The Romans

The Romans

Rome became the origin of urban civilization. Many different factors contributed to the rise of this civilization. Rome’s original contributions to language, law, and architecture remain imprinted on the humanistic tradition of the West. During the centuries in which Rome came to dominate the West, East Asia saw the rise of an equally massive and dominant empire, that of ancient China.

Origins

Rome’s origins are to be found among the tribes of Iron Age folks called Latina. The Latin’s invaded the Italian peninsula right after the beginning of the first millennium B.C.E. These people had founded the city of Rome in the lower valley of the Tiber River. The Tiber River was strategically located for control of the Italian Peninsula and allowed convenient access to the Mediterranean Sea. Central Italy became dominant of Latinas while the rest of the peninsula was constantly seeing more of eastern Mediterranean people such as the Etruscans, Greeks, and Phoenicians. These groups of people brought more rich and complex cultures.

The Etruscans established themselves in northeast Italy and their origins are unknown. These people had commercial contacts throughout the Mediterranean and were experts in the arts of metallurgy, town building, and city planning. The Greeks, colonized near the tip of the Italian peninsula and Sicily. They were masters of philosophy and the arts. Lastly, the Phoenicians settled on the northern coast of Africa. These people brought their alphabet and commercial maritime skills. Each group played off of each other. The Romans gathered the fundamentals of urban planning chariot racing, the toga, and bronze and gold filling from the Etruscans. The fundamentals of these skills and materials led the architecture of the arch.

Architecture and sculpture

Roman architecture was quite advanced during this time period. Roman engineers built fifty thousand miles of paved roads, many of which are still used today. In order to house and...