What aspects of roman cultures inflenced future civilizations?

Answer 1

Roman Culture influenced the later Western Societies. Roman Society is generally looked upon by modern historians and thinkers in the West as being more enlightened, rational and progressive than the stagnant Middle Ages - see for example the famous historian Gibbons. This was partly due to the Roman ideas which gave greater preponderance to the role of Reason as opposed to Revealed Religion, a Political Motivation which involved conquest and Imperialism, as well as some trappings of Democracy, for example elections, a Senate and Republican Rule. Roman art has had a profound influence particularly during the Renassaince. Roman pragmatism also allowed for the mixing of religions and incorporating aspects of conquered peoples' religions such as Greek and Christian. The idea of Pax Romana (or Roman Peace) was used as a justification for Roman Imperailism in a similar way in which 19th Century European Colonialism made its case. The influence of Roman culture however is stronger in Western countries where the above ideas had a lasting impact on the peoples of Europe even after the destruction of the Empire. Other parts of the world for example Islamic, Indian and Chinese have become influenced by some of the above Roman ideas due to the dominance of Western Culture. However this influence remains limited. Revivalists and traditionalists in these parts of the World argue that they have their own unique culture which is more suited to their belief systems and historical experience. In regards to technology Roman culture has had an influence on later societies, for example in the military areas. However this influence is no greater and arguably less than the influence of Islamic, Indian and Chinese culture.

Answer 2

The main legacies of the Romans are religion, the alphabet, language, the calendar, law, architecture and literature.

Christianity developed from a religion among a small group of Jews (who lived in Judea, which was part of the Roman Empire) into a mass religion in the Roman days. It spread around the Roman Empire. It became state religion. Catholic Christianity and Orthodox Christianity developed during the Late Roman Empire. They were originally called Latin or Western Christianity and Greek or Eastern Christianity respectively. The former was the main form of Christianity in the western part of the Roman Empire and the latter was the main form of Christianity in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Western European languages have adopted and adapted the Latin alphabet. The only letters in the English language which do not come from the Latin alphabet are J, U and W.

Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian are languages derived from Latin (Romance languages). Many Latin words or words of Latin origin have entered English via two routes. One was that Latin was the language of the church in the Middle Ages. The other was the Norman conquest of England. French became the court language and many French words entered into the English language. These words are usually of Latin origin.

Many international words in medicine, law and theology are Latin.

The calendar we use is the Gregorian calendar. It is named after the minor modifications made by the calendar instituted by Julius Caesar (Julian calendar) by Pope Gregory XII in 1582. Therefore, we basically use the Roman calendar. We also use translations of the Roman names for the months.

The key principles of Roman civil law have provided the foundation or an inspiration for the law of many modern countries. These are: citizenship status and citizenship rights, equality under the law, nobody is above the law, the right to have a proper trial, the right to defend oneself and to be represented, the right to appeal, that the burden of proof rests on the accuser and not on the accused, that it is the exact form of actions and not intentions or words which is punishable, and that a law deemed unreasonable or unfair can be repealed.

The Romans influenced European architecture, sculpture and painting until the early 20th century. They influenced the art of the Renaissance (14th-15th century) Baroque (17th-18th century) and Neoclassicism (18th-20th century, and is still sometimes used today). Palladian architecture was also based on Roman architecture. It was popular from the 17th century to the 20th century and was often used for public buildings. Latin literature was very influential in European literature until the mid-20th century.