Legacy of the Roman Empire

The legacy of the Roman Empire has been varied and significant. The Roman Empire built upon the legacy of other cultures and has had a lasting influence on many areas, including state institutions, law, values, religious beliefs, technological advances, engineering, and language.

This influence survived even after the empire ended in the 5th century AD in the West and the 15th century AD in the East. The Latin language of ancient Rome evolved into many modern languages we use today, such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Romanian. The Eastern Roman Empire helped keep the Greek language strong in parts of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ancient Roman architecture has shaped buildings in the Western world, especially during the Italian Renaissance. Roman law and ideas about government have influenced many modern democratic republics, including the United States. Even the calendar we use today comes from the Julian calendar created by the Romans.

Language

Main articles: Latin and Romance languages

Latin was the main language of the early Roman Empire and later of the Western Roman Empire. In the Eastern Roman Empire, people also spoke Greek, Egyptian, and Aramaic. Even after the Western Empire ended, Latin stayed important. It became the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and was used by learned people during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque periods. Important science books, like Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium from 1543, were written in Latin. Latin was used for science until the 1700s and for naming plants and animals until recent times.

Today, languages that came from Latin, called Romance languages, are spoken by many people as their first language and by many more as a second language. These languages are official or widely used in many countries. Two of the United Nations' official languages, French and Spanish, come from Latin. Latin also added many words to other languages, like English, German, and Dutch.

Script

Main article: Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, which spread from the Roman Empire, is now the most used writing system in the world. It came from ancient Greek letters, changed by Etruscan people, and then used by Romans. The Greek alphabet was used in the Eastern Roman Empire until it ended. The Cyrillic alphabet, used in many Slavic languages, comes mostly from Greek.

Latin literature

During the Carolingian Renaissance, many Latin writings were saved and copied. Some of these works were lost but found again later. Famous Latin writers like Virgil, Cicero, Ovid, and Seneca were read for many years. Greek writers, such as Plutarch, also influenced European literature. For example, Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar uses stories from Plutarch's books.

Education

Main article: Liberal arts

A writer named Martianus Capella created a list of seven important subjects for learning, called the liberal arts. This idea helped shape how people learned during medieval times. The seven subjects were split into two groups: the trivium, which included grammar, logic, and speaking well, and the quadrivium, which included math, geometry, music, and studying the stars. This way of learning lasted from the time of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance in the 12th century.

Calendar and measurement

Main articles: Gregorian calendar and Names of the days of the week

The calendar we use today in the West started with changes to the Julian calendar, which Julius Caesar began. The Roman Empire’s calendar had months like Ianuarius (January), Februarius (February), and Martius (March). The idea of starting the year on January 1st began in ancient Rome.

A monk named Dionysius Exiguus created our way of dating years using the Anno Domini (AD) system, which counts years from the birth of Jesus. We also follow the seven-day week from ancient Roman times, naming days after heavenly bodies like Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.

Main articles: 12-hour clock and Roman timekeeping

The Romans created the 12-hour clock we still use, splitting the day into two parts: before midday (A.M.) and after midday (P.M.). They also began the day at midnight, which we still do today.

Main articles: Roman numerals and Ancient Roman units of measurement

Roman numerals were used in Europe until the 14th century but are still seen today on clocks and in special writings. The Romans also helped shape our idea of an hour as one-twenty-fourth of a day, and some of our measurements like the inch come from Roman times.

Main article: Three-age system

The idea of dividing ancient times into the stone, bronze, and iron ages started with the Roman writer Lucretius.

Religion

Christianity

Main articles: Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church

Christianity grew and spread in the Roman Empire. After Emperor Theodosius I made it the official religion, many places became Christian and shared their beliefs.

Christianity also helped save the books and ideas from ancient Greece and Rome. Even after the empire ended, schools still used these old writings. Important Christian writers like St. Augustine used stories from Roman authors to explain their faith. This helped Roman culture keep influencing the world.

Pagan revival

Main article: Reconstructionist Roman religion

Today, some people are interested again in the old religions of ancient Rome. This started in the Renaissance and grew in the 1800s and 1900s. Groups like Nova Roma keep these traditions alive, mostly in the Western world.

Science and philosophy

Main articles: Roman philosophy and Ancient Greek philosophy

The Roman Empire helped shape how we think and learn today. Many ideas came from places like Greece, Egypt, and Babylon before Rome. But the Romans made their own discoveries that influenced the world for many years. Famous Roman thinkers like Seneca the Younger, Epictetus, and the emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote about life and nature. Their books were read again many years later during a time called the Renaissance.

