredited to Roman people. All the western countries follow Christianity so still we can see the influence and power of Roman civilization in the modern world. Even now, the Pope has a divine status among Christians which shows the importance people give to Roman religious and theological values. The gospels, values and principles established by Romans have not changed much with time and hence it is the most important influence of Roman civilization on the modern world. Though Roman civilization had influenced modern world in many ways, it should be noted that Romans were indeed cruel and brutal. Their empire was destroyed even though it had a huge influence on world if we do not read the history well then we could repeat the same mistake as Romans. The Romans senator who acted as Kings concentrated only on wealthy class which we should not imitate. The tyrannical rule of Roman civilization can be seen in the modern world and this if continued can be a mistake similar to that of Romans. Also Roman Civilization had the system of giving voting right but power only vests with elite. These things if persist in modern world can lead to mistakes as Romans. Read More