Rome [antikvár]

Our Roman heritage Few people have not heard of the Romans. In 500 BC they were simple shepherds, living in the centre of Italy. By the time of the birth of Jesus Christ they were masters of an empire that stretched all around the Mediterranean Sea. The Romans were great soldiers and established a reputation for success on the battlefields. They also built fine roads, aqueducts and fortresses, all of which helped to bring about peace in troublesome places. When the Roman soldiers established order in a province, then others - farmers, shopkeepers, men, women and children, Romans and non-Romans - went there to start a new life. But even though such people went to live in a province they lived under Roman government and Roman laws. Romans brought many different nations to live together happily. To do this they had to be hard and cruel, but they believed that the gods had ordered them to be like that. They thought that they had been allowed to build up their great empire because the gods wished them to do so. There are many places in Europe today where you can see remains of the Roman Empire. For example, in Britain you can still walk along parts of the wall built by the Roman emperor, Hadrian. In the south of France there is the famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Card, which helped to bring water to the city of Nimes. The Romans also left us a different sort of heritage; their language was called Latin and many of the books and speeches they wrote are still studied today. Some modern languages are based on Latin, such as French, Spanish and, particularly, Italian. 4 0 7214 0381 6