Roman Legacy Research Paper

Which Roman Legacy Has Had The Greatest Impact On Today's Society?

Many parts of today's society have been affected by the legacy of Rome. More importantly, today's laws and philosophies have been influenced by Ancient Rome. Roman law, citizenship, and philosophies have affected the way we live today. "Rome fell but its legacy lived on.", this quote is true in many ways. The way that Rome has inspired modern day things such as architecture, art, law, and much more can be grouped underneath its legacy. A legacy is something that you are remembered for, something that inspires others to follow in your footsteps. I believe that the Roman Legacy that has had the greatest impact on modern times is ancient Roman law and philosophies.

For example, the Twelve Tables. These tablets/tables revolutionized law in Rome, and also have been carried into law today. The Twelve Tables were "...writing tablets that contained the Romans' earliest attempt to create a code of law in order to protect the civil rights of the privileged patricians and the commoners."(infoplease.com) The Twelve Tables include everything about daily disagreements, from court summoning, to theft, land disputes, fights about marriage, ownership and possession, public law, religious law, and much more. In the United States, killing is only allowed if crime or felony could not have been prevented in any other way. The Twelve Tables also touched upon this by saying "An attack on a house or its inmates may be resisted by taking life. This may be when burglars threaten an entrance, or when there is apparent ground to believe that a felonious assault is to be made on any of the inmates of the house, or when an attempt is made violently to enter the house in defiance of the owner's rights. But this right is only one of prevention. It cannot be extended so as to excuse the killing of persons not actually breaking into or violently threatening a

All citizens united under a common set of rules. One person did not have more rights than another. "Citizens did have responsibilities: they were taxed, and the men needed to complete a term of military service (in fact, only a citizen could become a Roman legionary). Only a citizen could use the praenomen-nomen-cognomen set of names."(dl.ket.org). Likewise today, all citizens have to pay taxes and follow many of the same citizenship laws, except for the military term/service that is mandatory. Some rights that we all have as citizens include: freedom to express ourselves, right to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Some of our responsibilities include, protecting the constitution, respecting and obeying laws, pay income and taxes, serve a jury when called, and the most important one is to defend the country if needs arise. The Romans were very big on these rights and responsibilities. They felt as if they all united under these rules, and nobody had more rights than others. The Romans followed these rules very strictly. For example, during the second Punic War, when Hannibal attacked all of the citizens and people helped hold them off till the Roman legionaries