Roman scientists also made important steps in understanding health and space. A doctor named Galen wrote about the human body, and his ideas were used for over a thousand years. Another scientist, Ptolemy, wrote a book called the Almagest. This book explained how the stars and planets move. Many of the star patterns we see tonight were first described by him. These ideas from Rome and Greece were studied and improved by thinkers in many places, shaping how we understand the world today.

Roman law and politics

Main articles: Corpus Juris Civilis, Civil law (legal system), and Republic

Even though Roman laws are not used today, many of our laws come from ideas that started with the Romans. We still use some Latin words that began with Roman law. The way courts work today, with a judge, someone making a claim, and someone defending, began with the Romans.

The idea of a government where leaders are chosen by the people comes from the Roman Republic. Many important buildings and ideas in the United States, like the Congress, are inspired by the Roman Senate and its meetings. Important thinkers in Europe learned from Roman writers, and many leaders admired the Roman writer Cicero.

Inventions

Main articles: Ancient Roman technology and List of Byzantine inventions

The Romans were great inventors. They often made existing ideas better. They changed many areas, like the military, building, medicine, and farming.

Some of their most famous inventions are still used today. These include the Roman aqueducts for bringing water to cities, Roman roads for travel, and special heating systems in Roman baths and rich homes. They also made new ways to clean water, build with strong concrete, and design amazing buildings like the Colosseum. Their ideas in metalwork, glass, and architecture helped shape the world we live in today.

Colonies and roads

Main articles: List of cities founded by the Romans and Roman roads

The Roman Empire made many cities called colonies. Over 500 of these cities were built, and most were homes for veterans from the Roman army. Some of these cities became very important for trade and travel, and even became capitals of large empires. Examples include Constantinople, London, Vienna, and Budapest.

The Romans also built many roads to connect these cities. They built more than 400,000 kilometers of roads, with over 80,500 kilometers paved with stone. Many of these ancient roads are still used today, and they help shape modern economies, especially in Europe. One example is the Via Emilia in northern Italy. These roads made travel easier and helped people and goods move across great distances.

Architecture

Main article: Ancient Roman architecture

During the Renaissance, an architect named Andrea Palladio created a style based on Greek and Roman designs. This style became popular around the world.

In the mid-1700s, Roman architecture also inspired Neoclassical architecture. This style spread everywhere. Neoclassical buildings have flat surfaces and clear shapes.

Famous Neoclassical buildings include Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Old Museum in Berlin, Sir John Soane’s Bank of England in London, and important buildings like the White House and the Capitol in Washington, DC, in the United States. In Russia, architect Charles Cameron used a style called Italianate to design grand rooms for Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg.

Imperial idea

See also: Succession of the Roman Empire and Translatio imperii

The Roman Empire began with Augustus in 27 BC. Even after the western part ended in 476, the eastern part, called the Eastern Roman Empire, kept Roman ideas of government and culture. People there still called themselves "Romans."

The name "Byzantine" for this empire was given much later by a German historian in 1557. After Constantinople fell in 1453, some small states tried to continue the Roman legacy. In Western Europe, the Holy Roman Empire saw itself as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In Eastern Europe, leaders in Russia also claimed to be the true successors of the Roman Empire.

Inspiration for other empires

When India was a British colony, leaders thought they were following the old Roman tradition of helping other places grow.

Toponymy and ethnonymy

See also: List of cities founded by the Romans, List of Latin place names in Britain, List of Latin place names in Africa, and List of Latin place names in Asia

Many places and people still have names from the time of the Roman Empire. For example, the Italian region of Romagna and the country of Romania are named after the Romans. In Turkey, cities like Erzurum have names that mean “land of the Romans.”

In language and people names, we also see these influences. The word “Romance” for languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian comes from the word “Roman.” The people in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, called Romandy, also have names linked to the Romans.

In popular culture

See also: Category:Roman Empire in art and culture

In 1979, the film Monty Python's Life of Brian had a funny scene where someone asks, "what have the Romans ever done for us?" This leads to a list of many great things the Romans made and built.

In 2023, a trend began on TikTok. People asked men how often they think about the Roman Empire. This idea started from a post by Artur Hulu, a Swedish fan of Roman history. He wanted women to ask the men in their lives this question. In many videos, the men said they think about the Roman Empire a lot. Some men talked about the empire's big size, clever inventions like aqueducts, and its strong army.