Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire Influence on today.
“Western Europe is the region of the world that typically includes the countries of Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Gibraltar, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom” (PSU 2016).
Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire are said the be the birthplace of Western Civilization. I have a great fascination in both Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Throughout High school I took 5 years of Latin. There were numerous reasons to why I decided to take this language, and amongst those reason was the better understand the roots of the English Language, and to learn more about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire as it has great influence on the world today.
Language is the one thing that all people throughout the world have in common. We do not all speak the same languages, but all use a form of language to communicate. As stated in our readings this chapter. English is comprised of both Greek and Latin. Then there are the 5 romance languages (Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Spanish). Between many of these languages, a majority of the languages across the world have been influenced by Greek or Latin. I find that to be very fascinating.
Another great influence Ancient Greece had on Western Europe culture, and now the world is democracy. As many may know, democracy is rule by the people. The United States of America is a democracy. People decide and vote on who their leader is going to be every 4 years. We just went through an election in which Donald Trump won. He overcame all odds, and the people decided he would be the next leader. A democracy allows for anyone to be offered a chance to be a leader, and lead this great country.
There are some other great influences i would like to mention also that have lead to great advances and adaptions in our everyday culture. The Roman Empire has influenced the creation of law, influence on literature and art, and infrastructure and city planning. Washington D.C. is a great example where all these influences can be seen in one place.
Some of the great influences from Ancient Greece on the Modern World are Architecture, Sports and the Olympics, Mathematics and Philosophy, the Greek Arts, and the concepts for creating a map for guidance. These are some great influences that derive from Ancient Greece.
This article is not as in depth as other blogs that i have shared. However, i wanted to put into perspective how much Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire influenced the world today .
jwb6183 says
I am also intrigued with the impact that the Romans had on shaping the world culture and western civilization. I even did a bit of research on my own to expand on your ideas above. I think one of the biggest things the Romans gave us was infrastructure and their people to spread the culture. Roads were built for military purposes, but then served as mechanisms of trade. People were left behind in places that the Romans left and infused the local population with Roman culture and ideas (n.d). Another concept from the same blog was the fact that the
Romans gave the world law. It began as a way to govern its own citizens and branched out to the empire they created. This is a good way to keep a large area and different groups of people working towards the same goals in how they live their life and truly part of our western culture
References:
Roman Influence on Western Civilization. (n.d.). Retrieved December 03, 2016, from http://definitionofphilosophy.blogspot.com/2013/05/roman-influence-on-western-civilization.html