Imperialism In Ancient Rome

History has shown the rise and fall of civilizations throughout time. Throughout the ages, man has risen above the rest and then declined down to nothing. The idea that has stuck with a man was the idea to conquer and build and build a utopian city. The birth of imperialistic nations that grew from nothing and into something formidable. Nations as old as Persia, Macedonia, and even Rome have shown these views of imperialism as early as ancient times. In ancient times they were large civilizations that once have been empires that controlled enormously large territories of land because of numerous reasons.Even in 1858 when England owned India and when Japan went island hopping in the Pacific. Both of these nations demonstrated their power to

the rest of the world by the means of controlling those foreign territories and these territories were considered to be the jewel of their nations. Each sovereign state having their own beloved city or gem of the empire. Egypt during ancient times was a civilization of seafaring and trading people and had the ancient city of Thebes. The ancient Spartans had the strong land, military based city of Sparta at the southern tip of today's Greece. The Athenians had the strategically placed Acropolis, Athens located on the top of a natural cliff in Greece. Even the empirical city state in North Africa, Carthage with its formidable naval fleet and its impressive harbor. Each of these cities were unique and amazing during their time, but all of them don’t even compare to the astonishing city of Rome and its glory. Rome was one of the nations that fit into all of the criteria prior.
Rome started out as a small group of people that expanded into a town surrounded by a respectable stone wall. Then adventually into one of the greatest cities in ancient civilization. Also Rome was the home of many structures that the rest of the world didn’t dream of building. The famous city of Rome was the beginning and the end of the Roman empire.The ancient city of Rome, within 500 years has had many changes and also held many events that changed the way western civilization. It obtained the aqueducts that delivered water to the city. The aqueducts’ design, material, and other features made this great structure. The aqueducts are what fulfill Rome's never ending need for water by carrying large quantities into the city. This large amount of water filled Rome's public baths, sewages, and the many fountains in the city. Which in that time period not many cities that had much fresh water at a single time like Rome did. Many other cities didn’t have the comfortable piping that Rome had. Rome also had one of history's most impressive structures ever built, the Colosseum, with its infamous gladiator fights. The fights were among the most well renown things in Roman history. The final thing that sets Rome ahead of those other ancient cities was it's well secured location. Location played a vital role in the protection and the greatness of Rome. Other great cities of that time period have fallen due to poor placement of the city, while then again others have thrived from these poor locations. Rome was ultimately among some of the greatest cities of that era because of its aqueducts, colosseum, and the security it had.
The project that piped water from the mountains south of Rome were, according to David Macauley ‘A pipeline called an aqueduct proposed to bring water from the mountain lakes thirty-eight miles to the south” these aqueduct filled the Rome’s water reservoirs. The aqueducts were gravity fed. Meaning that they had a slight downward slope in them to allow the water to slide down towards Rome. When the aqueduct was checked by a surveyor every so often. The surveyor would use a tool called a chorobates to make sure the slope contains its consistent five percent to a two percent gradient. The structure of the aqueducts were revolutionary in architecture in those times because according to David Macauley “When the keystone was inserted in the center, the arch was complete’ this was essential because the keystone allowed the weight to be evenly distributed along an arch. This means the Romans would have saved more time and effort building arches rather than complete wall like bridges. The Romans knew that these pipelines would be an easy target for any invaders trying to cause Rome to fall. They build these water bridges at variable heights, but approximately around thirty meters high. So Rome had these massive and long aqueducts running through Italy, which is kind of amazing, but what really is astonishing his how they built the bridge to go through hills. They had these hills traveling through the hills for primarily two reasons. First, they already had the bridge started and the second reason was that it was safer in the water to travel through the hills rather than go over or around. According to David Macauley ‘Every twenty yards vertical shafts were sunk from the surface of the hill to the level of the prepared aqueduct.” This is impressive because they would make sure that the aqueducts running from Rome would follow a linear path towards the mountain lakes by digging down every towards to make sure their tunnel was on a straight path. The amount of water that the aqueducts was able to carry to Rome seemed quite unbelievable. Those pipelines were able to carry enough water for the many public baths throughout the city and it seems that there was still enough to fuel all the public fountains in the city. Other places in the world didn’t have this complex water system to quench their water consumption.The aqueducts proved to show why Rome was a great, but there are other reasons for Rome's greatness.
The Colosseum rendered people from inside and outside of the empire to Rome.

The Colosseum doesn’t portray anything like a normal amphitheater. According to Lesley Dutemple “It was built nearly two thousand years ago for the purpose of hosting violent gladiator games.” These games were held during special celebrations with the start of the celebration being a parade through Rome with the gladiators followed by elephants. Once the rowdy crowds of people made their way into the Colosseum the opening act would be either the worst criminals from across the empire against food deprived and tortured beast. If it wasn’t convicts it would be newer gladiators against the savage beast, gather from across the empire. The beast where the most feared and deadliest animals from Africa to England and as far out as present day Turkey. These animals were maddened from starvation and thirst that they would hunt and kill anything that moved. If the beast did not hunt and put on a show, then the Beastmaster was brought out to the center of the arena and was publicly executed. Now the main event consisted of gladiator fights. Those chosen to become gladiators were one of three backgrounds. A gladiator could have been a free man looking for weapon training and fame within the arena. Another could have been an Ex Roman soldier. Lastly the gladiator could have been a slave from the outer reaches of the empire that was bought by the head of a gladiator school. Each gladiator could take up one of

