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The Roman Times
John F. Kennedy High School
What was “Rome?”
January 27, 2013
Today, Rome is the capital city of Italy, located conveniently in the center of the
Italian Peninsula. But two thousand years ago, Rome was the center of a vast and
powerful empire. The story of Rome is the story of a Republic that grew out of a village
along the Tiber River and then expanded to become one of the largest and most powerful
empires ever seen. The story is 1000 years long, but it continues even today. For the
Roman people – from the Latin farmers to the plebeians who struggled for equal rights, to
the soldiers who fought for the Republic and then the Empire, to the writers, the
architects, and the emperors – left us a rich legacy. The language we speak, the belief in
the rule of law, and the largest religion in the world all came from the Roman World.
Rome was founded by yet another group of Indo-Europeans called “Latins” around
1000 B.C. Two other groups of people – Etruscans and Greeks – influenced Latin
civilization. In 509 B.C., the Romans overthrew their Etruscan kings and established a
republic based on the idea that power rests with citizens who have the right to elect their
leaders. The Roman Republic lasted nearly 500 years. A government of three branches
created a form of democracy, but the upper classes called the patricians held most of the
power. Plebeians, the large lower class of workers and farmers, repeatedly went on
strike to win rights that were written into laws called the Twelve Tables.
Socially, the extended patriarchal family was the basic unit of Roman society. The
Roman state religion borrowed from the Greek gods. Roman art was originally based on
Greek styles. Whereas the Athenians had used art to express idealistic images of
perfection, Roman art was more realistic. It often glorified war and the empire and its
leaders. There were many outstanding writers – poets, historians, and biographers.
Stoicism and Epicureanism were popular philosophies among the upper classes. The
Romans built trade networks that connected Rome to the other peoples of the
Mediterranean world.
Through military strength and diplomacy, Rome expanded its borders. Every
citizen served in the army as needed. A series of three wars called the Punic Wars won
Rome control of the islands of the western Mediterranean, Spain, and North Africa. By
133 B.C., Rome controlled most of the Hellenistic world. As Rome expanded, however, its
problems multiplied at home. A series of reforms only resulted in more violence and
repression, and the beginning of rule by generals and their armies. In 46 B.C., Julius
Caesar seized power, became a dictator, and brought about many reforms. His
assassination in 44 B.C., however, led to civil war and the end of the Roman Republic.
The civil war involved the dramatic story of
Cleopatra, ruler of Egypt, and her lover Marc
Antony. The political survivor of the civil war was
Augustus, who became Rome’s first emperor. By
27 BC., all democracy was gone and the Empire
had begun. 200 years of peace and prosperity
followed. During this Pax Romana, Rome
extended its borders, expanded trade -- as far as
Han China via the Silk Roads, built cities,
established a system of law, and spread the Latin
language. Jesus Christ was born and died during
the Pax Romana, and Christianity grew and began
its spread around the world.
The Romans combined the Greek love of
intellect with their own practical nature to create
one of the world’s great civilizations. Rome excelled at architecture, engineering, and
technology. Some of the 300 major roads they built and the aqueducts that brought
water to their cities still stand today. Ruins of their stadiums, including the Coliseum,
dot the lands of the former empire. Hadrian’s Wall, built during the reign of the emperor
Hadrian around 120 AD, still marks the boundary of the empire in England.
By 200 AD, the Roman Empire was in serious decline. Unable to solve its complex
problems, the empire divided into western and eastern halves. The western part of the
empire finally fell in 476 A.D. But Roman culture did not die out with the collapse of the
western empire. Roman civilization had lasted so long and spread so far from Italy that it
was deeply imprinted throughout much of Europe and the Mediterranean region. The
Latin language gave birth to the Romance languages of French, Italian, and Spanish.
Roman law became the model for later legal systems throughout Europe, and those ideas
later spread to the Americas. Under Roman influence, Christianity became an institution
that would change all of Europe and shape the course of Western civilization.
The Roman Empire is long gone, but the impact of the Romans lives on.