Article 6- Is Rome really "ancient?"

When a person, place, or thing is said to be “ancient,” what does it mean?  Ancient means “of distant past: belonging to the distant past” (Encarta).  It is not the fact that Rome is actually “ancient,” but it is the fact that the Rome that we studied in class took place in ancient times, long ago.  The particular ways that Romans lived back then would be considered ancient to people of this day and age because many factors of civilization have evolved.  The military and technology, and human rights are a few examples of factors that have evolved since the time of Ancient Rome.

In the time period of Ancient Rome, their military was very powerful.  Rome suffered many losses to Hannibal, from Carthage, a rival of Rome, and his men.  When Rome got word that Hannibal was bringing his military to come fight the Romans, Rome gathered their best 60,000 men but were not prepared for the fight.  Although the Romans outnumbered the Carthaginians, they suffered the greatest military loss in the history of Rome and even the world; all 60,000 Roman soldiers were dead on the battlefield.  The Romans kept fighting the Carthaginians and losing, but they won the overall war.  The Carthaginians had a plan for their elephants to stampede into the Romans and kill them all; however, this plan backfired.  The Romans led the elephants into their defensive line, and then blew a horn so all of the elephants would run back into the Carthaginian line, killing them all.  Rome had finally overcome Hannibal and Carthaginians with Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus as their general.

The battle tactics used in ancient times enormously differ from the tactics used today in war.  Back then, they did not have tanks for safe transportation and bombs for defense.  Ancient militaries, not only Romans, used animals such as horses or even elephants for transportation.  For self defense, swords, shields, and daggers were used.  The battle formations differed immensely from those used today.  The technological advances are part of the reason why Rome is considered so “ancient” to us.

Today in the United States, everyone is treated as an equal, man, woman, or child; however, in Ancient Rome, this was not the case.  The Twelve Tables were a set of laws that must be abided by at all times; if you did not abide by the Twelve Tables, it could result in “fine, fetters, flogging, retaliation in kind, civil disgrace, banishment, slavery, and death” (The Twelve Tables).  Women and children were isolated and punished in cruel ways for things that they could not even control.  According to the first article of the fourth table, “A dreadfully deformed child shall be killed."  A child cannot help if they are deformed or not, and they were viciously killed for something that was out of their hands.  According to the second article of the sixth table, “Marriage by ‘usage’ (usus): If a man and woman live together continuously for a year, they are considered to be married; the woman legally is treated as the man's daughter.”  In simpler terms, if a couple lives together for a year, the woman then is treated as the man’s daughter, which means he can command her to do whatever he wants, and she will be forced to do it.

These are only a few factors that support why Rome was so “ancient.”  The ways of the people of modern times are much more evolved then the ways of people back then.  The Romans could not help that the way they lived was so ancient, and it was not even considered “ancient” to them; it was all they knew how to do.  It is only considered “ancient” to us now because it occurred long ago, we have more advanced things to work with now, and we learned from past mistakes.

"Evolution." Web. 5 Mar 2010. <http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/category/human-capitalhuman-resources/>.


Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

 "THE TWELVE TABLES." Internet Ancient History Sourcebook, Web. 5 Mar 2010. <http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/12tables.html>.