five fighting styles within the Colosseum. Each of these styles were easily distinguishable by their helmet, shield, and other armor apparatus. First being mounted fighter, even though this was a fight that happened in the Colosseum mounted fights were not a very common event. Mounted fighter were gladiators that learned to fight with a variety of weapons on horseback. Another was the use of chariots. These charters were experts at maneuvering chariots around with spikes on the wheels and swords on their belts. Next, was the heavy fighters. These fighterss showed true strength and endurance in the arena. They carried the standard Roman Gladius and a small rounded shield called a parmula. What made these men heavy fighters consist of the armor they would bring to the fight. They would wear a helmet with visor and a thick rigid crest on the top of the helmet. They would also wear greaves and a thick leather brace around his right arm. Those who sought the extra protection were known as Samnites to the Roman public during the fights. Next, were the light fighters known as the Thracians. These fighters were odd compared to the heavies or the normal fighters. These men wore helmets with wide brims and a visor. They also wore higher greaves that went up to their upper thighs. They had the parmula and according to Lesley Dutemple “Thracians were equipped with short curved swords and small round shields.” These swords are what make them different from everyone else in the Colosseum and the last style was the Retiarius or net-men. These gladiators fought with a weighted net and a three prong spear while wearing the standardized helmet and greaves with a padded shoulder piece. These fighter were considered the lowest of the five styles because with the lack of armor and the use of a net rather than a shield. Many other fighters seen this style as weak and disgraceful. After their training and the opening act has finished. Thousands of Romans got to watch men fight for their life. Some rules were placed for the fighters in the Colosseum. After a warrior was wounded bad enough, they could plead for mercy and according to Lesley Dutemple “When a gladiator was wounded, he could raise a finger as a plea for mercy.” The thing about this rule is that the emperor is the arbiter of the man's fate, but it was ultimately the crowd decided whether a man died or lived by their actions. If the man fought well and the crowd adored him, they would wave white pieces of fabric and if they wanted blood they would point at him. If the man was knocked to the ground the same principle applied. Some gladiators would try and fake their death to escape the arena. Those who faked death were faced with a hot iron rod that would touch their skin. If they are blown their cover, then they would be executed for lying. If they didn’t move, then they were really dead. After each fight the stained red sand would be removed and a fresh new deposit of sand would take its place. The Colosseum was the pinnacle of entertainment in ancient western civilization and it so happened to be in Rome.
Lastly, Rome was one of the greatest cities in ancient time because of its security.

The city of Rome was the heart of the Roman empire and must have been protected at all times. Many of the other states in ancient western Europe built their cities on the coast for the riches of trade, but the Romans knew better and place Rome less than twenty miles inland away from the threat of sea invaders. Then, instead of finding a random spot they found the best defendable location along the Tiber river. According to David Macauley “Two large ditches were dug along the furrow and the dirt was heaped into a high mound between them.” With this mound of dirt they built stone walls approximately thirty three feet, on both sides of the mound. These walls were one of the strongest walls in the world during that time era. The wall was approximately eleven feet thick. Comparing Rome’s walls to those of other cities in the time period, such as Carthage and Thebes. Carthage was being six feet thick and forty five feet high and Thebes didn’t have any walls. The inner wall was raised several feet higher to protect the city from any projectile weaponry such as arrows, stones, or even spears. According to David Macaulay “The inner was several feet higher than the outer wall to block the path of rocks and arrows that might be fired into the city.” They then proceeded to build a heavy wooden reinforced door called a portcullis to be the entrance into Rome. Along each side of the door were giant watch

towers that stood over the entrance into the city. Rome’s magnificence is also shown through the soldiers that defended the walls. Rome’s walls had hundreds of men proficient in the use of a bow and they also had legionnaires within the walls for support in case anybody that makes it through. Rome’s walls were equipped with ballistas, which were giant crossbows. These bows fired an enormous five foot arrow out in any direction that the Romans were pointing. They were massive enough that they required a crew of men to operate one of the ballistas properly. With strong walls and strong soldiers Rome seemed impenetrable. Rome was even located further inland and was as easy to become invaded by sea raiders. Much as Carthage, Egypt,a and the Greek city states. All were subject to be raided by anybody in ships. Even Rome’s security along the outside of its water was impressive. During that time period Carthage had one of the best ships know during that time and Rome had some of the best soldiers. The Romans cleverly designed a ship after the Carthaginians and added a heavy, wide board with a spike, to the front of the ship. This board was to securely attach the Roman ship to the ship of their enemies. Rome at the time wasn’t big into sea warfare as the other countries were, such as everyone in the Mediterranean. This act of protecting their waters around present day Italy. Shows that their ability to defend the peninsula from invaders, then the city of Rome was just that much safer. Also with Rome’s water guarded the only route into the heart of the empire was to travel on land through the Apennine Mountains. This mountain’s unforgivable nature made it hard for any nations to safely transport an army through. There are numerous reasons on why Rome has stayed prosperous and untouched from war for so long.
The city of Rome was built with the some of the greatest structures in the world. The structures were the aqueducts, colosseum, and the security of Rome. Rome had the many miles of stretched concrete that carried the water from the southern mountain lakes. The aqueducts have served their purpose for the people of Rome by transporting the much needed water for their extravagant life compared to the rest of the world and they also had the astounding Colosseum. The Colosseum gave the people of Rome entertainment with the blood of animals and gladiators. These men were among the most skilled, feared, and famous fighters throughout Rome. These men were treated like celebrities in Rome for their competitive sport of death. Rome’s own respectable walls, soldiers, and