This booklet depicts the different contributions of Roman civilization, its numerous achievements, and advancements. It also describes its battlefield, expansion of territories, and other important contributions.
1. See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340309254 Contributions of the Roman civilization to the humankind Preprint · December 2019 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14291.73766 CITATIONS READS 0 6,664 3 authors: Lütfücan Kuloğlu Ertuğrul Cebeci Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University 1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS 1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Tunahan Kiliç Istanbul Technical University 1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Lütfücan Kuloğlu on 31 March 2020. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.
2. Contributions of the Roman civilization to the humankind Lütfücan Kuloğlu Civil Engineering – Faculty of Civil 010190074 Ertuğrul Cebeci Management Engineering – Faculty of Management 070170246 Tunahan Kılıç Molecular Biology and Genetics – Faculty of Science and Letters 090160029 December 27, 2019
3. Since its foundation in 753 BC by Romulus, the Roman civilization also known as the Rome had numerous achievements ensuring that it will last more than 2000 years prior to its downfall in 1453 AD. The Romans were smart and qualified in a lot of fields. This helped them being an advanced nation in the time. An 18th century philosopher, Montesquieu said in his book: “Rome has always acted wiser than all other states in the world, and has maintained the small-medium and large scale of prosperity with the same superiority. There was no success that Rome did not take advantage of, and there was no disaster that Rome did not learn their mistakes from.” As a highly developed civilization, the Romans affected and contributed to the countries they interacted with. The Roman civilization lived in prosperity due to its achievements and successfully managed to contribute to military, constructional and cultural areas which have had major effects on shaping the world from the past to this day. First of all, the Roman civilization heavily affected the nations within the republic and the countries around them. Its effects lived on through hundreds of years after their extinction. The Romans especially commanders and engineers contributed to the humankind in areas such as warfare and transportation with their advanced level of military knowledge and experience. The Romans dominated the region successfully with their prominent officials specialised in warfare. They built siege weapons and devise battle tactics to conquer enemy states. Those actions inspired other nations to develop their own tactics and weaponry with high influence of the Romans. The Roman army became one of the best siege armies in the history of the world by using their engineering skills as a weapon against their enemies. The Romans created advanced methods of siege craft. There were two types of machines they used which were onager and ballista. Roman soldiers threw heavy rocks with an onager and they used a ballista that looked like a giant crossbow to fire huge metallic arrows on their enemies. The Roman engineers also built siege towers with their unique styles. Campbell (2005) asserted that the architect-engineer Vitruvius wrote a chapter about siege machines
4. which were necessary for protection and in times of dangerous situations in his book called ‘De architectura’ during the reign of Roman emperor Augustus (pp. 53, 54). They built strong and high towers with multiple floors and each floor had a different duty. The Roman military was also famous since they had successful battle tactics. Two thousand years ago, the Roman army was one of the best equipped armies in the world. While the architects mastered the art of using stone and concrete, military engineers used metal and wood to create weapons for wars. In the early years of Rome, the Phalanx system was the first system Roman soldiers used in battlefields. After Rome expanded its territories, the Romans suffered serious defeats. Generals and statesmen realized that they had to change the battle system. They quit the Phalanx system and formed the Cohort system. Cowan (2007) discussed that Julius Caesar used cohorts to make maneuvers and charges against enemy and cohort is an important unit for the Roman military (p. 7). Cohorts were bigger units than Phalanx with heavy armor and swords. They were tough and almost invincible. They also updated their clothes with various reformations. The Romans invented the testudo formation with the help of Cohort system. Testudo is Latin for tortoise. Soldiers used the testudo for their defense in a critical moment during a fighting. Cowan (2007) mentioned that Roman soldiers formed the testudo battle formation like a tortoise with their shields to protect themselves from arrows and other projectiles on battlefields (p. 53). Figure 1 shows that they also formed testudo to approach walls and climb as a ramp. On account of all these facts, it can be said that the combinations of technology and tactics made the Roman military the premier fighting force in Europe hundreds of years and influenced military tactics for a thousand year. The Romans were magnificent road builders and constructors. They built roads with different kinds of materials, most of them were hard and sturdy rocks. The Romans divided roads into categories. The type of roads they cared most were military roads. They built
5. thousands of kilometres of roads in the state throughout history and those roads are still around today. They did all of these in an era without modern surveying tools, construction equipment or accurate maps. Nardo (2015) claimed that the Roman civilization had more than three hundred seventy highways with stretching about eighty-five thousand kilometres. In addition, there were many more dirt roads reaching corners in the Roman lands (p. 11). Roman soldiers built military roads to march their armies quickly from place to place. So, they could move their armies anywhere in the state in days. With these roads, Romans also managed to travel easily within the state. Laurence (2002) stated that the roads connected Rome’s distant territories to each other and they were essential for the citizens of Rome to communicate with the other provinces of the state (p. 25). The roads built by the Romans became a guiding system for the future Europeans. Successor nations after the Roman civilization studied the Roman roads so they could build additional roads for themselves. They also improved the Roman-built roads, creating a milestone in Europe mainland for the next centuries. The roads of the Roman civilization were like veins of a body with the city of Rome as its heart. There is even a famous saying for that: “All roads lead to Rome.” The roads had significant benefits for the lives of citizens and soldiers of Rome. They used roads for travelling and also varied interactions. Some of the interactions was performed by Roman soldiers. Nardo (2015) explained that Roman soldiers used military roads to transport their supplies faster in wartimes. Some of the troops used the roads to gather needed materials by trading and some of them held documents on the roads for the army (p. 18). The roads built by the Roman armies were not used by soldiers only. Some of the interactions were performed by the citizens as well. The civilians of the Rome were also allowed to use those military roads when the roads were available in peace times. Nardo (2015) noted that Flaccus told about roads named the “viae militares”, which means “military roads” in Latin. The Roman administration gave orders to Roman soldiers to build the mentioned roads. Those
6. roads were built for transportation of the armies but they were also used for other duties. Messengers delivered mails on the roads. Also, groups of faithful people travelled on the roads to reach the temples and pray to their gods (p. 18). Thanks to the high-quality roads, trade interactions between the Roman state and its neighbours boosted the state’s economy. So, international trade made Rome an economical super-power in the region. Taking all these facts into account, it is clear that the well-built roads helped the Romans to expand and control their territories. Furthermore, the roads created prosperity in the state as its economic effect and the Romans became a civilization that everyone envied by leaving indelible marks in the history of the humankind. The other contribution of Roman civilization to the humankind is constructional contributions. Two important contributions were sanitation and water systems. In the area of sanitation, they built sewers, latrines and baths which became pioneer for the future. With these sanitation systems they improved the quality of their cities and made them more attractive to people. The Roman citizens cared for their public life with clean houses and towns and there were successful engineers among them with experience of water systems. According to Koloski (2015), there are many toilet remnants in the vicinity of Rome which were from second and third centuries A.D (p. 13). Constructional contributions of the Roman civilization created foundation for today’s world that by providing sanitation and water systems. The first of the ways is sanitation. Sanitation was the most significant rule of the public in the Roman state. Romans wanted to abandon old humankind habits, therefore, made more contemporary systems. In addition, sanitation is divided into two. Sanitation is divided into two parts. The initial basis of Roman’s sanitations are sewer and latrine. Koloski (2015) stated that Roman experts built large sewers network and public toilets in their cities. They operated with committees to control sewers systems. Absolutely Romans did not know anything about how to purificate water, ventilate water or what is inside water. However,
7. cities such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Ostia had sewers and toilets showing that they had knowledge about how to ventilate water. Therefore, it seemed the Romans were able to increase the efficiency of sewage by trial and error (pp. 78, 79). The other corner stone of Roman’s sanitations is bath. People of Rome used public baths for both socializing and personal hygiene. It seems these baths prime step of hygiene for history of humankind. However, first baths were in sight in years ago but, Roman baths provided reach to present baths for humanity. At the Roman baths, people also could relax and follow latest news. Roman baths contained swimming pool and gym so people could exercise. Figure 2 shows that Romans built their baths with multisections. Water was constantly supplied by aqueducts and flowed to the baths. Water was heated using a system which created hot air from the floor. The Romans decorated their baths with mosaics and pictures of their gods. Oetelaar (2016) asserted that there were three primary rooms that were common to most baths: the frigidarium, the tepidarium, and the caldarium. These housed the cold, warm, and hot showers, separately. The bigger complexes moreover had a natatio for swimming, dry and damp saunas, gymnasia, libraries, stores, and gardens. Taking all these facts into consideration, it is possible to claim that the science and technology of that day, it is quite surprising that they have made structural contributions at these levels, that they have progressed in such an area as sanitation and that they have paid so much attention to sanitation. In addition, the fact that they developed themselves through trial and error in the toilet systems or built things that influenced not only the baths but the social life of the people and also effectively exposed the place of sanitation in the life of the Roman people. Besides, the Roman contributions of sanitation, the Roman contributions of water systems cannot be denied. The Roman civilization was very superior in architecture. They built a great number of structures for their water systems. One of the most famous building achievements of the Romans are the aqueducts. Aqueduct is from Latin which means “to lead
8. water”. Aqueducts are structures used to carry water and they were very important in their lives. According to Walski, Romans built aqueducts and pipes to transfer water to their cities in long ranges (2006, p. 111). The Romans built many aqueducts in years. They set an example for humanity. Walski (2006) noted that the foremost broad water dispersion frameworks in old times were the Roman reservoir conduits, which passed on water long separations by implies of gravity through a collection of open and closed conduits (p. 111). The Romans constructed them over the ground. They were intrepid after selecting a water source stream or springs. A channel was burrowed and was driving all the way into the city of Rome. The water which came with aqueducts passed through baths, fountains and people’s houses. It also went through the sewer lines and flushed out a lot of filth into the rivers. Owens (1991) said that the exertion, which the citizens of Kremna made to supply water for showers, is advance conformation of the relationship between shower house in Roman common life (p. 56). The Romans brought on those aqueducts into not just Rome but cities all over its empire and so many of them are still standing today impressively. Secondly contribution of Romans about water systems is hydraulic engineering. Hydraulic engineering was very difficult for that era. Furthermore, Roman’s era was not advanced level about sciences and maths or another engineering subjects rather than today’s technology. On the other hand, Rome had significant progress in hydraulic engineering. Chanson (2000) stated that the Romans created aqueducts with the best examples of hydraulic engineering in ancient times. They used and repaired numerous aqueducts for many years. A lot of aqueducts contained long and flat parts modified by shorter steps drops. Some claimed that Roman aqueducts maintained a river flow regime but the recent research suggested that these vertical drops created crucial flows requiring a technical reaction to stabilise normal water flow; it also noted that the Romans found three procedures to define this problem: stepped channels, dropsshafts and chutes followed by stilling basins (p. 47). In view of these information, it can
9. be claimed that Roman’s aqueducts very important things for cities and Romans considered this for empire. Also, these structures were very ahead of the times. Not only that, they were so great in hydraulic engineering that they were actually working on science and mathematics. The Roman people made many constructional contributions to human history. They laid the foundations of today without knowing. Alongside military and constructional contributions, the Roman civilization contributed in cultural areas to the humankind as Roman laws and calendars. Certain roman officials created calendars and laws and some of the officials renovated them. Even after long period of time, these contributions are still used in today's world. The last arrangements of solar calendar which is used at the present time is made by emperor Augustus who was the first emperor of the Roman civilization. The founder of Rome, Romulus created the first calendar with its starting point as 753 BC and second king of Rome Numa Pompilius regulated the calendar fixing its errors. Romans used the Romulus calendar until the legendary commander Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar wanted to reform the calendar with the help of the Roman senate because the old calendar was insufficient. Julius Caesar was assassinated by Brutus and Cassius in the senate in 44 BC. After the death of Caesar, series of civil wars erupted in the republic. Octavian achieved victory in those civil wars and named himself Augustus, the Roman Emperor. As Theodossiou and Mantarakis (2006) indicated Emperor Augustus created a calendar in his name after his remarkable victory in the battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC and selected the day he had won the battle as its starting point. The Roman governors started using the new calendar but local cities continued to use lunisolar calendar until they became Christian. The calendar of Augustus was solar calendar which contain 365 days and an additional day in every 4 years and include 12 mounts same as ancient Macedonian calendar (pp. 347-348).
