The Roman Empire

Site Issues 2005 Archive Room
#1

The Romans built the biggest empire that man has ever seen. their empire stretched all the way from the coast of spain, to eastern europe, to northern africa, and the western parts of the middle east. they had complete control over the Mediterranean Sea. they controlled every part of land that touched the Sea. the Romans were the most technologically advanced civilization of their time, by far.

modern day democracies are modeled after the roman government, their cement is still better then the cement used today, they built such wonders as the circus maximus and the roman coliseum, some roman roads still are intact today, the romans had sewers, taxes, a representative government, and the most powerful army on the planet.

the romans, im my opinion are the greatest empire that the world has ever seen. they dominated for hundreds of years, and i think that the Roman Empire is the most fasinating part of history to study.

#2

Oh bugger.

I have a sense of deja vu and deep foreboding.

#3

:lol: lol, lighten up a bit Crab.

#4

Yes the Romans are right up there in the Empire stakes. Roads Aqueducts, military engineering.

I too find that period fascinating.

#5

Sorry, it’s just that the first post looks remarkably like a precis of certain ferrous observations about the Romans. I’ll let someone with better historical knowledge than I do the fisking. There is another thread on this forum somewhere where the Roman Empire and its associated conributions to human development are discussed in great detail.

#6

overall i agree with you, but one interesting fact is, how LONG did it take the Romans to conquer everything they did

now Alexander the Great conquered ALMOST as much in TWENTY years as of compared to HUNDREDS of years like the Romans

#7

eh?

#8

but what have the Romans ever done for us?

:smiley:

#9

British Empire was actually bigger, in the terms of sq. land control if I recall. Roman Empire was probabley better than ours though.

#10

the british empire may have been bigger, although i am not sure about that. but at the time of the british empire there were more people livining in more places around the world, so there was more land to conquer. the romans conquered almost all of the land that people inhabitted during that time.

#11

[quote=“Crab_to_be”]

eh?[/quote]

sorry meant Hundreds of yrs like the Romans

#12

^

qué, gringo? Are you saying that the East, sub-Saharan Africa, northern Europe and Americas were uninhabited at that time?

#13

the british empire may have been bigger, although i am not sure about that. but at the time of the british empire there were more people livining in more places around the world, so there was more land to conquer. the romans conquered almost all of the land that people inhabitted during that time.

mmmmmm

At about 1 AD the estimates of World population vary between 170 and 400 M.

In 1900 the estimates vary between 1.55 B and 1.762 B

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldhis.html

I realise these dates are a little arbitrary but they’ll do for a moment.

A map of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent is here

http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/maps/basicmap.html

and a similar map of the British Empire is here

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/maproom

According to this site

http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/Content/ContentGroups/02_Articles/0ct-Dec02/How_Many_People_Have_Ever_Lived_on_Earth_.htm

the population controlled by the Roman Empire was between 45 and 90 M, out of a World population it estimates to be 300 M.

This suggests the Roman Empire had between 15 and 30% of the population, whereas the British Empire had between 470 and 570 M from a population of about 1.6 B, giving a percentage spread of 30 and 36%, suggesting the British Empire was slightly larger in percentage terms.

Due to the uncertainities involved in estimating populations, it would be difficult to prove which was the larger Empire in terms of the World population it controlled.

However, in terms of square km or square miles covered, at 36.6 M sq km, the British Empire was the largest the World has seen so far, followed by the Soviet Empire and a number of others, until the Roman Empire is reached at number 17 with 5.7 sq km.

http://www.hostkingdom.net/earthrul.html

Frankly, I consider a question like this to be similar to the type exhibited in the “what was the best gun of WW 2” in that it is subjective and cannot be resolved.

edit - to restore a link

#14

The aqueduct?

#15

and the roads.

Well, obviously the bloody roads. Goes without saying . . . .

#16

Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what did the Romans ever do for us? :wink:

#17

Why don’t you ask the Judean People’s Front :stuck_out_tongue:

#18

Why don’t you ask the Judean People’s Front :P[/quote]

What about the People’s Front of Judea?

#19

Why don’t you ask the Judean People’s Front :P[/quote]

What about the People’s Front of Judea?[/quote]

He’s over there - Splitter!

#20

He is not the Messaih, hes a very naughty boy…

:stuck_out_tongue: