With the continuous development of the economy and science and technology of Western countries, they have opened the door of other countries by force, other countries in the world have become their colonies, and Western countries regard their own civilization as the advanced civilization of the world, and even believe that the civilization represented by Western countries is synonymous with advanced civilization.
However, modern Western civilization is not the highest peak in the history of the development of Western civilization, and it is Roman civilization that really pushes the development of Western civilization to the peak. Even in modern society, when the name Rome is mentioned, it will shock Westerners.
Because the name "Rome" can represent a civilization, a tradition, is the highlight of Western civilization, but also the highest peak of Western civilization, known as Europe's "Tang Dynasty".
First, the formation of ancient Roman civilization
Originally a barbarian who had not yet been civilized, the Romans multiplied on the Italian peninsula as early as the 9th century BC. Later, the ancient Romans established their own city-states.
Although, in the early days of the founding of the country, Rome's land area was only the size of a few small hills, and it was an inconspicuous small city-state. But on the basis of this city-state, they built a huge empire spanning three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa.
As the saying goes: "The barn is solid and knows the etiquette, and the food and clothing are enough to know the honor and disgrace." With the territorial expansion and economic development of ancient Rome, ancient Rome gradually developed from a life of robbery to a life of food and clothing, and gradually developed into a suzerainty that affected three continents.
After the economic development, the ancient Romans continued to integrate advanced civilizations, making it an ancient Roman civilization with its own characteristics, and gradually promoting and spreading the ancient Roman civilization to the outside world, making it the mainstream culture of its civilization affecting the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa.
After the conquest of ancient Greece, a large number of ancient Greeks poured into the city of Rome, and these ancient Greeks naturally brought a splendid culture. When the ancient Romans saw the ancient Greek culture, the ancient Romans felt how ignorant they were.
Therefore, the ancient Greek civilization, which is the origin of Western civilization, did not disappear into the long river of history because of the demise of its country, but was inherited and developed by the ancient Romans.
Based on the ancient Greek culture, the ancient Romans finally formed a unique ancient Roman civilization by continuously absorbing the cultural factors of different countries and ethnic regions and combining the characteristics of their own national development.
Engels said: "Without the foundation laid by ancient Greek culture and the Roman Empire, there would be no modern Europe." Originally, it was thought that after the decline of ancient Greek civilization, Western civilization lost its inheritance.
But who knows that with the rise of Rome, its territory continued to expand and its political influence continued to expand. The emergence of ancient Greek civilization in another form pushed the development of Western civilization to the highest peak.
Ii. The Achievements of Ancient Roman Civilization
So, what are the achievements of ancient Roman civilization that make proud Westerners have such a high evaluation of ancient Roman civilization?
The field of art
Speaking of Rome, it is not only a name, but also a first-class civilization and tradition that can be used as a model. To this day, many remnants of the Roman period remain on the ruins of ancient Rome. Monuments such as the Senate, the Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, the Pillar of Merit, the Bathhouse and the Hippodrome have all survived with their grand architecture and extravagant grandeur.
These ancient buildings are very strict and considerate in both design and construction materials, all of which reflect the calm thinking and pragmatic attitude of the ancient Romans, and many of their surviving works of art are known for their practicality, solidity and beauty, which play a vital role in the development of Western civilization.
(2) The field of jurisprudence
As early as a thousand years ago, the wise ancient Romans knew how to restrain public power. They argue that "sunlight is the best antiseptic" They demand that the exercisers of power make all procedures public, that the process of public power be exercised under public supervision, and that all the rights of citizens be written into a written code and determined in the form of legal provisions. Thus forming a political ecological balance of power constraints in the national governance system.
Over time, a unique legal system was formed during the roman period in which procedural law prevailed over substantive law and private law over public law. In order to better interpret the law, the ancient Roman government gave some authoritative jurists the "privilege of publicly interpreting the law".
In this way, the ancient Roman law showed its professionalism with its rigorous thinking attitude, both from the legislative process to the enforcement of the legal process.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, The Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Eustine, compiled and codified the roman statutes, jurists' writings, parliamentary resolutions, and edicts issued by the king into the Compendium of Laws of the Land.
The Encyclopedia of Laws of the Land became the culmination of ancient Roman law, and its advent made Ancient Rome a country with the most developed legal system in the world at that time. The laws of the ancient Roman period have been borrowed from the laws of many modern Western countries.
(3) The field of literary history
Since the ancient Roman culture is mostly inherited from the ancient Greek culture, it belongs to Latin literature. In the field of ancient Roman literature, poets represented by Cicero, Caesar, Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Livy appeared.
These poets recorded the major events and important activities of the ancient Roman period in a concise and fluent style through letters, speeches, war notes, etc. Immortal works such as the Chronicle, The Chronicle, and the Chronicle of Germania were circulated, and eventually Roman literature became an important source for later generations to study the early history of Western Europe.
(4) In the field of religion and culture
With the continuous expansion of ancient Roman territory, ancient Roman civilization absorbed many foreign cultural factors, and finally completed the transition of ancient Roman religious beliefs from polytheism to monotheistic beliefs.
As Christianity established its dominant position in the ancient Roman period, religious culture developed greatly in the local area and became the mainstream culture of society. Thus religious civilization has had an extremely important and far-reaching impact on Western civilization as a whole.
(5) Scientific fields
On the basis of absorbing ancient Greek civilization, ancient Rome summed up and absorbed the civilization of its predecessors with its calm thinking and pragmatic ideas. He has made great achievements in the fields of agriculture, astronomy, geography, medicine, engineering and technology.
The science of ancient Rome was pragmatic and left a cultural treasure in the field of science that Western civilization could learn from.