10. A natural year takes 365.25 days. There is an extra day every four years because of 0.25 day in the natural year. This consequence is reached by the Metonic cycle which is calculated by using 235 lunations taking 19 years. The Roman civilization used various calendars during its existence. The first calendar using by Romans is lunar calendar but lunar calendar does not reflect natural year exactly. Roman officials used their authority to deceive civils. Because religious ceremonies were done according to lunar calendar and officials change the time of religious ceremonies thanks to time difference between lunar and solar calendar. Julius Caesar realised this situation and decided to fix. Some Roman officials got help from competent astronomers to calculate the time correctly. According to Rüpke (2011), Rome prepared a solar calendar which include an extra day every four years. Previous calendar, lunar calendar, has twenty-two intercalary in two years or completely a month intercalary in every three years period but solar calendar has one day intercalary in four years period. In this way, Rome intended to get away from political, religious and financial parlay. Rome achieved to get rid of exploitations by using solar calendar (p. 111). Considering the information above, it can be said that the using of solar calendar inhibits the exploitation of human, politics or religious. If these exploitations did not inhibit, life conditions cannot reach in today’s world because the clergy uses their authority badly and thanks to solar calendar, the science covers a distance. The history of Romans began with founding of Rome about Eighth century BC. Starting from this point, the Romans conquered surrounding area and they achieved to reach huge territory. During expand territory, the Roman history could be examined in three period in terms of political organisation: Monarchy (8-6 century BC), Republic (from sixth century to 31 BC) and Empire (from 31 BC to 565 AD). Legal history of Romans took form depending on these periods because life conditions changed in all periods. Therefore, necessary laws were differed in all periods. Mousaurakis (2003) said that legal history of
11. Romans could be divided into four phases: the archaic, the pre-classical, classical, post- classical periods. In the beginning of the archaic period, there were not any written laws. The laws were determined by priestly class. These laws included religious laws, regulation of calendar, and private laws. In 450 BC, the first written and recorded laws of Romans was prepared named as laws of twelve tables. These laws were developed by pontiffs (pope) and jurisconsults and also the office of praetor who was Roman magistrate was presented. Praetor’s edict became the strongest force improvement of civil law and allowed law known as ius praetorium. The Romans faced with some problems about economy and social life by expansion of the empire. In pre-classical period, the power was given to magistrates and praetors to form new flexible laws. These laws were progressive and free. Roman laws had the most maturity in the classical period (about late the first century BC) thanks to intentive work of the jurist and effect on the application of laws. The jurist in this period had huge role on the known Roman laws. However, decision of senate and order of the emperor became main source of the law. Ius praetorium weakened and praetorian effect decreased. In post- classical period, the main sources of law were public and economic laws. The laws which came from beginning of the Romans were published. The last arrangements were done in Justinian time (pp. 2-6). The Rome reached enormous territory after became Roman Empire. Roman Empire divided into two regions as Western Rome and Eastern Rome in 395 AD because of historical events in this century such as migration of tribes. Western Rome was conquered by Germanic barbarians in 476 and Eastern Rome was conquered by Ottomans in 1453. The most important emperor of the Rome after separation was I. Justinian. Eastern Rome survived thanks to right decisions of Justinian until 1453. Justinian is known with legal improvements alongside social life, constructional and architectural. Anderson (2009) noted that most of the knowledge about Roman laws come from Corpus Iuris Civilis which was written in the middle of the sixth century AD and was compiled by emperor Justinian. Corpus
12. Iuris Civilis is consist of four parts: the Codex, the Novels, the Institutes and the Digest. These parts are about compilation of previous imperial legislation, aspect of modern Corpus Iuris Civils, an elementary textbook, and the major part of Corpus Iuris Civilis written by jurist respectively (p. 18). As indicated above, it can be argued that Romans had improved their legal system along their existence and they left us experience that is about working of laws in different stage of kingdoms or republic. In conclusion, the Roman civilization changed the course of history and left a huge impact on the humankind. The Romans contributed many fields. The world was affected by their military, constructional and cultural contributions. First of all, they contributed to military area. Soldiers were specialized in warfare but they also cared for their transportation in the state. Secondly, they mastered the constructional field and contributed to sanitation and water systems for their hygiene and public life. Finally, they reformed their calendars and laws to be used for many years as their cultural contribution. For all these mentioned, it can be said that the Roman civilization holds an important place in the history. Without their contributions, the earth we live on would be different. Although the Romans vanished hundreds of years ago, their legacy lives on while most of us are unaware of it.
