5 Ways the Ancient Romans Shaped the Modern World

Sculpture of Cicero. He was a great Roman statesman, who contributed greatly to Western philosophy. Cris Foto/Shutterstock

Probably no other civilization has shaped the Western world more than the ancient Romans did.

At the peak of the Roman empire, when its borders stretched from the foggy hills of northern Britain to the winding waterways of the Nile, upwards of 60 million people lived under the sign of the eagle. The Romans left traces of their influence on all the people they ruled and, taken together, had a profound impact on Western culture as a whole.

Below is a brief sketch of the sprawling influence of Rome down through the ages, pointing to some of the ways that it has shaped—and continues to shape—the world as we know it.

Military Organization and Strategy

The vast Roman empire was built by Roman military might and Roman diplomacy. The latter was always more effective when backed up by the former. Without the Roman military, there would have been no grand Roman civilization.

The Roman army was a tough, disciplined, adaptable force. It could batter its way even through numerically larger forces due to its excellent training, morale, and experience. The professional, standing Roman army grew hard-edged through the crucible of battle, like a sword-blade tempered by a forge’s flame.

The ancient Roman military won many a battle using formations like this testudo arrangement. Splette/CC BY-SA 2.0

Many methods and procedures of the Roman military remain with us today. The Romans mandated basic training for new recruits, much as modern militaries do. The system of ranks and promotions in use at the time worked similar to today’s. The Roman military trained and deployed talented medics, whose track record was better than the medics of the American Civil War.

Though modern battlefields don’t look much like ancient ones, certain tactical and strategic principles employed by the Romans remain valid today. A paper by the Association of the United States Army argues that the American military can learn from the Romans about posturing, deterrence, working with allies, and controlling the enemy’s perception of military power.

Artistic and Architectural Impact

The Romans inherited remarkable artistic achievements from the Greeks, which they copied, adapted, and amplified. Much of the beauty and wisdom of Greek culture was preserved and transmitted to us via the Romans. For example, the Romans made copies of many Greek statues to meet the demand of cultured nobles who wanted to share in the artistic heritage of the Greek world, which had come under Roman dominion.

The Romans took molds of the originals and made plaster casts that could then be used to make bronze or marble replicas. Most of the original Greek statues were melted down at one point or another, meaning that the Roman marble and bronze copies are the primary way that modern historians and scholars know about Greek sculpture. The Romans also created new statue designs of their own. Medieval, Renaissance, and modern artists and sculptors have built off of the foundation laid by Greek and Roman masters.

The Roman effect on architecture and its history was no less decisive. They took the Greek concept of the amphitheater and expanded and perfected it for sporting and cultural events—the most famous example, of course, is the Colosseum. The Romans perfected the arch, vault, and dome, which continue to be used ubiquitously in modern architecture and engineering. Roman buildings were so beautiful and stable that they became models for later buildings throughout the world, including in the United States. The U.S. Capitol is modelled on the Roman pantheon. The Lincoln and Jefferson memorials also bear signs of Roman architectural influence.

Engineering Breakthroughs

The Romans were master builders, planners, and problem-solvers. The majestic aqueducts crossing the Italian landscape, like the backbones of mythological dragons, stand as immovable testaments to Roman ingenuity. The aqueducts delivered clean water to urban areas, where it was disseminated to baths, fountains, and houses before being cleared away along with waste through networks of sewers. Some of the Romans’ aqueducts and roads are still operational today—a testament to the endurance of roman construction and engineering.

The multiple arches of the Pont du Gard, in Roman Gaul. Its lower tiers carry a road across the river, and the upper tiers support an aqueduct conduit that carried water to Nimes. Benh Lieu Song/CC BY-SA 3.0

In some aspects of construction, the Romans not only equaled modern-day techniques, but actually excelled them. Roman concrete dried faster and held up better than the concrete in use today.

