What is so Ancient about Rome?

What is the first thing that you think of when you hear the word ancient? Most people would think of their grandparents, Medieval Times, or Ancient Egypt. According to encarta dictionaries, the word ancient means: old: very old or of distant past, belonging to the distant past: especially to the time before the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in ad 476. Even in the definition of ancient, ancient times is before Rome collapsed. Rome was high and thriving for a long time, so what really makes it so ancient? Well, Rome is old and of the quite distant past, but there are many other things that make it ancient. Although many of the ways and systems of Ancient Rome are still used today, many are not, and the city of Rome is itself is not.

In history styles, trends, ideas, and beliefs have come and gone. If you like watching television shows that are old you may see bell bottoms, flapper, and very large cell phones. A lot of the things that are ancient are not in use anymore, but many of the things from Rome are still used today. A great example of something that Rome passed down to the modern world is the idea of a Republic. Just because something is ancient does not mean it can not be used anymore, in the case democracy is another good example. A good example of something that is from that is not used anymore would be the Twelve Tablets which are the earliest tries to create a procedure for following and enforcing law. One of the laws from these set of laws states that a father has the right to kill their child if they are horribly deformed. This comes partly with the fact that during that period of time it was felt that if any deformed person was a demon or bad omen of some sort.

In Rome, like many other civilizations during the ancient times, religion influenced everyday life. Religion was present in politics, law, and entertainment. In the Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare makes it very apparent that the Romans and Caesar himself believed that he was divine. In the 12 tablets the law that let fathers kill their deformed children was created because of the religious aspect of a bad omen or demon. Most of the time when studying ancient civilizations you notice how influential religion is. Even today religion is influential, in the Pledge of Allegiance, America's Pledge, you hear “One nation under God”, and even on the American dollar you see the words “in God we trust”.

Everything from the past is what has made today the way it is. Not everything from the past is what you call ancient though, you would not call an action you made yesterday ancient. Rome is ancient because of all the things that the Romans did that set the standard for things that happen today. The Republic is something from the past that Rome kind of gave as a gift to the world today. Many of the events from Roman history have taught us today. Modern society has learned from Rome's numerous mistakes. Such as the great defeat against Carthage when general Hannibal was in charge. We have also learned from Rome's great attributes such as the creation of the Republic were everyone's opinion is voiced and everyone is represented.

Granted that the city of Rome is still occupied today, you can not help to think of Rome as ancient. Rome is old and very influential like a seasoned politician. Rome is ancient because of the time period that it lived in and the great influence it has on modern times.

Citation: Adams, John Paul. "The Twelve Tablets"10 June 2009. CSUN. 5 March 2010. http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/12tables.html.

"Rome Colosseum at night." commons wikimedia. Web. 5 Mar 2010. .