Roman Empire Falling Article

The Roman Empire was the biggest and most successful empire in the ancient world. The Roman Empire had the biggest army and controlled the most land compared to any other empire. When I think of the Roman Empire, I think of the greatest empire that there ever was. The Roman Empire did not fall; the Roman Empire just became less powerful. Even though it did not control everything that it once had, the Roman Empire did not fall because you can see some of Roman philosophy, politics, and architecture still in use even today. Modern day plumbing was based off of the aqueducts in Ancient Rome. We also got most of our politics, including the right to veto, from the Ancient Roman civilization. We also use their form of architecture like the columns and roads. This is why the Roman Empire did not fall; it just evolved into what we know of it today.
The argument that Rome did not fall is based on the fact that parts of their empire are still in use today. One of these parts is Roman architecture. We still use Roman architecture in our everyday lives and we do not even realize it. When we flush the toilet we are using Roman inventions and architecture because they created the first plumbing system (http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_roman_technology.htm). When we water our crops, we do not realize that the Ancient Romans came up with the first irrigation system. Sometimes we can take clean water for granted because if it were not for the Romans we still may not have clean drinking water in our cities and towns today. The Romans can up with a way to clean the water by putting rocks and pebbles in the aqueducts which would keep all the dirt and mud behind while the water could get through (http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_roman_technology.htm). Another architectural invention that we could not live without today is the invention of roads (http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_roman_technology.htm). I cannot even think about a world without roads. It would be a lot tougher for people to get to work or stores to get products to sell without our system of roads. The world would have to think of another to get around effectively. Without Roman architecture and inventions, we would all have to live in small towns close to water. We can now live far from the water and have big cities because of what the Roman Empire did. This is one way that the Roman Empire lives on even today.
The next part of the Roman Empire that is still in use today is their religion. Paganism is not what most people believe, but there are people who still believe in many gods and witchcraft ("Ancient Roman Religion." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .)
. This shows that the Ancient Roman religion did go away entirely. Even though not many people still believe in many gods, there are a few religions who do like the Hindus. Hindus believe that there is many gods that make up one God, which is like a combination of what Christianity believes today and what the Romans believed back then.("Ancient Roman Religion." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .). This is another example of why the Roman Empire did not fall. Their religion of polytheism is still somewhat used today("Ancient Roman Religion." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .). The Roman Republic also had a system of politics that is still used today. The American government uses a House of Representatives and a Senate. In the Roman Republic, they had a Senate which made all the laws that controlled how the Roman people lived "Ancient Rome Government." UNRV History - Roman Empire. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .. ).This Senate was mostly made out of Patricians, however, so there was not a whole lot of room for the Plebeians to make decisions ("Ancient Rome Government." UNRV History - Roman Empire. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .).
The Patricians were afraid that the Plebeians were going to revolt so they gave the Plebeians one seat in the Senate called the “Tribune of the Plebs” ("Ancient Rome Government." UNRV History - Roman Empire. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .). Even though they only had one seat in the Senate, this was the only seat that could veto a law ("Ancient Rome Government." UNRV History - Roman Empire. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .). This made the Plebeians have a better say in things and could live by their rules now. This is another example of a way that the Roman Empire is still used in the world today.
The Roman Empire grew to be very powerful and controlled a large part of the ancient world. While it did lose this power and control, it never really “fell” because we still use many of the good parts that their empire believed in and developed. I believe that if the values and inventions of a culture of a group of people are still in use thousands of years after the people are gone, that that empire didn’t really “fall”.


Citations: "Ancient Roman Technology." Truly Rome Apartments in Rome. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .

"Ancient Roman Religion." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .

"The Many Gods of Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva." World Religions and 101 Cults and Sects. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .

"Ancient Rome Government." UNRV History - Roman Empire. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .

Picture Citation: "File:SPQR.svg -." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 13 Mar. 2010. .