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Is our culture a product of the Romans?

The Roman Empire ruled over Europe for thousands of years teaching us art, literature, christianity, architecture and almost everything else. The city of Bath is a beautiful Roman legacy which is still standing and attracts thousands of tourists every year, wherever you turn here you see signs and remnants of Roman legacy and English language is almost all rooted in Latin. Therefore, universities must open more faculties and offer more courses in Latin and Italian studies so that in this way we become more familiar with our roots and culture.
(edited 5 years ago)

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Reply 1
English is not derived from Latin, actually. It is a Germanic language stemming from Proto-Germanic and shares a common ancestor with Latin in Proto-Indo-European. Of course there has been a Latin influence, but to state that 'English language is almost all rooted in Latin' is completely inaccurate.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Kevin70
Therefore, universities must open more faculties and offer more courses in Latin and Italian studies so that in this way we become more familiar with our roots and culture.


They would if there was demand for such courses.

roots


Given the agricultural and environmental issues we face, I'd much rather see more people do plant science. Leaving university being able to perform a plant transformation is far more useful to our society than being able to read Virgil in Latin.
There is large difference which is comes to Roman culture and current Western European culture. The Romans engaged in some pretty barbaric and inhumane activities. Don't think current Western European culture stemmed from the Romans but rather from the enlightenment that came from the Middle East during the Middle Ages. Roman culture almost ceased to exist in Western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
Original post by Kevin70
The Roman Empire ruled over Europe for thousands of years teaching us art, literature, christianity, architecture and almost everything else.

Clearly you missed out on the Classical education, then.
Reply 5
Original post by Trinculo
Clearly you missed out on the Classical education, then.


Maybe he's testing the rest of us on our respective areas of knowledge and it's all been a relatively smart ploy.
Reply 6
English language is almost all taken from Latin. Take a dictionary of etymology and check out the roots of the English words. Also our architecture specially thoses of churches, castles and mansions are taken from the Romans. In addition, our roads, bridges and drainage system were all initially made by the Romans. Our literature is under heavy influence of latin language and latin classics (Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Seneca) and our parliament is a copy from the Roman senate, latin was the official language in England and the bible until 17th century was in Latin, thanks to King James for having it translated into English. Our art, architecture, theatre, gallery, museums are all Roman influence. Roman mythology is the warp and woof of our literature as well. The Romans taught us christianity and how to play music. The facades of most of our famous bulidings are roman architecture. To help us know our culture, history, language and art better, universities must open up more Italian and Roman faculties and offer more courses in these subjects. Oxford and Cambridge are doing well but many other universities must also follow suit.
PS: there is hardly any arabic art, architecture and literature in England and English language. It is true that we learned the shape of the numbers and some maths and medicine from them and also the game of chess but arabic influence in England is nothing compared to roman and greek influence. The romans colonised england for 500 years.
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by Kevin70
English language is almost all taken from Latin.


No, it isn't.
Reply 8
English language is almost all taken from Latin. Take a dictionary of etymology and check out the roots of the English words. Also our architecture specially thoses of churches, castles and mansions are taken from the Romans. In addition, our roads, bridges and drainage system were all initially made by the Romans. Our literature is under heavy influence of latin language and latin classics (Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Seneca) and our parliament is a copy from the Roman senate, latin was the official language in England and the bible until 17th century was in Latin, thanks to King James for having it translated into English. Our art, architecture, theatre, gallery, museums are all Roman influence. Roman mythology is the warp and woof of our literature as well. The Romans taught us christianity and how to play music. The facades of most of our famous bulidings are roman architecture. To help us know our culture, history, language and art better, universities must open up more Italian and Roman faculties and offer more courses in these subjects. Oxford and Cambridge are doing well but many other universities must also follow suit.
PS: there is hardly any arabic art, architecture and literature in England and English language. It is true that we learned the shape of the numbers and some maths and medicine from them and also the game of chess but arabic influence in England is nothing compared to roman and greek influence. The romans colonised england for 500 years.
Longest running empire I've heard of by a mile then.
Reply 10
The roman empire collapsed but their omnipresent legacy stayed on for ever! The Jesus we all worship is a roman legacy.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Kevin70
The roman empire collapsed but their omnipresent legacy stayed on for ever! The Jesus we all worship is a roman legacy.


I'd say it's the other way around. Jesus allowed Romans to continue. The Byzantine Empire is a legacy of early Christianity.
This is going to be a grotesque simplification of history but how about this thesis:

Do the Byzantines even come about or rather does everything not fragment but for Constantine’s conversion?
Reply 13
Romans precede Jesus and actually Romans made Jesus known by glorifying him in art and literature otherwise jesus would have disappeared in history without much trace like many other jewish prophets. Actially Jesus resided in Roman territory under Roman law and rule. Julius Caesar came and saw and conquered before Byzantines were ever born.
(edited 5 years ago)
The Roman Empire was indeed one of the best and long lasting empires advanced of their time in the world. Much of our daily life comes from the Romans like alphabets, roads, signs, science, some mathematics, hygiene, buildings, architecture, law, the calendar and many more. Over 40% of the words in English are derived from Latin. I find it really ignorant of people saying they hate Romans because they were barbaric and murderous people, sure they did bad things but in the course of history everyone did. The Romans did more good than bad. The movie Gladiator was not made from the good actions of the Romans you know, yet is a sick movie!

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(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 15
English - German source
language - French/Latin source
is - German source
almost -German source(s)
all - German source
taken -Scandinavian source
from - German source
Latin - Latin source
Original post by Vikingninja
Longest running empire I've heard of by a mile then.


Other empires lasted longer, such as China and Persia.
Reply 17
It is easy to find out the roots of English words. All you need is a dictionary of Etymology. English language has borrowed so much from Latin that one can almost safely say English is actually modern Latin.
As for civilisation, it was actually the Romans that civilised Europe and took them out from barbarity, actually, the barbarians were Roman’s enemies and Romans called non-romans β€˜barbarian’ because they were uncivilised.
Original post by Fullofsurprises
Other empires lasted longer, such as China and Persia.


I was taking the piss because he's saying thousands of years.
Reply 19
Persian Empire was the largest Empire but not the longest. China had imperial system but was never an empire in that sense as it was almost restricted to Chinese territory.
Roman influence is in the warp and woof of European culture. BBC, National Geographic and History channel have made numerous interesting documentaries about Roman Empire.

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