Two different worlds, But one in the same

It was interesting to see how much Rome has been through and how much it has influenced our country. Even after all of the research I did for my timeline, there is still so much to learn.

Before this seminar, I hadn’t realized how much Rome has truly influenced America. Our government is shaped after their Roman Republic (509 BCE - 27 BCE). Their people were represented by the Senate and Tribal Assembly, much like how our people are represented by our government. Also, a lot of our architecture and engineering are based on Ancient Roman ideas.  For example, aqueducts, our sewage systems, dams, cement and arches were all ideas of the Romans.

I have already known that the colosseum was a place of violent entertainment. However, what I didn’t know was that people would spend every last cent of their hard earned money just to obtain a seat at the colosseum to watch the violence. I used to believe it was solely the richer people going to see this entertainment, but after this seminar, I learned that this was a stress reliever for any Roman that needed it.

Photo Credit: Linda Alchin

Even though our entertainment today in our country is not as violent as it was in Rome, entertainment then and now still has many similarities. Our entertainment is still pretty violent. For instance, boxing, UFC and even football. Think about it: Two grown men put together in a ring, fighting until one is unconscious. Also, as Mr. Dundov said, “If you strip it [football] down to it’s bare components, you have a man…trying to hit another man as hard as humanly possible, because the harder you hit him, the more the crowd cheers.” 

He went on further to say that in our society today, there are still many forms of barbarism. It is so common, that we fail to notice it. This is very similar to how the Romans lived, but the only difference is that today, people don’t die at the end of the match. Even though this is a huge difference, it is still so amazing to see how two completely different worlds can be so similar.

~Aurea Colston