What did the Romans contribute to modern thought?

Answer 1

The most outstanding contribution of ancient Rome was the development of the their government into a republic. The ancient Roman Republic was not perfect, however, the republic's structure of having a "balance of powers" in a manner of speaking, led to the USA's government of having powers shared by three different branches of government.

The framers of the US Constitution created a republic where powers are balanced between the legislature, the Federal Court system and the executive branch. However, this balance between branches of government does not resemble at all the branches of the government of the Roman Republic, which were totally different. The concept of balance of powers comes from Polybius, the ancient Greeks scholar, and the work of Montesquieu, the famous the 18th century French philosopher, rather than Roman political thought. The US branches are more akin to that of the British government of the time of the drafting of the US constitution (except for the monarch) which was the model used by Montesquieu.

Although several ancient civilisations developed written laws before the Romans, some of the key principles of Roman civil law have provided part of the foundation of the law of many modern countries. These were: citizenship status and citizenship rights, equality under the law, the right to have a proper trial and to defend oneself, 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exact form of actions and not intentions or words which is punishable, that a law deemed unreasonable or unfair can be repealed, and that no Roman citizen should be tortured.