Romans were concerned about finding knowledge that could improve their lives

They studied the stars to produce a calendar

They studied plants and animals to produce better crops and meat

Galen, a Greek in the 100s AD, made many advances in medicine

He discovered valves in the heart

He discovered the difference between veins and arteries

The Romans engineered roads and bridges that are still used today

They made cement by mixing lime with volcanic rock and ash

They developed the arch, which is able to hole more weight than other shapes

These were used in aqueducts to carry water from the mountains to the cities

A set of arches that support the roof of a building is called a vault

Architecture was largely based on earlier Greek designs

They used columns on their public buildings and used marble

But Roman architectural techniques allowed them to surpass the Greeks

The vault allowed them to build much larger structures

They also used more domes than the Greeks did

The use of cement made this possible

Rome was known for its beautiful mosaics

They decorated their walls with frescos, painting done on wet plaster

Roman artists excelled at painting portraits

Roman sculptors studied the Greeks and copied their style

Virgil wrote The Aeneid

Ovid wrote poems about Roman mythology

The developed satire, which pokes fun at people and society

They wrote history, speeches, comedies and tragedies

The language of the Roman Empire, particularly in the west, was Latin

Later, Latin developed into the Romance Languages such at French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, Romanian

Latin also influenced many other languages, such as our own

Rome’s system of law was perhaps most influential of all

Roman law continued to exist even after the Empire ended

It inspired civil law, a legal system based on a written code of laws

In the 1500s and 1600s European colonists carried civil law around the world, including Asia, Africa and the Americas