Some of the most important contributions of Rome to humanity are the bridges, the Julian calendar, the concrete, the basilicas and the sewers.
Rome was born in the 8th century BC. C. with the union of several Latin and Sabino towns. The Etruscans contributed to the organization and urban planning of the city.
Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain.
It took little time for it to become the capital of an empire with a million inhabitants. The Invasion of the Barbarians Forced her to organize her military defense and to retreat behind a wall (Aureliano).
With the appointment of Constantinople as the second capital, the decline of Rome began, which was only stopped because of its quality as the seat of the Christian papacy and capital of the Papal States.
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What were the great contributions of Rome to the world?
Although the originality of its contributions is questioned, there is no discussion in which the Roman was a civilization that innovated, improving the existing technology and putting it at the service of the majorities. In fact, it will be seen that the public, had great relevance in the surrounding environment.
1. Aqueducts and bridges
They were built with the purpose of bringing fresh water to urban centers from distant sources. They were designed in the form of large structures with arches and with the ideal inclination so that the water did not flow very fast (and erode the stone), nor very slow (and evaporated or turned into mud).
Once the water reached the cities, the large reservoirs supported it. It was then transformed into a network, a system connected to public baths, fountains, toilets and private villas. They also included pipes and sewers.
The first aqueduct was Aqua Appia (312 BC), which was underground and was 16 kilometers long, while the bridge that is best preserved is the Puente del Tajo in Alcántara.
2. The Julian calendar
It owes its name to its inventor, Julius Caesar , Who created it with the aim that the whole Roman Empire shared a common calendar.
It is based on the duration of a solar year, although he calculated it badly in about 11 minutes and a half, so it is later replaced in many latitudes by the Gregorian calendar that only made a few minor modifications. However, the Julian calendar is still used by many Orthodox churches.
He instituted the 12 months in a year: January, by the god Janus; February, for the Februa festival; March by Mars; May, by the goddess Maia; June, by the goddess Juno, April, which means aprire or open in allusion to the flowering of spring; July, by Julio César; August, by the Emperor Augustus; September, for being the seventh month; October for being the eighth; And so on until December.
3. Roads and highways
The construction of one of the most sophisticated road systems of antiquity was one of the main reasons that facilitated the expansion and domination of the Roman Empire.
In approximately 700 years, they built some 55,000 miles of paved roads around the Mediterranean basin and across Europe, ensuring the effective transport of goods, soldiers and information.
The Romans were among the first to use road signs and mile markers, and endeavored to build straight routes to make the journey faster.
In fact, many modern European roads follow the ancient Roman roads, as they use the most direct route to connect the cities.
4. Numbers
As with the calendar, Roman numerals emerged, between 900 and 800 BC, as a standard counting method that could be efficiently used in communications and commerce.
They replaced numbers that could not satisfy the demands demanded by the calculations that merited the trade of the time, and although they also had defects (such as the absence of the number zero and uselessness for the calculation of the fractions), is a system of numbers that It is still used for various purposes.
5. Concrete
One of the reasons why structures such as the Pantheon, Colosseum and Roman Forum stood for so long, is precisely a material used by the Romans to build them: concrete.
That compound they created differs from what is known today; Was combined with volcanic rocks (tuffs), which allowed the resulting concrete to withstand possible chemical disintegrations and, therefore, to make the constructions more durable.
6. Basilicas
Although today a basilica is almost exclusively associated with the Christian church, this type of structure was created by the Romans as a place for any large gathering, and the most common use was that of courts. The best example of this type of construction is the Basilica of Severan in Lepcis Magna (216 AD).
They also excelled in architecture by building large bathrooms using their characteristic arches and domes, and including swimming pools, hot and cold rooms, fountains and libraries.
In addition to the imposing private houses with their gardens or large blocks of apartments built in brick, concrete and wood, for the less affluent of the city.
7. Newspapers
Rome was the first empire that established a system to circulate information among its people, called Diary Act (Daily Events), handwritten news sheets with data on political events, trials, military campaign, executions, etc.
They also had the Acta Senatus, a record of proceedings in the Roman Senate, which was only accessible to the public after the reforms introduced by Julius Caesar during his reign.
8. The Right
Rome being a slave society where one could own property and human beings, it was necessary to regulate property, establish rules and know how to punish those who broke the law.
Thus arises the Roman Law, which contemplates norms, laws, codes and dispositions that regulate the behavior in the civil, penal, property, inheritance, diplomacy and family field.
Its influence was such that today, practically, all the civil codes of Europe and America are inspired by the Roman Law.
Likewise, it was they who formed the concept of a republic, according to which public officials are elected by the people through suffrage and according to their merits. Notion very present in today's democratic states.
9. Network-based cities
Although the idea of a city created in the form of a grid was not of the Romans, they were responsible for improving it and taking it on a larger scale.
A basic Roman grid was characterized by a rectangle or square in an orthogonal layout of streets, in which the two main streets would intersect at right angles in the center of the grid.
In this way, it was easier and more natural to organize the different components of the city; Housing, theaters, public baths, markets and shops in private blocks.
With this configuration they constructed cities from Great Britain to North Africa, Italy and also throughout the Eastern Mediterranean region.
10. Sewage and sanitation
Rome had an extensive network of sewers and drainage that ran along the streets, connected to most of the houses in the city, and which was washed with runoff water from local streams.
Waste was discharged into the nearest river (usually the Tiber).
In short, ancient Rome was a nation within which inventions that changed the course of human nature and the development of different civilizations emerged or were improved in fields as diverse as architecture, agriculture, medicine or sport.
References
- Cartwright, Mark (2013). Roman Architecture. Recovered from: ancient.eu.
- The illustrated little Larousse (1999). Dictionary encyclopedic. Sixth edition. International co-edition.
- Europedia (s / f). Greatest Ancient Roman contributions to the world. Retrieved from: eupedia.com.
- Pellini, Claudio (2014). The sciences in Rome. Roman scientists. Recovered from: historiaybiografias.com.
- Rome history (2010). Top 10 ancient roman inventions. Retrieved from: ancienthistorylists.com.
- Ancient Rome (2015). Contributions to humanity. Recovered from: romaaantigua.blogspot.com.