The Relevance of the Romans: Roman Influences on Western CultureA Presentation by Tom Richey (TomRichey.net)

The Roman Empire at its greatest extent (117 AD)

That was a long time ago.

Why should I care about something that happened so long ago?

We should ALL CARE about the Romans. Yes, that is an acronym.

The Romans have influenced our Alphabet, Language, Law, Calendar, Architecture, Religion, and Entertainment.

Ron Burgundy cares about the Romans. When in Rome…

In the United States, we use the Latin alphabet.

So does every other Western (and westernized) nation.

The classical Latin alphabet was a few letters short. J, U, and W were added later. The movie clip from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (linked) illustrates this.

Not only have we borrowed our alphabet from the Romans, but we have also borrowed many words from their Latin language, which is named for the region in Central Italy where Rome is located.

Latin is technically a “dead” language because it is no longer spoken, but even in death, Latin is a constant presence in our everyday speech (or diction). This is even more the case with Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian), which borrow much more heavily from Latin than the English language does.

CLICK for a list of words in English derived from Latin!

Click the link to go to Wikipedia and see how many Latin words there are in the English language!

We have borrowed our laws from the Romans. Our system of government is heavily influenced by theirs.

Every time the Pledge of Allegiance is said, Americans pledge “to the republic.” The Romans were the first to refer to their government as a republic.

The United States Senate is one of our most important lawmaking institutions, which also has a large say in foreign policy decisions.

The Romans had a Senate way before we did!

In ancient Rome, laws were passed in the name of “the Senate and the People of Rome,” often abbreviated, SPQR.

Although our calendar is often called the “Christian” calendar, the only thing Christian about it is the year. All of the months were named by the Romans (the days of the week are Norse in origin).

Even the word, calendar, comes from the Romans! The kalends was the first day of each month.

Many of our governmental buildings, including the U.S. Capitol, are built in the Neoclassical style, which imitates Roman buildings with domes, columns, and symmetry. The Capitol Dome has all of these features, including a statue of Freedom on the top. The Romans often personified their values in art.

The Supreme Court building was built to resemble a Roman temple.

…as was the Jefferson Memorial

Augustus has seen this building before…

The Jefferson Memorial was modeled after the Roman Pantheon (a temple to “all gods”).

Roman Pantheon Ceiling

Jefferson Memorial Ceiling

The imitation is shameless and Jefferson, an admirer of the Romans, would have certainly approved.

The Romans have also given us the world’s largest religion: Christianity.

One third of humanity professes Christianity as a religion today.

Christianity has its origins in the Roman Empire. Jesus was born in Judea, on the outskirts of the empire.

The traditional Christmas story in the Gospel of Luke begins with Caesar Augustus ordering a census of the entire Roman world.

Today, Rome is the center of Roman Catholicism, the world’s largest branch of Christianity.

The Romans still entertain us, as well. They still make very entertaining film subjects.

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