Ancient is a word defined as “of or in time long past, esp. before the end of the Western Roman Empire.” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ancient). Many times when people are studying Rome they will say that they are studying Ancient Rome. Many times this means they are just studying Rome’s past. Rome has such a large past that it seems ancient or old. Many events have occurred in Rome’s history that also makes it seem long and old. You could find events that date very far back in Rome.
The Romans have a story that is told to explain how and why Rome was created. Twin boys, named Romulus and Remus were the sons of Mars. Mars was he Roman god of war. When they were hung their uncle took them and threw them in a river to drown. They floated to land and a mother wolf found them and cared for them. Then a herdsman took them and looked out for them until they grew up. Later their dad, Mars, told them to build a city where they were found. They started this city by building a wall. Eventually they got into a major fight because Remus made fun of the wall Romulus built. Finally, Romulus killed Remus. This happened in 753 BC but people think that there were people living in Rome before this. We consider Rome as ancient because it was created such a long time ago. This leaves plenty of time for important events to happen. The more events that have occurred the older something seems. For example if someone had accomplished many great things in life your first instinct would be that they are older and most of the time they are because they have longer to get these things done. Just like Rome they more time they have the more things they will get done. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/city_of_rome/).
Rome is considered ancient because so many events have occurred in its history so it makes it seem very old. Some major events that have occurred in Rome are things such as the struggle of the orders, the Punic Wars, and the Roman expansion. Each of these things happened a long time ago which is why we considered Rome Ancient. The struggle of the orders occurred in 494 BC. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_the_Orders). This is a long time ago and is one of the earlier things that occurred in Rome. The Punic Wars lasted a long time and were a huge chunk of Rome’s history. The first Punic War started in 264 BC and the last one ended in 146 BC. These wars lasted so long and went on for awhile so it makes Rome seem ancient because this is a long time. All of these events are added to Rome’s history to make it seem longer and older. We would consider any date in BC time ancient because it seems so long ago from today. Some people may have their own opions as to if it is ancient or not.
Also it seems ancient because we have advanced many of the things they used or did. For example in Hannibal, a Roman leader, used many creative and successful battle tactics. We use some of these today but have made them more advanced. For example they use to use war elephants and today we use transportation like tanks and other big trucks. To think about what the ways they had to fight in battle without some of the things we have seems impossible. They did not have the type of knowledge, or technology that we have today and that’s why it seems ancient. To think that they did not have computers that gave them answers or information about any topic they wanted seems very strange. To us it is natural but to them it is insane. The fact that they do not have many of the basic things in life we have today makes them seem ancient. We have phones and in Ancient Rome they had to write or even just travel and talk to each other. That seems like a very old fashion way but only because we have advanced from them. they are less advanced and do not have many of the things we have. Since many things have occurred before today we have learned a lot from what has happened and that gives us more knowledge. Not as many things happened before Ancient Rome that they could learn from. For these reason we consider Rome Ancient.
Rome is still exsisting today so it can be considered Ancient. If you travel to Rome and see the buildings from Ancient Rome people may still considered it Ancient. People may have different views on how Rome is Ancient. The events occurred so long ago and so many events have occurred that it seems ancient.
"Ancient | Define Ancient at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. .
"BBC - Primary History - Romans - City of Rome." BBC - Homepage. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. .
"Conflict of the Orders -." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 04 Mar. 2010. .
IMAGES FROM: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
No comments:
Post a Comment