1. Ancient Rome was known for absorbing other cultures and integrating their art, customs and religions into their own. This I think is very similar to the present day United States in that we don’t have a dominant culture or ethnicity but are a great “melting pot” of many world cultures.
2. The ancient Romans were also known for their great system of roads which was part of their success as an empire. This made me immediately think about the Interstate highway program. One thing that struck me is that ancient Romans had over 400,000 miles of road (100,000 which were paved). To put that in perspective the Interstate highway program as of date has 46,876 miles of road. The Roman roads were seriously impressive! It also made me think about a more modern connection: the Internet. The Internet was for the most part an American invention and like the roads of Rome has led to an unprecedented level of global communication.
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| A map of the Internet. Each node represents an IP address and the length of the connecting lines represents the delay. |
3. Another thing in common we have with the Romans is that we like to build cities in infertile lands. Because of the aqueducts the Romans were able to irrigate cities in areas that otherwise would be inhabited. This makes me think of a lot of our cities in the west that would otherwise be desert such as Salt Lake, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
4. As Polybius points out in The Roman Constitution how the Romans came to a form of democracy. He says that “they do not venture to set up a king again being still in terror of the injustice to which this led before...therefore, as the only sound hope left them is that which depends upon themselves.. and so change the constitution from an oligarchy to a democracy” (The Portable Greek Historians, p. 480). As Americans we also associated the rule of kings with tyranny and put off the rule of King George III as part of our founding.
5. Lastly, one thing that we have directly borrowed from the Romans is the art form of Cameos. All the images below are pieces of jewelry currently for sale at Nordstroms and Macey's:
I really enjoyed reading your comparisons! They included so much detail that really helped put things into perspective. I especially liked your connection of Roman roads and the internet. Though they are very different, both show the desire for wider connection bases and communication. I also liked the cameo representations on modern jewelry. That's one that you wouldn't think of right off the bat, but is really cool to think about. Who knew how far back our fashion roots went!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about how roads and the internet are both radical inventions of their time. Although roads are so commonplace that we don't even think about them, they were one of the great Roman inventions that set their society apart from others. The internet today is certainly the great thing that sets our generation and our time apart from other times. What a fascinating thing! With or without the internet, though, I am grateful to the Romans for the roads we have today.
ReplyDeleteReally well thought out post! I loved the comparison between the Roman system of roads and the American innovation of the internet. This shows a deeper level of thinking that I really appreciate. I also liked the observation about building cities in infertile areas. While totally true, it is something that I had never really thought about before.
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