World Geo Wrap-up:

Roman Empire

Pascal H.
Rome Wasnt Built in a Day (Introduction)
Rome was a prosperous city that thrived from around 700 BC to around 20 AD. It was an
enormous empire, one of the largest ever*, spanning Europe and parts of Asia and Africa.
Its inhabitants created many innovations that shape our lives today, and their architecture
is truly phenomenal. They were an empire that for a long time had their government like
democracy.

*The Mongols had a larger empire!!!

 What could keep people away
Push Factors of the Roman Empire/Rome today?

Military Weakness: These days, Rome is nothing

like what it once was.
The Roman Military system originally worked because people were willing to However, people may want to
be drafted. However, when Christianity became more widespread, the stay away from Rome
people of Rome refused to work in the military and wanted to live more because the economy is not
based off of peace, not war. Hired barbarians filled in these empty slots, *as stable* as some other
allowing outsiders to infiltrate. They revolted against Roman rule and countries.
destroyed the military, opening gates into Rome.
Governme
Public Health: nt Instabi
lity:
Emperor
ruli
The people suffer
ed many health related to ng allowed for ma
co ny issues
issues during the Monetary De
ficit: self-cente rruption and
last years of the red
Empire. Lead wa also frequ ness. The empero
en rs
s not considered
u r ing th e d ecline of the guards, to tly assassinated by were
deadly, which *l D n be th
ed* to many prob
lems. m p ir e , m as sive inflatio bidder. Cle replaced by the h eir own
E arly, ther ig
Also, sickness w
as regular due to occurred wh
ile pay system. e were fla hest
dirty ws in the
streets and city. e same, so
The Gladiatorial remained th
led to live in
Games allowed b
lood-borne illnes many strugg
be sp s to me.
 Huge Empire (Height of Rome):
Pull Factors of the Roman Empire Rome had a huge empire. In fact, it
was called the Roman Empire, and it
(I
Ro me covered almost 1.7 million square
visi
t Powerful Army: miles! This meant that the empire
t to
d wan e, before was a center of trade, and had plenty
I w
l
ou ): I t has At the height of Rom of resources. Also, a huge empire
e . y was
y
Wh ady ha
v
l p lace past, s Christianity, the arm usually means a powerful empire.
u in the
alre e a utif s of the n.It ha one of the strongest
b a feated
e is a ng ruin he oce it. western world. It de Breakthr
Rom thtaki se to t ehind nded the
a o the Greeks and expa oughs:
bre it is cl story b empire from one city
to
i The roma
and ir of h almost all of Europe
, along ns create
an a d Asia. great thi d many
with bits of Africa an lives toda
ngs that
affe
y. Their p ct our
was one lumbing
of a kind
architect , th
Entertainment: ure was b eir
and man ea
y other in utiful,
from, say ven
The romans introduced a few new things to the the Greek tions
perfected s,
scene of entertainment, mainly fights between by them. were
gladiators, captives, and animals, which could
be very entertaining to watch.
Influence on Todays Society (Connection to World/Self*)
The romans created many useful things we still utilize today. One of these things was
aqueducts/pipes. These brought water from long distances and allowed both easy access to
water and removal of waste, both of which are vital today. Another innovation was the
calendar, popularized in the Roman Empire by Caesar and Augustus, the latter of which
introduced leap years. Yet another invention was simply concrete. This proved to be an
incredibly effective tool for buildings and foundations, and we still use an albeit more
advanced version of this concrete today. The last but not least influence was the Roman
architecture, which admittedly ripped off the Greek architecture. Roman architecture,
including arches and the way to build them, was immensely useful for (circa) Medieval
architecture, and you can see that the Capitol Building in D.C. is indisputably based off the
Pantheon in Rome!
*Self because my direct surroundings are affected by these things
Influence on Todays Society (Text to Text/Media):
There is a clear connection between the Roman Empire and many movies and books. An
example of a movie that is directly affected by its existence is The Life of Brian by Monty
Python. This is because the story is based in Rome and has many historical references. It
describes the life of a Jewish man who is travelling in the Roman Empire. Another example
is Ben Hur, a story of an eventual chariot racer.

A connection between the Roman Empire and texts nowadays is simply* Latin, a language
created by them. This is a connection to text because many poems and scripts have Latin in
them, and Latin is a language that one could use to write a book.
Big Idea

We can learn from Rome that even the greatest of civilizations can and will fall. We can
learn from them their flaws and how to prevent them to not allow the same thing to occur
to us. For example, an easy one to prevent or help prevent would be cleanliness/waste of
resources, which we are already trying to put into effect here in California. Another
problem is that of corrupt emperors, which we dont have because of our democratic way of
ruling the country.

At the same time, we should also be looking at what made them such a great civilization,
and we should advance and enhance those parts of our own civilization, such as (debatably
too much) the military spending and size, which surpasses literally all other spending in the
US at almost $600 Billion. Overall, we should expand on what made them great, but try to
minimize in our civilization what brought about their downfall.
Overall (Conclusion)
The Roman Empire is indisputably one of the largest and most influential civilizations on
Earth, influencing our books, films, myself and even our world as a whole! Even though it
no longer exists, the inventions the people of Rome created changed the way we lived. The
calendar, which we effectively live by, was improved and reintroduced by Julius Caesar, a
leader of Rome. Concrete, the substance that is used still today to create foundations and
sidewalks, was invented by the romans. Yet another simple yet innovative concept that was
introduced first in Rome were both pipes and aqueducts. Many people in California rely on
an aqueduct for water, which the pipes bring directly to their homes. Obviously, the Roman
Empire, albeit destroyed, still continues to affect us to this very day. Here, I pose you two
questions. 1.) Where would we be without Rome? And 2.) What can we learn from the
Romans?