The Importance of ancient Rome

Introduction

The Ancient Romans were one of the largest empires ever in the world. There were ingenuous and creative people who valued knowledge and had great military power. Today our society has helped in uncovering key artifacts such as art or left of architecture from the Ancient Romans. That being said we have only uncovered a few eyewitness testimonials writing of people who lived during that time frame. This is why it is important to continue studying the Ancient Romans for they had helped create magnificent objects or had major events.

Ancient Rome architecture

The ancient Romans were geniuses when it came to their architecture they had the the Colosseum, the Pantheon and their temples but one thing that was a major important both to their architecture and daily living was their aqueducts

The aqueducts weren’t a new thing to the world but according to the national geographic states going over the start of aqueducts “Though earlier civilizations in Egypt and India also built aqueducts, the Romans improved on the structure and built an extensive and complex network across their territories.(National Geographic Society editors) The use of these aqueducts helped ancient Rome citizens with n easy to access water access for drinking and hygiene such as baths. This piece of architecture was only one of the many types of ingenious designs that the Romans have built.

Ancient Rome art

Ancient Rome is important because they left behind many pieces of art and shows how creative people were back down with the primitive tools of the time they had one such art piece was made around fifty BC was the Busts of Silenoi presented by the Art institute of Chicago

This piece had a lot to say not only are the two men from the Art Institute of Chicago suggesting that this is a sculpture of two men honoring Bachas aka Dionysus. You can tell from their crowns or how the way the two men look. it goes to show how the ancient Romans believed in their particular religion and wanted to honor that with different pieces of art. It was just one of the many sides of Ancient Rome and how they valued their culture and was just one of many pieces showing that very ideal

Letters of the past

Ancient Rome is important because it was one of few civilizations we actually have writing and eyewitness testimonies from one such person was named Marcus Tullius Cicero who lived in ancient Rome back in 106 to 46 BC he was many things a lawyer. Philosopher, politician and many more there are 11 letters written by Cicero that were found detailing many accounts of His work and or social life one such account can be seen in his letter to Atticus going over their relationship

“Acutilius which you had left in my hands. I had settled it on my first visit to Rome after your departure. But it turned out that, in the first place, there was no urgency in the matter, and, in the second place, as I felt confidence in your judgment, I preferred that Peducaeus ³ rather than myself should advise you by letter on the subject.”
(Shuckburgh 1)

It was thanks to Cicero’s many letters going over details of his life to him it was just another letter he had written like any other day but it was thanks to him and his work being available today is how people can interpret better on how life in ancient Rome was today.

The ruined city

One other thing that makes ancient Rome so well known and important Is one well-known city known as Pompeii as the story goes Pompeii was just as ordinally as any city of its time but one thing it is well known for is it hot reactive neighbor Mount Vesuvius.

In the year of 79 BCE, it erupted but one Eyewitness to this was named Pliny the Younger who had written two letters detailing the events of Mount Vesuvius The people of Pompeii had numerous warnings of these events as sates by Pliny the Younger In the year of 79 BCE it erupted but one Eyewitness to this was named Pliny the younger who had written two letters detailing the vents of Mount Vesuvius. The people of Pompeii had numerous warnings of these events as stated by Pliny the younger

“We had earth tremors for several days, which were not especially alarming, because they happen so often in Campania. But that night they were so violent that everything felt as if it were being shaken and turned over. My mother came hurrying to my room and we sat together in the forecourt facing the sea.by six o’clock, the dawn light was still only dim.”
(Institute of Geological Planetary Physics Editors 1)

They had numerous warnings of their impending doom not only the earthquakes or the rising shrouds from the volcano unfortunately however no one took this for eventual storm that would arise for Pompeii would erupted leaving behind nothing except for ash and death as pliny summarized form his letter he couldn’t even see the mainland as it as just covered form the volcano ash with a confirmed 2000 kill count.

What left of Pompeii still stands today being left of the rubble of the petrified victims of the raging volcanos and it shows us what the Pompeii people did know about as if they had even a remote hint of what was to come maybe more would have gotten out of there. it is an important part of the world today as it serves to remind us to always take precautions and heed warnings

The time line of Ancient Rome

Rome has a long and rich history with some of the most important events being labeled in this timeline

These two maps also show how Ancient Rome started out only having a small amount of power and land in 700 BCE in the first map only for a few centuries later in their prime controlling close to 1.9 million square miles one of the largest empires known to man.

People of today studying Ancient Rome

There are many people who are still fascinated by the society known as Ancient Rome one such individual is known as the historian Mary Beard she has studied many topics of ancient Rome she has written in “SPQR” that tackles the general history of ancient Rome and then we have “Emperor of Rome” where she looks at the elite and how they lived and treated others during their time. She has also written on major events in Rome like in her book “Pompeii in which she looks at how people lived their lives and how the city met its end.

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Conclusion

Ancient Rome was a fascinating society that helped introduce and lead in ingenuity whether it was their art and or their engineering the Romans showed that they were creative and offered a lot to the world. They have shown many sides to them whether it was their brutal military and or their creative scholars. There is still much we don’t know about the Romans and or finding objects without anyone to say what these objects exactly were. This is why we need people like Mary Bread who is helping to understand and uncover more about the ancient Romans to know exactly what was there. We have made excellent strides when it comes to understanding the ancient Romans but there is still a lot of work to do.

Work citied

Geographic editors , National. “Roman Aqueducts.” National Geographic, July 4, 2020. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/roman-aqueducts/.

editors, Arts Institute of chicagochildren. “Attachments Depicting Busts of Silenoi.” The Art Institute of Chicago, January 6, 2021. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/147877/attachments-depicting-busts-of-silenoi.

editors, Igpp. “The A.D. 79 Eruption at Mt. Vesuvius.” SIO15: 79 A.D. Eruption at Mt. Vesuvius, October 22, 2016. https://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/sio15/lectures/volcanoes/pliny.html.

Shuckburg , Evelyn. “M. Tullius Cicero, Letters to Atticus Evelyn Shuckburgh, Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, Ed.” M. Tullius Cicero, Letters to Atticus, IV (A I, 9), October 4, 2018. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0022%3Atext%3DA%3Abook%3D1%3Aletter%3D9.