LIPALESA JEANETTE

SEKESE
STUDENT NUMBER:
22SM02BA008
BA SEM 2

ANCIENT ROME
WORLD CIVILIZATION
ASSIGNMENT 1

CIVILISATION
[Document subtitle]
 ROMAN CIVILIZATION
Ancient Rome, a city found in Italy was home to 20% of the world’s population
rose to power and oversaw the Mediterranean and Western Europe. In 800 BCE,
the Roman Empire was influenced by the Etruscan Civilization also to become a
civilised society as it acquired and adopted most of its culture. Later on, the
great Roman Civilization contributed towards the Greek civilisation. Roman
civilization like any other civilization possessed these attributes, large
population centres, monumental architecture and unique art styles, shared
communication strategies, systems for administering territories, a complex
division of labour, and the division of people into social and economic classes.

The Roman city was built around a forum, a spacious area which was enclosed
by colonnades and public buildings. It served as the marketplace, a place of
socializing and also a point where public meetings were held. Buildings that
occupied this area were the main temple, the government building where the
council met and where day-to-day administrative affairs were carried on.
Moreover, there were judiciary buildings where court hearings were held and
public baths as well. On the periphery of the were city streets with blocks of
houses of the elite, and fortunate and businesses; cafes, shops and other public
baths. Like the Greeks, Romans were also lovers of literature, thus they owned
numerous gigantic theatres and amphitheatres which had circular designs and
ranks of seats to exhibit their literature; plays, poems, interludes and many
more.
Like any other civilization, there is always a demarcation between urban areas
and rural areas in the aspect of housing, labour divisions or occupations. Roman
urban houses were one-storey buildings, each with a courtyard, but after the rise
of Greek civilization, every single house owned a garden collonaded with
fountains and ponds. As new developments emerged, they also evolved with
time, two-story houses were built along with squatter rooms for servants and
toilets were built above the sewage. The sewers were joined to the main pipes of
the city and dumped the waste outside the town. The main building materials
were fired bricks. Stone, marble and concrete were used to build mansions and
story houses. Roofs were made with wood-covered wood and clay. Not only
were Romans gifted in philosophies, but also, they were knowledgeable and
skilful with engineering; they constructed aqueducts, channels which
transported water from miles away by using underground pipes, tunnels, canals
and bridges and distributed it to the city, every private household owned its
private drainage systems connected while fortune people drew water from the
fountains in the city. On the other hand, in rural areas houses consisted of
thatched roofs of hamlets which made small villages. There specialized mainly
in farming, and as a result, there were innumerable farmhouses. In the same
manner, they received water with the assistance of aqueducts.

In a highly populated city like ancient Rome, there is often a division of social
class illustrated with a hierarchy, the top tier is occupied by people who possess
economic power or political power. Rome was headed by senators; the men
were from plebeian families who were the kings’ advisors before the Roman
republic. These men not only form part of the government but also were
landowners, they owned large farms than ordinary Romans and estates in rural
areas, and they made a fortune from them. They lived in huge houses which
occupied entire blocks in the city. Secondly, there was the middle class with
few citizens, it was formed by armies and horse owners, peasant farmers,
owners of small estates, craftsmen and shopkeepers. The following class was of
ordinary Roman citizens who did not have much or do much as there were
slaves who occupied jobs of unskilled labour; housekeeping, cotton pickers and
other low-standard jobs. They did not have liberty like other Roman citizens,
instead, they were not allowed to own a single property due to the fact that they
had no legal rights. They only gained their liberty later in the years when they
were granted roman citizenship and legal rights but they were prohibited from
taking part in political activities, voting for magistrates or working in Roman
public offices. After being granted legal rights, some slaves made their mark in
trade and became wealthy.
After going through a political or rulership turmoil; from the abdication of kings
to being headed by Senators, from a monarchy to an aristocracy, Rome
established a solid government. The great ancient Rome was ruled by the
Senate, a council of men leading Rome who were born during the monarchy and
served as an advisor to him. The senate was made up of 300 men who are
known to be senators, the upper class. The government was composed of
different institutions; the magistrate, the senate together with the assemblies
which also was responsible for electing the magistrates. There were 2
magistrates also known as consuls, chief executives of the Roman states who
were annually elected. Each worked under the power of another, and they would
also serve as senior military commanders during wars and sometimes work as
legislators and judiciaries. Assemblies were places where roman male citizens
gather as a body to articulate and discuss issues related to relevant things. There
was a Comitia Curiata, where they would meet according to clans and Comitia
Centuriata which was composed of military lines of 100 groups. All these
Comitias were responsible for electing magistrates, and approving the laws and
it gave citizens like slaves a collective voice.
Literature and Latin have always been in the hearts of the Romans, the number
of prominent poets and authors speaks volumes of how they loved literature just
like the Greeks. The likes of Chaucer, Milton, Dante, and Shakespeare were
inspired by Roman authors; Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. Latin as a language was
founded by Romans and it is a root of Roman languages (French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian) till this day these languages are the most used in the world.
Most of the judicial terms are Latin words are they are still used in the judicial
systems.
From aqueducts to windmills and roads, Romans proved themselves to be great
engineers with a great understanding of the laws of physics. They were wise
enough to understand that creating aqueducts to transport water into the city and
also distribute it to numerous houses and towns. Apart from that they are the
pioneers of roads constructed by laying gravel and paving with rock slabs, every
street was connected to the main road as a means of making paces assessable.
Agriculture was the primary source of the city’s economy and tools were
needed to simplify cultivating and ploughing, the great roman engineers
implemented irrigation tools, crop rotation, pruning, seed selection, and
manuring concept.
As a city with a powerful economy, its economy was dominated by agriculture
and trading. Olives, grapes and grain were the staples, and they produced lots of
wine and olive oil. These products were sold in markets in small quantities and
they were exported in huge quantities. Farmers donated surplus to the
government to pay their taxes. After being aware of how grain exporting carried
the city’s economy, they had desires of expansionism and conquest for grain-
producing countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, and Sicily in order to ship grains
from them to Rome. After establishing trade routes on sea and land, they
became very wealthy.
In conclusion, Ancient Rome Civilization is second to none and today the world
still looks up to the empire for the things they have left behind. Unfortunately,
civilization fell because of international disputes, Rome was invaded by the
Barbarian tribes in 473AD and it was left with nothing but debris.