What do You Admire the Most?

[omoplata]

What aspect of Ancient Rome do you admire the most?

 

Personally, I am most impressed by their customs, traditions and rituals all of which exude strength and honor. From the standard-bearer in the army to faces carried by the lictors, there is such deep meaning behind all their tradition...

[GhostOfClayton]

I think the social infrastructure brought about at the birth of the Republic. It changed very little for Centuries, and allowed the Romans to achieve the physical and military infrastructures that proved so succesful.

[Ursus]

I liked the fact they were usually very practical about things. It shows in everything from their religion to their architecture to their political administration. Even when they started borrowing philosophy from the Greeks, they were still more concerned about daily things like law and ethics than in abstract metaphysical speculation.

[Kosmo]

I like their effectiveness. I mean they didn't just talk about big things, they did big things like insuring peace, prosperity and dignity for a huge part of humanity for several centuries. Hard to beat that.

[Lanista]

Longevity. It was a hugely successful empire. Sure, we can focus on the decline and fall and the civil wars, but for all that it lasted past the "Roman" period and into the Byzantine...a pretty good innings.

[DecimusCaesar]

I admire how they managed to take the best from the civilizations around them, and improve on those ideas. From Greek architecture, to Eastern religions, Celtic weaponry and armour, to Etruscan traditions. The Romans were pretty pragmatic, which explains why their empire became the longest lasting one in history.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

I admire the Romans total and utter self belief. The belief that they were by far the most intelligent, noble and powerful race on the planet and if anyone had the audacity to disagree then they would do everything in thier power to prove them wrong.

 

In my opinion the Roman Empire became as powerful and long lasting as it did due to it's massive confidence in it's own abilities, and it'sstrength of will to see things through.

Edited January 15, 2011 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus

[omoplata]

Very well put Pauilinus.

A question for all of you:

Some of the other boards (on other, unrelated topics) that I belong to have one or two large threads, where minor questions that may not be worth starting a new discussion for are posted. Do we have such a thread here? I can start one, but did not want if there is an ongoing "All Random Questions" thread already.

In addition, is there a thread already where we can post inspirational quotes and texts from ancient Rome? Parts of Cicero's letters, texts from Plutarch, quotes from Julius Ceasar and so on?

 

I have searched for both, but no luck. If there is no objections, and they do not exist presently, I would like to start both of these threads, and we can -if they attract enough interest- talk about turning them into stickys.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Hi Omoplata,

 

As long as the questions are Roman related or at least historical or in Hora postilla Thermae's case, anything goes!! then you can ask any question you like, just search the forum and find the appropriate place to ask it, so there is really no need for a "Random Questions" thread, as any question that is asked will more than likely be answered.

 

But still feel free to start any thread you desire!

[GhostOfClayton]

I admire the Romans total and utter self belief. The belief that they were by far the most intelligent, noble and powerful race on the planet and if anyone had the audacity to disagree then they would do everything in thier power to prove them wrong.

 

In my opinion the Roman Empire became as powerful and long lasting as it did due to it's massive confidence in it's own abilities, and it'sstrength of will to see things through.

 

Tend to agree. I think most (if not all) Empires fostered this attitude among its ruling citizenry. Right from the Nazi 'master race' through to the Imperial British, who seemed to take on a more fatherly role (albeit a very strict Victorian father) when dealing with their subjects. Although less extreme than the Nazis, the unquestioned belief in their superiority was still well and truly present. Any subjication was no doubt justified based on the (dubious) conviction that it was "for their own good".

Edited January 17, 2011 by GhostOfClayton

[abvgd]

I admire the fact that Roman society despite being ancient at the same also time seemed surprisingly modern and accessible in so many ways. It's easy to relate to Rome and Romans from a modern perspective, which cannot as easily be said for other ancient societies. They even had running water in their houses (at least the filthy rich ones had), it's hard not to relate to that

 

I admire the fact that Rome's history beats anything that Hollywood can come up with From the Punic Wars against Hannibal, through Julius Caesar's life, to its long and protracted "fall", there's so much to analyze, discuss, explore and sometimes also enjoy on the big screen. It's virtually impossible to ever get bored of Rome.

 

Finally, I admire the fact that Rome left so much legacy after its fall, so much in fact that it cannot be said that it truly ever fell. This legacy is felt in language, culture, religion, practically everywhere. Who doesn't at least once in a while stumble upon (or perhaps even use) some cool Latin proverb or phrase? To me, Latin is the coolest language ever conceived, the elegance and eloquence of Latin is simnply unrivaled

[Medusa]

I admire the high standard of living they had achieved e.g. baths, floor and wall heating (hypocaustum), architecture, technical innovations etc.

[Guaporense]

The most impressive fact about ancient Rome was the process of rise and decline of ancient civilization. By the 1st century CE ancient roman civilization had reached a degree of social, economic and technological development much greater than anything ever before and, perhaps, anything after for 1500 years.

 

One interesting thing is the continuous process of decline that lasted for centuries, declining from the first century peak to the eight century and then recovering from the 8th century onwards. This can be illustrated in this graph on the levels of lead production of the world, that we can calculate based on archaeological data on dated ice cores from Greenland:

 

source: "Greeland Ice Evidence of Hemispheric Lead Pollution Two Millennia Ago by Greek and Roman Civilizations", Science, vol. 265, n. 5180, pages 1841-1843.

 

According to these estimates the world lead production started around 3,000 BCE and increased more or less continuously until the first century CE, when it was nearly 100,000 tons annually, then decreasing to less than 5 thousand tons annually in the early middle ages and increasing again to over 100,000 tons annually at the beginning of the industrial revolution. This type of evidence is also supported by various others archaeological findings, like shipwrecks in the mediterranean.

 

It it something unique in human history, that otherwise shows a continuous process of improvement in social, economic and technological development. The Roman case is a case where people in the 11th century can look back a thousand years and really say that there were much greater empires and that the world today is only a shadow of it's past. That is something fascinating.

[Centurion-Macro]

Their rise and fall is what I am very interested in. Like or hate the Romans - but they made a tremendous empire, and that is no small feat.