Rome- Engineering an Empire As the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, it really wasn’t, Romans revolutionized architecture. They did everything from perfecting the arch and making vaulted ceilings, to making the first efficient waterways, and encasing an empire with security in the form of stone walls. These very feats are what make the Romans great in my eyes. I don’t think people of the 21st century can even comprehend what kind of work force was necessary to complete the tasks they did. My reaction to what the Romans accomplished is nothing short of truly shocker. As previously stated, I don’t think people can actually comprehend what kind of work force was needed to do these architectural pieces. We currently have to employee people which in turn makes it difficult to produce truly staggering pieces. Having to employee workers and not just enslave employers makes things like the Pantheon more difficult to do because it would cost much more to make. It would make it harder to build because of employing the workers and the resources now days have inflated to a greater degree. We would also not be able to complete the Pantheon as fast as they did because of slave labor you can make them work around the clock, unlike the times of today with all of the regulations. Another one of my reactions to the Romans Architecture is how many pieces of architecture they actually completed. Between all of the aqueducts to all of the governmental builds and squares. But, but doing all of these buildings they built marvelous buildings through trial and error. By this they perfected things like the aqueducts and water ways to complete the plumbing for Rome. This system was the first of its kind and on a scale of that size it remained the largest for some time. That is just one example of the kind of extremes they could do, they also did different things like utilize their landscape. I was stunned to see how well they utilized their landscape particularly in Rome when they built some buildings in the side of the hills. Also, on a grander they utilized the flat clear surface of their vast empire to use as the trade routes. They did that by setting up post to watch for raiders and I think that was a very advanced yet simple idea of the time. On the topic of security I think it is very impressive on how the Romans were able to keep their empire safe by taking many measures of making walls and setting boundaries on not further conquering any more land. I don’t think the empire could have become what it was without conquering all of the land they did and getting the different influences from other cultures. They were willing to change some techniques to perfect their architectural skill which is something many civilizations do not do. In my eyes combining all of these ideas and abilities made the Romans the very best and influential civilization ever. They had many ideas and had many accomplishments that made our world what it is today, and I think that movie captured these things perfectly.
Julio-Claudian Rule The empire under Julio-Claudian rule was an empire of great power but power displaced in the most unlikely of places. I personally think it was a time of corruption but with the corruption came great things and accomplishments because everyone was trying to outdo the others. I wouldn’t personally call this time a stain or a high time in the Roman era. Once again as previously stated I think many good things did come from this time for the idea that everyone was trying to one up another. Everyone was trying to leave their mark in history.