Ancient Societies Vs. Roman Societies

During the early stages of the Republic Rome was completely surrounded by hostile neighbors called Etruscan's. The Romans were constantly attacked by these people and ironically in defense they conquered these people. This theme of Romans conquering land in defensive wars will continue on even after the Republic. One of the reasons that the Romans defeated the Etruscan's was the Roman army. They improved upon the phalanx that they borrowed from the Greek by adding cavalry to it, and eventually they would replace the spears with swords. However the flexibility and adaptability of the Roman army certainly helped them during their wars.

“This account I have given the reader, not so much with the intention of commending the Romans, as of comforting those that have been conquered by them, and for the deterring others from attempting innovations under their government. This discourse of the Roman military conduct may also perhaps be of use to such of the curious as are ignorant of it, and yet have a mind to know it.” –excerpt from “Description of the Roman Army,” by Josephus

Thesis: The Greek influence of outstanding culture, gods, and their beautiful art to the Romans’ they took this inspiration on to their own creation. Both ancient build devotion to their gods they would bring the most precious things to them temples, however, they would focus on making large empire to rule and to take control of their city-states.

One trait every army must have to be successful is the willingness and drive to dominate. The Roman army took these traits to a whole different level. The Romans were very extreme in battle as well. They often enjoyed humiliating other city-states by burning them to the ground. In 264 B.C.E. a battle between other Greek city-states forced Rome and Carthage, who dominated the western part of the Mediterranean, into conflict. The First Punic War was for the control of Sicily.4 This battle lasted twenty-three years.4 The Romans were losing a lot of men, but they continued to battle on.4 Finally, the persistence paid off.4 The Romans learned how to fight by sea and cut off the Carthaginian supply line into

Romans fought in a manner very similar to the Greeks. In early times they utilized the phalanx and a cavalry back-up, but around the 1st century BCE they began to form a “checkered board” pattern. This allowed them to cover more ground and allow men room to fight. In the first century they also retired using a cavalry (Cartwright). The form of foot soldiers only with no horseback cavalry was uncommon. In

Edward Luttwak’s The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century A.D. to the Third gives a militaristic analysis of the tactics used by the Roman Empire while also highlighting parallels between Rome and contemporary U.S. military policy. Luttwak divides his book into three chapters, a chapter for each of the 3 identified systems; the first chapter discusses Rome’s use of mobile armies and client states to defend her borders. The second chapter shows border defense as was provided by small groups of marching legionary troops. The third and final chapter details the transition from an offense stance to a more

In the past, before many early civilizations and ancient cultures became successful and able to

The Golden Age of Greece and the Pax Romana were both a very peaceful and sensual time during the Ancient Greece and Rome. However, living during each of the times isn’t a hard decision because Rome has the best geography, where there’s enough land for a large amount of population, fertile soil for farming and the economy has great trade to provide for everyone. For Greece, these two categories were lacking, although there were alike in some topics. The two categories are explained more in detail

The example I am going to use ties in today’s society with ancient Roman societies. In today’s America look at the way people act, lots of corruption and immoral lifestyles. If the people of today would look back at the Ancient Roman civilizations, they would see that the Romans had a strong country like ours is. Eventually though due to corruption and immoral lifestyles they became weak and collapsed. This could very easily happen to America if we don’t learn from the mistakes of this ancient civilization. America as a nation must become more aware of what is going on in our corrupt society and start to live their lives more true and humble or we could meet the same fate one

Athens and Sparta, two rivals of ancient Greece that made the most noise and gave us the most traditions. Though they were close together on a map, they were far apart in what they valued and also how they lived their lives. Spartan and Athenian society were very different in many parts. The differences are what set these two apart, and the things they shared in common are what unified them as Greek city-states. Sparta and Athens shared similarities and differences in their systems of government, military, judgment and views of their women. In addition to this, the social gatherings of Athenians and Spartans that were also similar and different.

Rome used its military aggressively. The Roman army had started from mainly farmers, and gaining new farming lands from other countries, for the its growing population or later retiring soldiers, was often one of the military’s main objectives. Only in the late Empire did the Roman military's goal become keeping control over its territories.

Greece and The Mayan Empire are two early civilizations that shared many similarities and differences in aspects such as economics, government, and culture. Although the civilizations have some similarities, daily life was very different in each civilization.

Current militaries have benefitted from the principles of ancient Greek and Roman warfare by studying the ancient battles, tactics, and use of supplies to develop effective military plans. Current militaries study and debate historical turning points of the ancient battles to understand how the leaders planned and executed battles. The empires’ growth was due in part to the might and successes of their military. The strength of their militaries came from many factors including their use of armor, weapons, and military tactics. The empires’ leaders used these three advantages to create the superior armies of their time.

The Romans did very well when it came to preparing for a common defense. They had an army (obviously) made up of auxiliary soldiers, legions, consoles, and they had a specialized formation. Legions were made up of about 5,000 soldiers and each legion had its own number, badge, name, and stronghold. Auxiliary soldiers were mostly the army's cavalry and were given citizenship when they retired. An auxiliary soldiers job was to protect the legions by fighting next to or in front of them. The Romans had different army formations as well. They had one called the pig’s head where the part of the Roman army called the infantry stood in a V-shaped formation and would have a wall of shields which they pushed the enemy with. Another formation

According to Roman mythology, Roman “warfare” started all the way back with Romulus and Remus. It is said that the two brothers fought against each other, therefore making the first Roman battle. Rome was a peaceful place until the leaders of Rome decided to try to conquer neighboring countries. Roman warfare went on for centuries over bountiful amounts of territories. Over all of these battles the Romans won an amazing amount of those battles. The Romans were usually superior not only in numbers, but they were also superior in strategy.