Why was Rome Significant in the History of Western Civilization?

Like ancient Greece, Rome was also very significant and impactful during the empire’s time of existence, and long after the empire collapsed. They were especially significant to Europe and it’s evolution. Though a lot of the things that the empire did were not exactly original, and were copied and influenced by Greece, they did expand on the knowledge that the Greeks had, and used that knowledge to help them expand intellectually. But why was Rome significant in the history of western civilization?

Education and Literature

Education and the “school” form of learning which were created by the Greeks was even more popularized and full of knowledge in Rome. Philosophers, scientists, poets, and other groups of learned people grew in number. Also Roman literature is pretty significant to Western civilization, thanks to books such as the Aeneid by Virgil, which influenced authors and poets later on. But again like many aspects of Rome, the literature was also highly influenced by Greece. Also the language Latin became widespread in the empire. Latin is the foundation language for all the romance languages(Italian, French, Spanish, etc), and is one of the main foundation language’s for the English language, which is one of the most widely spoken languages today.

Government and Law

Before Rome became an empire it was actually a republic. Even though what Rome considered was a republic, is different from how people think of a republic today, that does not mean that the Roman republic was not impactful or influential. Some of the basic principles of the Roman  republic have been used in later republic-like governments, including the United States. Also Law and Order was very important in Rome, and the military was often used as a form of policing to keep everyone in check, similar to today. Even though some of the Roman laws were really extreme and harsh, many later governments after Rome, had laws that were influenced by the laws of Rome.

Architecture 

Roman architecture was highly influenced by ancient Greek architecture; if you look at the remains and remnants of Roman architecture today you can clearly see the direct influence of ancient Greece. Again like many things Rome expanded on the idea and styles of Greek Architecture. But again much after the collapse of Rome other buildings were built which had influences to Roman architecture, for example some of the government buildings in the United States.

Conclusion

After Rome fell, many aspects of Rome were highly influential to later groups. For example today you can see many aspects of Roman literature, law, art, and architecture as an influence in many countries, especially European countries and the United States. These in my opinion are the reasons why Rome was so significant to Western Civilization.