The Five Features Of Ancient World Civilizations

Between approximately 509 BCE and the third century CE the Roman empire continually expanded and became one of the largest in history. While this expansion was due to many reasons, not the least of which was greed, to a great extent it was made possible because of Rome's overwhelming military and its combination of a democratic and republic government. (Lee) (Ferril)

The Roman Empire conquered land at a previously unparalleled rate, within the known world, affecting its institutions from the rest of the Empire’s prevalence. From Hispania to Britannia sweeping across the mediterranean, gaining Egypt, ending in Persia; the absorption of Carthage and North Africa, and finally the civil war being won by Augustus, all brought upon the negative effects of their conquest. The Empire continued to grow from the year 200 B.C.E. to the year 200 C.E.; this growth had many effects upon the Empire. Although expansion and conquest are often good, seen as liberating, or wholly expansive in mathematical, philosophic, and scientific thought, this is not inherently the case. The Roman Empire’s expansion was not entirely as powerful and awe inspiring as many claim it to be; the greedily performed collection of lands resulted in many negative outcomes. These outcomes largely presented Rome with an issue they would never be able to recover from: empiric decay. The effects of militaristic expansion, of the Roman Empire, resulted in the decay of previously prosperous economic, political, and social institutions.

By their conquests of the near and distant lands, the transformation of Rome from a great conqueror of civilizations to the greatest governor of peoples was quick and exact. And soon, their fame and wealth grew without its bounds.

The Roman Empire was, overall, an immensely successful and innovative empire; this success derived from the implementation of the Christianity religion, spreading of Romanization so that Roman subjects were united and had Roman rights, and the economical and technological advancements that flourished under the period of Pax Romana. While these benefited the Roman Empire greatly and made Rome a prosperous civilization, Rome gradually weakened and, conclusively, fell. The eventual and definite decline of Rome was caused by excessive territorial expansion, economic issues, and foreign invasions.

Rome had fertile soil, plenty of rain, and sunshine. Good transportation. Transportation networks made military conquest, trade, and the exchange of ideas possible. A powerful military.

In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.

The ancient Rome Empire raises their empire by coquetting many lands by fighting and coquetting them. One on the things that made Rome special was their expansion of the territory. What was different of other empires is, when they conquer a foreign land, they let them keep their traditions and their own culture. Instead of teaching them religion and make them be a Roman, they made them swear fealty to Rome. Roma wanted to spread their territory and their trading zone. One example of this was the war of the Roman and the Carthaginians in 264 BC. After many battles of this war better know as the Punic Wars, finally the romans defeated the Carthaginians. It took 100 years to put and end to this war.

It is clear that the dynamics that characterized Rome’s society during the Republic were never easy. There was a constant push and pull of intentions and interests between Patricians and Plebeians. The Patricians always wanting to maintain economic and political supremacy while the Plebeians were in constant

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.

When Rome was founded in 753 BC it was constructed as a representative republic in which the governing body consisted of the Senate, the assemblies and two consuls. This system was suitable as the city was “a sanctuary of refuge for all fugitives, which they called the temple of the god Asylaeus, where they received and protected all, delivering none back, neither the servant to his master, the debtor to his creditor, nor the murderer into the hands of the magistrate, saying it was a privileged place (Plutarch’s Romulus).” Allowing representation to the people who were the outcasts in other societies created fierce loyalty. As the size of the Roman Empire increased around much of the Mediterranean Sea the difficulty of governing such an expansive amount of land became clear and the switch from the Republic to the Principate, in which one ruler led the people, aided in its ultimate decline. Leadership was constantly changing in the first century BC and caused inconsistencies in direction and many forms of political corruption. Looking specifically at the reforms of Sulla, Caesar, and Augusts it will become evident that over expansion, military reforms, consolidation of power and corruption created by these administrators ultimately led to the dissolution of the Roman Republic.

In 400 A.D the Romans were a thriving empire. This classical civilization had a population of over 70 million people that worked as merchants, farmers, and even police officers. Rome’s population at its period accounted for over 21% of the world. This empire developed an advanced language, military, and currency. The Romans also had strong beliefs in literacy, politics and religion. For over 1000 years Rome was one of the world’s strongest and most substantial empires but as the empire conquered many countries along the mediterranean sea it simply became too large to contain or protect. The Roman Empire fell in view of the facts that there were struggles, military difficulties, and germanic invasions.

The Romans were the most successful ancient civilization, for their architecture and construction, government and justice system, and their military prowess. They were able to construct still standing buildings, invent the Republic, and conquer the Mediterranean.

Thirdly, we have the dynamic leaders that showed their greatness through their reign over the Roman people. One of the most successful leaders in the Roman Empire, besides Julius Caesar, was Emperor Trajan. He ruled from AD 98-117. The reason that he is known as so successful is because during his reign, the empire reached its greatest size with the conquest of large areas of land in the east. His successor, Hadrian, halted the spread and concentrated on improving the way the empire was run. This was the time of the Pax Romana (the Roman Peace), which was maintained by the army. People could travel and trade in safety, and new ideas, like Christianity, began to spread from the east. The leaders helped to keep the peace among the citizens of Rome, and they also helped to further the empire by leading the troops into battle and extending the boundaries of Rome's territory. The fourth factor that contributed to the rise the Roman Empire is that of the engineers and architects within the empire itself. The Romans were superb engineers and architects and many of their buildings survive

In ancient Rome, citizens were classified into two separate groups: patrician or plebeian. The patricians were the privileged class of citizens in early Rome; they had the nobility of birth, were wealthy, and monopolized the political and religious aspects of Rome in early times (“Patrician,” 2014, para. 2). In contrast, the plebeians were the general citizenry that made up the majority of the Roman population; initially, they were excluded from the Senate and all public offices (“Plebeian,” 2014, para. 1). The distinction was possibly based on wealth and influence of certain aristocratic families that became the patricians; intermarriage was also forbidden between the two classes in the beginning (“Plebeian,” 2014, para. 1). Originally, Rome

According to National Geographic a civilization is a “society with highly developed culture and technology.”Every civilization has distinct characteristics in a common. For example, they have organized Central Government /Complex Institution, Job Specialization,Cities, Art and Architecture Technology , and Writing / Recording Keeping. Historians do not agree on how many characteristics are essential to success of a civilization. After analyzing all the characteristics, I believe that Organized Central Government / Complex Institution,Job Specialization,and Art and Architecture / Technology.