13. References Anderson, C. (2009). Roman law [DX Reader version]. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=adf5e8ff-bcb7-462a-bb80- 7be4d47968bc%40sessionmgr4006&bdata=Jmxhbmc9dHImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ %3d%3d#AN=itu.b2674841&db=cat01696a Campbell, D. (2005). Siege warfare in the Roman world 146 BC-AD 378. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Chanson, H. (2000). Hydraulics of Roman aqueducts: steep chutes, cascades, and dropshafts. American Journal of Archaeology, 104(1), 47-72. doi: 10.2307/506792 Cowan, R. (2007). Roman battle tactics 109 BC-AD 313. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Koloski, A. (2015). The archaeology of sanitation in Roman Italy: toilets, sewers, and water systems [DX Reader version]. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/ detail?vid=1&sid=543faf7b-613b-4366-9c48-ad65f7c3d72e%40sessionmgr4008& bdata=Jmxhbmc9dHImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edshlc.014374438.0&d b=edshlc Laurence, R. (2002). The roads of Roman Italy: mobility and cultural change. London: Routledge. Mousourakis, G. (2003). The historical and institutional context of Roman law. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. Nardo, D. (2015). Roman roads and aqueducts. San Diego: ReferencePoint Press. Oetelaar, T. (2016). CFD, thermal environments and cultural heritage: two case studies of Roman baths. Paper presented at IEEE 16th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, Florence, Italy. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=5c79a026-5265-4e33-812c-
14. 5872f6949a01%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=Jmxhbmc9dHImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ% 3d%3d#AN=edseee.7555484&db=edseee Owens, E. (1991). The Kremna aqueduct and water supply in Roman cities. Greece & Rome, 38(1), 41-58. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/ detail?vid=1&sid=10420ef8-505f-4639-bd95-8ba5f79aff68%40pdc-v- sessmgr05&bdata=Jmxhbmc9dHImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edsjsr.6431 07&db=edsjsr Rüpke, J. (2011). The Roman calendar from Numa to Constantine: time, history, and the fasti [DX Reader version]. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/ detail?vid=1&sid=db9bfe42-75a8-4825-baac-5d48370aaf12%40sessionmgr4006& bdata=Jmxhbmc9dHImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edshlc.012871056.X&d b=edshlc Theodossiou, E., & Mantakaris, P. (2006). The lost Roman calendars of ancient Macedonia. Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions, 25(4), 347-354. doi: 10.1080/10556790801029591 Walski, T. (2006). A history of water distribution. American Water Works Association, 98(3), 110-121. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail ?vid=1&sid=a5013091-084d-4072-a0b0-9d365071fbbb%40pdc-v sessmgr04&bdata=Jmxhbmc9dHImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edsjsr.4131 4571&db=edsjsr
15. Figure 1. This illustration shows a group of Roman soldiers use testudo formation to capture enemy walls. Adapted from “Roman Battle Tactics 109 BC-AD 313” by Osprey Publishing, 2007. Copyright 2007 by Osprey Publishing.
16. Figure 2. This drawing shows the plan of the baths of Emperor Caracalla. Adapted from “CFD, thermal environments, and cultural heritage Two case studies of Roman baths” by AP Dynamics, 2016. Copyright 2016 by AP Dynamics. View publication stats
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