Download The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire
By: Adam Maria
Hum 211- 001
Rolanne Henry
November 13, 2010
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Outline
I.
II.
III.
Thesis statement
Introduction to the Roman Empire
Roman Culture
i. Religion
ii. Architecture
iii. Art
IV.
V.
VI.
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Roman Empire’s Languages
Roman Empire collapse
Conclusion
The Roman Empire ruled for about a 600 year period, The Empire conquered and ruled
the entire Mediterranean world and left a large mark in History in many aspects, reinventing Art,
Culture, and technology. The Collapse of the Roman Empire occurred over a period of 320
Years. Although there are many facts that can be assumed to have cause this decline, to this day
nothing is still certain. This Research Paper will cover the Roman Empire, mainly its culture, and
will also cover the factors that are said to have made an impact on the Roman Empire Collapse.
What was the Roman Empire, and how did it impact history? What was the Roman Empire’s
Culture like? What were some of the reasons the Roman Empire collapsed?
The Roman Empire conquered all of the Mediterranean, “and essentially turned the
Mediterranean Sea into a Roman lake” (Cowell, Frank Richard 2). The Romans brought their
political ideas, laws, culture, roads, currency, and their language to the people they governed,
and made a mark on the Western society and culture. Rome inspired loyalty by granting
citizenship to anyone who joined the Roman civilization, and Roman citizens gladly gave their
loyalty and also served their government with courage and discipline; something that was not
deserved by some Roman emperors infamous for their greed, and cruelty.
Several events marked the beginning of the Roman Empire, the most notable was Julius
Caesar’s victory over Pompey, which lead to his appointment to dictator for life (Cowell, Frank
Richard 3).“If anything, The Romans had a practical attitude to religion as to most things, which
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perhaps explains why they themselves had difficulty in taking the idea of a single, all seeing, all
powerful god (Grant, Michael 11).” Up to the point of the beginning of the Roman Empire,
Romans had a religion of their own, but it was not based on any central belief, it was a mixture
of different rituals and superstitions and traditions which they had collected prior to the Roman
Empire. To the original Romans, religion was less of spiritual than a relationship between
mankind and the forces which were believed to control mankind’s well being and existence.
Since the Roman Empire didn’t have one Major Religion they had no reason to exclude
other religions, and several foreign gods and cults became popular. While the Roman Empire
continued to expand, and came to include people from a variety of cultures, all of the beliefs, and
deities were tolerated. “Romans in general tended to be extremely tolerant towards most
religions and cults, so long as they did not cause any trouble” (Boyer Pascal 2). Religious
Complexes were usually built to accommodate many cultures. “An individual could attend to
both the Roman gods representing his Roman identity and his own personal faith, which was
considered part of his personal identity.” (Gibbon, Edward 11)
Although most new religions were accepted, a few of them were not, one of these
forbidden religions was druids. “Druids were seen as non-Romans” (Gibbon Edward 6), Emperor
Tiberius forbade roman citizens to practice druid rituals completely, he said “druids were
suppressed.” Another Religion which was not widely accepted was Judaism. Judaism was largely
accepted, as long as Jews paid the Jewish tax, which was implemented after the Jewish – Roman
wars, and the anti Judaism in the pre-Christian Roman Empire.
Roman Art included visual arts produced in the Ancient Rome. The Major forms of
Roman Art are architecture, painting and sculpture. They’re structures included Broad Arches,
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baked bricks, domes, columns, and structures made of marble. Many of the structures they built
were Basilicas, Baths, Markets, Amphitheatres, Coliseums, Theatres, Arches, Temples, Roads,
Aqueducts, Catacombs, Forums and Villas. Some of the Roman Empire’s most notable
Structures are the Pantheon, the “Pont Du Gard “aqueduct, The Dome of “the Pantheon”, The
Bath of Caracalla, the Roman Theatre of Aspendos, and “The Coliseum”.
As time passed, Roman architecture was modified, and the civil engineering and building
construction technology became more developed and refined. “To this day, even after 2,000
years, some Roman structures still stand firm, this brings up an unknown riddle to how Romans
used concrete”. ( W. L. MacDonald).
