Is our civilization essentially just an extension of the Roman?

Question

The way we think. Our language, our thought patterns, our sense of what is beautiful. Is it Roman?

The structure of our political systems (think republicanism in government, in the U.S. the Capitol, the Senate).

Our legal system, founded on Emperor Justinian's codification of Roman law in the Corpus Juris Civilis.

Our dominant religious system, Christianity, endorsed by Emperor Constantine, the latest manifestation of the ancient religion of the man-god mediator and redeemer, Osiris of Egypt.

Our appreciation of literature, poetry, and the expression of ideas, and our criterion of what is good and what is inadequate.

To what extent are we today really just the current version of the Roman civilization?

Answer 1

Well, if you want to get technical, every civilization is just an extension of the one that came before it.

Most likely, the reason our civilzation most strongly resembles, or is more closely based upon, the ancient Roman version includes:

1) A period of great archival quality. It's hard to base a civilization upon word-of-mouth, especially if the next one relies alot on evidentiary examples (paperwork, relics, precedent, etc etc)

2) Christianity is a New Testament religion, so it would be kinda ridiculous for people to want to go back to Old Testament social, political, functions found in those civilizations, or remain within them.

3) In many ways, the ideas either first expressed in, or more correctly first recorded in, the Roman civilization are ones which this country finds most agreeable. Many civilizations had stratas of power (even kings had their advisor councils, the modern equivalent of the senate,) a mix of wealth and poor (usually to the same degree, since its easier to be poor than it is to be rich) and a delineation between work and play/entertainment. But if you look at the details of them, some of their practices seem quite 'unapplicable' from a successive modern civilization's point.

It might be better to say that the Roman inspiration was probably the closest 'modern' ancient civilization that our founder's could find. In other words, it had enough social and cultural fundamentals, that could be easily adapted to a 'new' civilization, which made it seem an ideal place to start from.

4) it also depends upon the region as well. Sure, there might have been great civilizations in Asia or Africa, but if the identifiers and establishers of a new civilization come from a seperate region, most likely the 'ethnic' examples of other regions are not going to seem all that attractive. And there is always cross-pollination between them, so that the influx of both slaves, defeated armies, and simply neighboring countries, will bring ideas within its realm that will have an impact upon how the civilization expands.

Sure, America is a capitalist country, but its not completely unregulated capitalism. Companies can still gain huge profits, but monopolies like those of the 1900's (which were very much in the vein of capitalism) are much more guarded and regulated. In addition, widespread social programs (Social Security, Medicare) economic subsidies for farmers, and designated 'park' areas are all very communistic in nature, so its not that a civilization is simply one static conglomerate.

A civilization is simply a place to begin expansion, and evolution, from.

Answer 2

Starting from the top.   Ans.   Partly.   Our language has much Latin background, but is mostly Germanic. Germanic is much older than Latin.  Our sense of beauty is not Roman, it's human.

Much of our government is based on Roman law.

The Romans can't be credited for founding Christianity. For a few hundred years Christians were severely persecuted by the Romans. Finally, nearly four hundred years later Constantine  declared Christianity as the State religion.

Our appreciation of literature, poetry and the other things you mention, again are human rather than Roman. Many other cultures appreciate the same things.

I can't go along with your last question at all. All civilizations since the stone age were based on the preceding culture. The Romans copied and borrowed heavily from the Greeks

Yes, we owe much to the Roman culture, as well as many other cultures. Rome had many successes, but it had tons of flaws too. Those flaws finally finished the Empire.

Answer 3

That depends. I don't really consider the Christianized Roman Empire to be the Roman Empire.

"Our appreciation of literature, poetry, and the expression of ideas, and our criterion of what is good and what is inadequate." as well as appreciation of technology, and some knowledge of how to do it, such as rudimentary steam engines and concrete all died out shortly after the Christianization of the Roman Empire.

As we move into a post-Christian world, we will see if the Romaness holds, or just the Christianity.

Answer 4

yep,  you got it Sherlock,

and mystery Babylon  !!

Answer 5

First of all....English came from the old germanic langauges and not from Latin....that is a whole different family of languages. (french, italian, etc) Latin is one of the romance languages, English is not.

Though, the English language has evolved from it's original germanic roots because it became the main language of the world...so it adopted roots from French mostly.

Western civilization is very much an extension of the Roman Empire. Socially and politcally.

Even though it claims to be, Western civilization is not demcracy....but Republics...like Rome. There is a HUGE difference between a democracy and a republic...

So yeah...we are very much like the Roman Empire

Answer 6

In a word :NO

Answer 7

Greeks were the first who established Democracy. Greeks were the first who wrote laws and had legal system. Greek philosophers (Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, etc) were the first who analyzed deeper major social aspects of life and the human being. Greeks gave the first alphabet (the first two letters of the Greek alphabet : alpha, beta). Romans based their language to the Greek alphabet and they create their own Latin letters. Western civilizations based their languages on  Greek and Latin words. 40% of the English words have Greek origin and they use the Latin letters.

  When the Roman Empire changed its capital from Rome to Constantinople (the modern Turkish city: Istanbul. Istanbul is a Greek word meaning "to the city". "is tin poli" in Greek. The City of Constantine - the first emperor was Constantine. The city was Constantinople), the Greeks established Byzantine Empire and their official religion was (and still is) Orthodox Christianity. (after the religious schism we have two major churches: Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox. Later, they followed the rest).  

  Romans conquered Greeks, but Greek spirit conquered Romans. (Romans were clever enough to adjust to their culture the good parts of  Greeks). Romans developed further Greek ideas.

  Modern Western civilizations based on the Roman civilization and developed more Roman ideas. (For instance, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, etc). Furthermore, we see influences (partly) from other great civilizations, like Chinese or Egyptian etc).

  So, as you see, things may be different from era to era or from  place to  place, but people no matter  where they come from or when they live, they have the ability to adjust to their culture (and to evolute) the good points of other cultures.  

The time and space are actually two chains tight well.

Answer 8

Quite low, considering the fact that the romans were famous only in the Western world. And Christianity was helped by the romans, but it wasn't really due to them that it flourished. Furthermore, the Romans came only 2000 something years ago, compared to other races like the Israelites and the Ancient Egyptians. If anything, I should say that the race which influenced us the most should be the Chinese race. After all, they came up with paper, the printing press, the compass and gunpowder.