A people known for their military, political, and social institutions, the ancient Romans conquered vast amounts of land in Europe and northern Africa, built roads and aqueducts, and spread Latin, their language, far and wide. Use these classroom resources to teach middle schoolers about the empire of ancient Rome.
The Romans were a bridge between the older cultures and the western civilization. The Roman greatness was marked by their willingness to receive other peoples ideas for their own purposes. Their architecture, technology, city planning, art and military plan- ning are all as a result of other peoples influences.
Roman law had a significant influence over the modern-day laws of many countries. Legal ideas like trial by jury, civil rights, contracts, personal property, legal wills, and corporations all were influenced by Roman law and the Roman way of looking at things.
The legacy of Ancient Rome is still felt today in western culture in areas such as government, law, language, architecture, engineering, and religion. Many modern-day governments are modeled after the Roman Republic. The U.S. even named one house of Congress, the Senate, after the Senate of Rome.
They built the justly famous Roman highway system of military and commercial interconnecting roads. The Romans built aqueducts, bridges, tunnels, public and private buildings of all kinds and for all purposes. History records famous one-of-a- kind projects that are still wonders today.
