Introduction
The roman empire was a vast and glorious empire spreading and encompassing territory in 3 continents. At its highest territorial extent in 117 AD controlled 5 million square kilometres. Also at this the population was 50 to 90 million its military was powerful they had some of the best weapons and tactics. They also had very good technology building colosseums, palaces and many other things. Rome had many good things that made it amazing but what can we use from this empire to improve our society. In this inquiry I will try to find the answer to this question.
Brief history
Rome was founded in 753 BC Rome later on in 390 BC expanded taking most of Italy. Later they then fought carthage. Then they conquered the Balkans and east Spain then had a few civil wars. Then a general named Julius Caesar came along, conquered the rest of Spain, defeated and conquered the gals who lived in modern day France. Then also conquered the Germans invaded Britain Julius then died his son Augustus then took charge. Then a few emperors went by then in 117 AD Rome reached territorial peak. But from here it went down after Rome split into two the west the roman empire the east the Byzantines who would live for an extra thousand years. After a 100 years or so Rome fell in 475 AD.
Rome's rise
Rome’s rise started in the 8th bc century when Rome experienced a cultural change because of the influences of the eastern Mediterranean. Another reason for its rise was by giving a form of citizenship to the ones it had conquered. Also because of Rome's military expansion because when they conquered new lands they bring back slaves and riches from the lands which would help the economy. All of this led to a powerful Rome which became one of the most powerful empires to exist.
Rome's military
Rome's military was the reason they managed to conquer most of Europe, some of Asia and North africa. The military was formed in 150bce-120 bce They were truly one of if not the best militaries to exist. The Roman military at its height had half a million men in the military. A army is as good as the equipment the roman military had so good equipment to it which helped in its conquests. Your average roman soldier was equipped with an iron tipped spear, a wooden shield and an iron dagger. The roman military was also split into 37 legions which usually had 6,000 soldiers each. There also was the praetorian guard who were the emperor's personal guard. Although they did have better equipment the guard did not match the skill of legionary.
This chart shows how many men served in the Roman military. As the chart shows, over time Rome's army grew in manpower. It shows that Rome's military peaked in manpower in around 280 AD. when it split the east had more men and the west had less. It then shows the west not being on the chart because it was probably around the time Rome had fallen. It also shows the east losing a number of men probably because it was in a time of war and after the war the west don't have many men left.
Rome's influences today
Rome's influence is still here today and can still be felt mainly in western culture. Rome influenced western culture such as in the government, language, law, religion and many more things. For influence in government Rome when it was still here had the senate like how the u's has the senate. But the difference between the roman senate and the u's senate is u's senators are elected whilst a roman senators was appointed by an official called a censor who would choose senators. Rome also influenced most European languages like French,Spanish,Italian,Portuguese and many more. But Latin is actually derived from some other languages; those languages were Greek Etruscan and the Phoenician. Rome also influenced dome parts of the modern day military like building fortifications and tactics.
Rome's enemies
Rome over its thousand year history encountered many enemies, some more of a threat than others. But one of the most fearsome and the one that caused their downfall was the Germans. Famous for their advancement of technology they were once barbarians who fought the romans with primitive tactics and tech not on par with the romans. But surprisingly they managed to make Rome fall. Another one of their enemies was Carthage, Carthage was a powerful foe for Rome at the time. Whenever Rome managed to fight them back they always recovered; they were excellent at naval combat and were even nicknamed masters of the Mediterranean. They controlled some of Spain, north Africa and the island of Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic island
The average roman citizen
The average roman citizen lived a good life they lived for around 22 - 33 years. They would work for around 6 hours a day but unlike us Romans did not have as much spare time. But what they did in the little time they had they liked to play board games like knucklebones chess and checkers. The roman children also liked playing games the boys would usually play war style games with little soldiers and swords. While the roman girls played with dolls and dollhouses. They also played tic tac toe and even had pets. In school the boys and girls were taught all the basics like reading, writing and math but the boys were basically taught to be soldiers whilst the girls were taught to be basically house wife's.
The romans success
The Romans had found so much success when they were building their empire and conquering territories. But where did all this success come from? Well it was basically just military power, their economic boom, political power and a dash of luck. But there was still more to the mighty machine that was the roman empire. For one the roman had good technology which was borrowed from the Etruscan Celts and Greeks. Their military was also one of the main reasons they were so successful because without them they wouldn't have conquered the territories they held. Rome was also lucky with their neighbours who weren't trying to conquer the empire in its infancy. When Rome conquered and new land they let citizens join the empire which also helped.
Pmi analysis
The Romans in their time had done some pretty impressive stuff. They had amazing technology. Their military was one of if not the best, they. Had a strong economy and was an economic powerhouse. So which one of these would be the most beneficial to our society. Military is pretty powerful because if you get invaded and you don't have a military you will most likely get destroyed. But if you invest too much into the military. 1 you will look like a warmonger hell bent on conquest and wanting to take everyone's land. Two your economy and people would most likely suffer. Investing in your economy is a good way to improve your nation. Because you have more money that means you can upgrade infrastructure, military and tech. But the bigger your economy gets the more factories you need which would mean bad working conditions.
Working on technology is another amazing one after all who doesn't like advancement in tech. If you invest in upgrading tech it can help in better medical technologies. It can also help in construction like building new machines to help make construction of buildings safer and faster. But more technology would mean less jobs for people and if we get too reliant on tech if it all shuts off permanently consider all the tech useless there also a robot revolution. Now that we have talked about all pros and cons about investing into the military economy and technology. We can now see which one is the best one to use. From the graph below I ranked each option from 5-1,1 being the best and 5 the worst. Now my thesis From what i've concluded technology is the best for its the best in health cause more tech advance in the medical field is best. It's also the best in innovation because innovation in tech is awesome and beneficial. So in conclusion, tech is the best thing from Rome we can use. Because Romans also made stuff that was beneficial like aqueducts and sewer systems cause we all know that sewers are a very beneficial technology.
Conclusion
In conclusion Rome was a very powerful empire and we can learn a lot from it one thing is empires can be strong and successful. But eventually much like everything else in life they die out and are left to the mercy of history. But Rome still lives on in the languages we speak in our government structure and even what we do in our daily lives. And to answer what are the best things from the Romans we can use to improve our society are their technological advancements.
We can use technology advancements to better improve our medical tech for living longer is awesome. Construction could also benefit from advancements for it could be made more efficient and safer to build buildings.
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