Which culture most influenced ancient rome

Diocletian divided power into the so-called tetrarchy rule of four , sharing his title of Augustus emperor with Maximian. A pair of generals, Galerius and Constantius, were appointed as the assistants and chosen successors of Diocletian and Maximian; Diocletian and Galerius ruled the eastern Roman Empire, while Maximian and Constantius took power in the west.

The stability of this system suffered greatly after Diocletian and Maximian retired from office. Constantine the son of Constantius emerged from the ensuing power struggles as sole emperor of a reunified Rome in He moved the Roman capital to the Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople.

Roman unity under Constantine proved illusory, and 30 years after his death the eastern and western empires were again divided. Despite its continuing battle against Persian forces, the eastern Roman Empire—later known as the Byzantine Empire —would remain largely intact for centuries to come. Rome eventually collapsed under the weight of its own bloated empire, losing its provinces one by one: Britain around ; Spain and northern Africa by Attila and his brutal Huns invaded Gaul and Italy around , further shaking the foundations of the empire.

The fall of the Roman Empire was complete. Roman architecture and engineering innovations have had a lasting impact on the modern world.

Roman aqueducts, first developed in B. Some Roman aqueducts transported water up to 60 miles from its source and the Fountain of Trevi in Rome still relies on an updated version of an original Roman aqueduct.

Roman cement and concrete are part of the reason ancient buildings like the Colosseum and Roman Forum are still standing strong today. Roman arches, or segmented arches, improved upon earlier arches to build strong bridges and buildings, evenly distributing weight throughout the structure.

Roman roads, the most advanced roads in the ancient world, enabled the Roman Empire—which was over 1. They included such modern-seeming innovations as mile markers and drainage. Over 50, miles of road were built by B. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.

Over the next eight and a half centuries, it grew from a small town of pig farmers into a vast empire that stretched from England to Egypt and completely For almost 30 centuries—from its unification around B. From the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military conquests of the New The most influential empire in all of ancient times, Rome, at its peak, encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands.

In addition to many external battles, numerous civil wars befell the Ancient Roman empire. Aqueducts The Romans enjoyed many amenities for their day, including public toilets, underground sewage systems, fountains and ornate public baths.

None of these aquatic innovations would have been possible without the Roman aqueduct. First developed around B. Ushered in by the ascension of The term Ancient, or Archaic, Greece refers to the years B. Archaic Greece saw advances in art, poetry and technology, but is known as the age in which the polis, or city-state, was The Roman Forum, known as Forum Romanum in Latin, was a site located at the center of the ancient city of Rome and the location of important religious, political and social activities.

We can find traces of Roman influence in forms and structures throughout the development of Western culture. Although the Romans were heavily influenced by ancient Greece, they were able to make improvements to certain borrowed Greek designs and inventions.

For example, they continued the use of columns, but the form became more decorative and less structural in Roman buildings. Ancient Romans created curved roofs and large-scale arches, which were able to support more weight than the post-and-beam construction the Greeks used. These arches served as the foundation for the massive bridges and aqueducts the Romans created.

The game-loving ancients also built large amphitheaters, including the Colosseum. The sports stadiums we see today, with their oval shapes and tiered seating, derive from the basic idea the Romans developed. The arches of the Colosseum are made out of cement, a remarkably strong building material the Romans made with what they had at hand: volcanic ash and volcanic rock. Modern scientists believe that the use of this ash is the reason that structures like the Colosseum still stand today.

Roman underwater structures proved to be even sturdier. Seawater reacting with the volcanic ash created crystals that filled in the cracks in the concrete. To make a concrete this durable, modern builders must reinforce it with steel.

So today, scientists study Roman concrete, hoping to match the success of the ancient master builders. Sculptural art of the period has proven to be fairly durable, too. Romans made their statues out of marble, fashioning monuments to great human achievements and achievers. You can still see thousands of Roman artifacts today in museums all over the world. Ancient Romans pioneered advances in many areas of science and technology, establishing tools and methods that have ultimately shaped the way the world does certain things.

The Romans were extremely adept engineers. They understood the laws of physics well enough to develop aqueducts and better ways to aid water flow. They harnessed water as energy for powering mines and mills. They also built an expansive road network , a great achievement at the time. Their roads were built by laying gravel and then paving with rock slabs. Along with large-scale engineering projects, the Romans also developed tools and methods for use in agriculture.

The Romans became successful farmers due to their knowledge of climate, soil, and other planting-related subjects. They developed or refined ways to effectively plant crops and to irrigate and drain fields. Their techniques are still used by modern farmers, such as crop rotation , pruning, grafting, seed selection, and manuring. The Romans also used mills to process their grains from farming, which improved their efficiency and employed many people.

Much of the literature of the world has been greatly influenced by the literature of the ancient Romans. Shakespeare, in particular, was fascinated by the ancient Romans, who served as the inspiration for some of his plays, including Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.

While Roman literature had a deep impact on the rest of the world, it is important to note the impact that the Roman language has had on the Western world. Ancient Romans spoke Latin, which spread throughout the world with the increase of Roman political power. Many Latin root words are also the foundation for many English words. The English alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet.

For decades, surveys of Roman art began with a spectacular piece of bronze sculpture known as the Capitoline Wolf, which portrayed the animal that rescued and nurtured Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. This engaging statue, cited as the shining example of Etruscan sculpture, is dated to the 6th century B. The scientific analysis has revealed that neither is it an Etruscan statue nor a Roman, dated to the late Middle Ages, with some Renaissance additions.

Learn more about five hundred years of the Roman Empire. There are examples of bronze sculptures, attributed to the Etruscans or early Romans, which illustrated the cultural dialogue between them. That included a statue dated to the 4th century B. For the Romans, art was often used to reinforce Roman values, with a purpose for publicity. For example, the full-length statue of Aulus Metellus showed the politician clad in a toga, the characteristic garb of a Roman citizen, with his arm extended as if he were making a speech.

Watch it now, on Wondrium. The most distinctive Roman sculpture was the form known as the portrait bust. In contrast to classical Greek sculpture, which focused on the generic idealized representation of muscular, young men; Roman portrait busts were highly realistic images of specific individuals, whose aim was to accurately capture their likenesses.

The people most likely to have their portraits memorialized in stone or bronze were successful aristocrats, including many Roman portrait busts of old men.

These portrait busts seemed unappealing due to the accuracy of every wrinkle, wart, and receding hairline of their subjects, but for the Romans, hyperrealism was the point to be able to recognize the person. These men and their busts were also intended as embodiments of Roman virtues, and their advanced age was part of what lent them their dignity. Learn more about the innovative technologies of Rome and Greek.

Upper-class Roman families kept a collection of wax death masks of their ancestors and these images were the focal point of family rituals, which seemed to have influenced the veristic style of Roman portrait sculpture. While most portraits were of men, there are also some portraying aristocratic women who were depicted in a characteristic posture with one arm across their torso and the other raised up with the hand held alongside their cheek.