Why Ancient Rome is not Dead

If you think of ancient Rome as a distant and irrelevant place filled with toga-wearing, rowdy, bloodthirsty men speaking the dead language of Latin, you could not be more wrong. On the streets of Rome, you’d find a sophisticated civilization that influences many of our systems today.

Although Romans could be brutes, they were hardly empty-headed. As a whole they were very innovative. Romans invented many things that we still use right now, such as the Julian Calendar, which was a former version of the calendar that we use today! It had 12 months with Latin names that are similar to ours. It was the first calendar to have a leap year, since the Romans found out that each year was actually 365 ¼ days. However, the Julian calendar was still slightly off, leading to a discrepancy between the calendar and the actual solar year. Later on, this was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar, which is the calendar that we use now.

Romans had an eye for design that has influenced architecture for centuries. Without the Romans we wouldn’t have the same sturdy and beautiful buildings that we have today. The Romans created a special type of concrete by combining volcanic ash, lime, and seawater. This concrete is still used in modern buildings! It is very durable and also can withstand salt, making it one of the only concretes used in coastal areas. It is also the fundamental structure for many great Roman buildings, such as the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Pantheon. They used it for everything, including amphitheaters, temples, and aqueducts. Today, the Colosseum, which was built 2,000 years ago, still stands, while the average stadium built with precast concrete only lasts for 50 years!

In addition to their magnificent buildings, they were also known for their simple but effective aqueducts. Aqueducts are human-built channels that carry water, which usually go above a valley, but sometimes go underground. They kind of look like bridges. Aqueducts depend on gravity; they are slanted downhill. Most of them slant down about five to ten feet per mile. But sometimes, the water has to go uphill, so the Romans used siphons to transport it. Siphons use watertight pipes to transport water down one side of a valley. The pressure of the water then causes it to rise up the other side. When the water leaves the pipes, it does so at a height that is similar to where it initially entered. Aqueducts were a vital part of Rome, bringing water to fountains in several parts of the city. Aqueducts are still used to bring water to Rome today!

The Romans also cared about hygiene. Unlike other empires who had ineffective water systems, the Romans built aqueducts to bring fresh, clean water from their water sources. This is why they didn’t have many cholera outbreaks. The Romans also were the first people to have public bathrooms and baths, having 876 accessible public baths by the 5th century CE. 

Another of the Roman innovations is the newspaper. If it weren’t for the Romans, the Leo wouldn’t be here today! The Roman newspaper was called the “Acta Diurna” and it recorded official business and other items of interest. It was carved on stone tablets, then put in public places like the Roman Forum. With the invention of the newspaper came the postal service, the “Cursus Publicus.” This Roman courier service, pulled by horses, was mainly used to carry messages from one governor of a province to another. 

If you think of Rome, you would probably think of Latin. You might think that Latin is dead, but again, you would be wrong. Latin has evolved into many of the Romance languages that we speak today, like Spanish, French, Italian, and Romanian. Modern English is also a distant cousin of Latin. In addition to the languages that we use today, many medical and biological terms are also from Latin. Even though conversational Latin has mostly died out, its soul still remains with us today, scattered throughout the world.

While ancient Rome may be long gone, its impact and legacy are still felt in many aspects of modern society. It has provided us with many great inventions, including hygienic systems, timekeeping, newspapers and numerous languages. Rome is not dead. Long live Rome!