Roman clothing fashions changed very little for about 600 years until the end of the
Western Empire, The cloths and the dresses differentiated one class of people from the other
class. The Plebeians, Common people, wore old and dirty tunics made from coarse and dark
material. The tunic worn by the patricians were made of linen or clean wool. Patricians were
related to the elite families in Ancient Rome, Patricians were usually differentiated from the
plebeians purely at birth.
Before the expansion the Roman Empire’s language was Latin, to this day it is Rome’s
Official Language. Latin soon began to evolve into two languages after the imperial period.
These two languages were Classical Latin, and Vulgar Latin. Classical Latin remained stable
throughout the years, while Vulgar Latin became more fluid and evolved throughout time.
Vulgar Latin later evolved into the modern languages we know today, Italian, French,
Portuguese, Spanish and Roman, these among others. Classical Latin became a language based
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more on Literature, and Educational. Even after the fall of Rome and centuries after, Latin was
still the most widely known and spoken language. “The Romans generally did not attempt to
supplant local languages. They generally left established customs in place and only gradually
introduced typical Roman cultural elements including the Latin language”. (Freeman 99)
With the exception of Greek, many other languages that were used during this time were
used, but were not expressed in writing. During this time Greek was already well known and
spoken in many cities in the East. The Romans chose to hold on to Greek and Latin as they’re
languages. In 146 BC Greek language started to obtain a bigger role in the Roman World as a
primary Language, this was mostly due to the large number of Greeks being brought in to Rome
to serve as house slaves, among other things. Greek soon became the common language spoken
in the first Church’s. It also became the language of scholarship, arts and the elite educated
citizens.
There are many theories as to how the Roman Empire fell; and why it was possible that
such a powerful Empire could collapse. Some suggest the idea that Julius Caesar’s Assassination
soon after being the cities Dictator for life, which led to chaos and ultimately the fall of the
Roman Empire. There are historians who believe there were single deciding factors, but more
people think that it was the combination of factors such as Christianity, decadence, monetary
trouble, and military problems that caused the Roman Empire to Collapse, even the rise of Islam
Religion was said to have a role in the fall, although some would disagree. A few other things
could be added to this list, Imperial Incompetence, with such a large Empire, many high ranked
people were greedy and did nothing to help avoid this collapse.
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In Conclusion, The Roman Empire was one of the largest Territorial Empires in History.
The Idiom “All roads lead to Rome” explains how the impact of the Roman Empire will always
be connected future technology among other things. The Roman Empire placed a massive
stepping stone in History, with the way it changed Technology, Literature, culture and
Architecture. Boasting structures like the coliseum, aqueducts, legions, bridges, over 2 million
square miles, and a population of about a fifth of the world, almost 60 million the Roman
Empire‘s impact on history will never be questioned. The roughly 320 years it took to bring
down the Roman Empire was a slow decline in my opinion considering how powerful and vast
the Empire was, and to this day there is still nothing but theories to explain how it was possible
such a large Empire could fall.
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Works Cited
Bowersock, "The Vanishing Paradigm of the Fall of Rome" Bulletin of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences 49.8 (May 1996:29-43) p. 31.
Boyer, Pascal (2001). Religion Explained. New York: Basic Books. pp. 142–243.
ISBN 0-465-00696-5. Date accessed October 7, 2010
Cowell, Frank Richard. Life in Ancient Rome. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1961.
Date accessed October 9, 2010
Goldsworthy, Adrian. In the Name of Rome: the Men Who Won the Roman
Empire. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003. Print. Date accessed October 7, 2010.
Grant, Michael. History of Rome. New York: Scribner's, 1978. Print. Date accessed
October 7, 2010.
Lorenz, and Nigel Rodgers. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire.
Lorenz, 2006. Print. Date Accessed, October 7, 2010.
"The Collapse." The Roman Empire. Web. 19 Sept. 2010. <http://www.romanempire.net/>. Date accessed, October 6, 2010.
W. L., MacDonald, The Architecture of the Roman Empire, rev. ed. Yale University
Press, New Haven, 1982, fig. 131B; Lechtman and Hobbs "Roman Concrete and the Roman
Architectural Revolution". Date accessed October 7, 2010.
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