Donnaarises Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 (edited) I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT COMPARISONS THERE ARE BETWEEN THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA. THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME COMPARISONS I KNOW. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA HAD/HAVE A STRONG MILITARY. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA HAD/HAVE STRONG ALLIES DONNAARISES Edited November 20, 2008 by Donnaarises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Neil Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT COMPARISONS THERE ARE BETWEEN THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA. THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME COMPARISONS I KNOW. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA HAD/HAVE A STRONG MILITARY. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA HAD/HAVE STRONG ALLIES DONNAARISES Hello Donnaarises - and welcome aboard! This is a subject which is very popular, and frequently gets discussed. If you look here: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1104 you will see a lively discussion on the subject, and will, I am sure, feel compelled to comment! Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesar CXXXVII Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 Welcome Donnaarises, In general, one can say that both had/have huge populations and territory, Indeed they both had/have strong armies and influence on their neighbors and even on the whole western civilazation and beyond . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingsoc Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 Yes, America is the new Roman Empire. Now kneel before Caesar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caesar novus Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Question has an odor of wanting help for a school assignment rather than genuine curiosity, so I won't take the time to organize mishmash of thoughts toooooo much... I think there are huge similarities, not in terms of superficial appearance or the whacky narrative history, but in terms of some of their aspirational ideals and goal-directed tendancies. It's hard to articulate, but it hits me at a gut level when looking at Roman ruins or statues or history. The scale of buildings, and confident expressions on statues, and a kind of businesslike focus on practicalities rather than posturing... seems unlike even the age of Athens or medieval or renaissance periods. How about the way Romans often co-opted their conquered peoples by giving them an unprecedented stake in their new Roman world... comparable to how diverse immigrants to the US tend to eventually blend into a melting pot (more than many countries anyway). Actually the American revolution dialogue was heavily influenced by the Roman republic in terms of ideals of democracy and civic duties. George Washington was nicknamed Cincinnatus, and the I think the founding documents are full of references to things which had been recently popularized by plays on the Roman Republic. Putting aside the bizarre and brutal aspects of Roman history (written and possibly overdramatized by critics of newly dead emperors), the Roman repub-pire was such an amazing way to organize both economic and political life compared to the chaos before and afterward. At the time of American revolution, that was also a unique political experiment that amazed Europeans by its democratic audacity, and later by it's economic impact followng WW2. Both Rome and USA are full of innovative ways to organize life that at least have the potential of betterment. I couldn't believe it when I downloaded the free audio of a recent course on Rome at Berkeley university which seemed to solely focus on treatment of women and slaves as if that was the only distinguishing element of Roman civilization. But that was the norm for almost any group at that time, and carried the seeds of civilization which could eventually bring more into the good life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Salve, Amici As NN said, we have been here before... Most peoples through history have had some kind of ancestral role model to follow, commonly in a highly idealized conception; for the Roman themselves it were their first fathers. For Europe and the European-related world, this model has frequently been the ancient Romans in one of their many facets; in general terms the world-conquering Empire has been more popular than the democratic Republic. Sometimes the analogy is made in a negative way, specially from religious groups (Christians, Jews) remembering persecution times; but the vast majority of comparisons are positive. Nowadays, the analogy between the United States and the Roman Republic in its late (imperialist) phase is so commonplace that prof. Walter Scheidel from Stanford wrote an intriguing paper just to explain why he disagrees: Republics between hegemony and empire:How ancient city-states built empires and the USA doesn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT COMPARISONS THERE ARE BETWEEN THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA. THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME COMPARISONS I KNOW. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA HAD/HAVE A STRONG MILITARY. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND AMERICA HAD/HAVE STRONG ALLIES DONNAARISES Welcome to the forum. Please don't type in all caps. Bold caps are even worse. This site has as an "America vs Rome" thread every month. I suggest you just look through folders to find previous discussions. No one here can possibly add anything to the discussion that hasn't been said a million times before. I'm seriously considering just merging all related threads into one discussion and pinning it for newcomers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Yes, America is the new Roman Empire. Now kneel before Caesar! It's funny, but the toga makes him look more stately and dignified. More .. presidential, as it were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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