Roman ingenuity laid the foundation for many modern conveniences, including plumbing, highways, and even fast food.

Political and Legal Structure

“We have inherited from Rome many of the fundamental principles and symbols with which we define and debate politics and political action,” wrote professor of classics Mary Beard. One pivotal political development of the Romans was the separation of powers. Roman historian Titus Livius tells us that the Romans so despised their final king, the tyrannical Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, that they overthrew him in 509 B.C. and swore never to have a king again. Instead, they established the Roman Republic, which would eventually transform, half a millennium later, back into a monarchy, though the monarchs avoided the term “king,” opting for “emperor” instead.

Nevertheless, during the 500 years of the Republic’s existence, the Romans developed a separation of government branches to avoid the oppression they’d experienced under Tarquinius. The executive branch consisted of two consuls, military and civil leaders, who generally served one-year terms. The legislative branch was made up of assemblies and the Senate. And the judicial branch was formed by the Roman judges. Even during the later reign of the emperors, some semblance of a separation of powers remained.

The Roman legal system also served as the basic template for our own. In the Roman courts, preliminary hearings were held, witnesses called, evidence presented, and juries utilized, much like in the American judicial system. Roman legal theorists further developed ideas such as private property rights, contract law, and the importance of written law and legal precedent.

The Romans paved the way for modern media, too. The Acta Diurna—meaning “daily acts”—were a primitive form of a newspaper, written on metal or stone and posted up in the Forum for passersby to read. The Acta included reports on Roman military activities, gladiator games, birth and death notices, and daily life. The Acta Senatus, “acts of the senate,” became publicly posted, too, when Julius Caesar ordered their publication, a policy that anticipated how political discourse today is shaped in important ways by press reports on government activity.

Literary and Philosophical Foundations

The importance of the Romans to literary history—both in terms of disseminating Greek masterpieces and introducing their own classics, like Virgil’s “Aeneid” or Ovid’s “Metamorphoses"—can hardly be quantified. The works of the Greek Homer and Roman Virgil are colossal in status and influence. Western literature begins with these works, and they are interwoven into everything that comes after, from Dante’s “Divine Comedy” to Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” to the works of William Shakespeare.

Engraving depicting Aeneas, a Trojan prince and son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite, recounting the Trojan War to Dido, Queen of Carthage, Tunisia, circa 1200 B.C. The image, taken from a painting by Pierre-Narcisse Guerin (1774–1833), is a scene from Virgil's "Aeneid." Kean Collection/Getty Images

Greek authors initiated many philosophical ideas picked up and developed by Romans such as Cicero, Seneca, and Boethius. The Romans also contributed their own strains of philosophy to the Western tradition, such as the political and ethical thought of Cicero.

The Latin language itself has played a crucial role in the development of language and culture throughout Europe. Latin became the footing for the Romance languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. It remains a core part of scientific, legal, and theological terminology and the official language of the Catholic Church.

I’ve covered a wide range of Roman contributions to civilization, yet all this is only a brief introduction to the impact of these world conquerors. Whether we realize it or not, we are heirs of the Roman people and the Roman world they created, and we owe a debt of gratitude to them for much of how we think about, interact with, and understand the world around us.

Beard wrote eloquently about the Roman legacy, “Roman debates have given us a template and a language that continue to define the way we understand our own world and think about ourselves, from high theory to low comedy, while prompting laughter, awe, horror and admiration in more or less equal measure.”

Two men from Ancient Rome talk to each other. Massimo Todaro/Shutterstock

The Romans perpetuated what we might call “The Great Conversation,” begun by the Greeks, about all the things that matter most. We’re still engaged in that conversation, and we owe it, in part, to the Romans. Beard again:

“Since the Renaissance at least, many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, beauty, and even humour, have been formed, and tested, in dialogue with the Romans and their writing.”

In some ways, then, in order to know ourselves, we must begin by knowing the classical civilization of Greece and Rome.

What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to [email protected]