欧洲文化入门

This term we have learned the history of European culture,harvesting a lot.Especially the roman culture is so enlightening to think about the rise and fall of Rome Empire deeply.

First,we need kow some basic knowledge of roman culture.The Romans had a lot in common with the Greeks. Both peoples had traditions rooted in the idea of the citizen-assembly, hostile to monarchy and to servility. Their regions were alike enough for most of their deities to be readily identified. Their languages worked in similar ways, and were ultimately related, both being members of Indo-European language family which stretches from Bangladesh to Iceland.There was one big difference. The Romans built up a vast empire, the Greeks didn’t.

Now,let me introduce you the history of rome.Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, and centered at the city of Rome, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world.It came to dominate South-Western Europe, South-Eastern Europe/Balkans and the Mediterranean region through conquest and assimilation.AS we all know ,there are some famous old says coming from rome like ‘Do as Romans do,Rome is not set up in a day.All roads lead to Rome.’and so on.

753BC, Rome was founded at Italian peninsula,was originally a small town of the east coast of the peninsula west of the Tiber River.Also,Aeneas, a prince of Troy and son of the goddess Venus, who was ordered by the gods to escape from Trojan War. After many adventures and dangers, including visiting the Underworld, he arrived in Italy, where he fought to establish Rome.506BC ,Republicwas established in rome,after more than two hundred years.The Roman Forum, the political, economic, cultural, and religious center of the city during the Republic and later Empire, now lies in ruins in modern-day Rome.The first civil war was between Julius Caesar and Pompey(庞培) the Great.Pompey lost and was murdered in 48BC as he stepped ashore in Egypt.Caesar returned to Rome in 46 B.C. and had full support of the army and the massesIn 44 B.C. Senate appointed him dictator for 10 years. He has absolute power.Caesar, having introduced many reforms to the Senate, to Rome and to the government of provinces, was assassinated in 45 BC, because he was suspected of wanting to destroy the Republic by making himself king.The war promoted growth to the rome empire. First is The PunicWars (264-241&218-202 BC):Romans defeated the Punics.Second is War in Greece: freed Greece from Macedonia domination, enslaved Greeks and made Greece a province of Rome, making rome become an alliances with states ,meaning provide protection to their civics.By the middle of the 2nd century BC, Rome was the strongest Mediterranean power. It had territory from Spain to Asia Minor and influence in Egypt and North Africa; it had become an empire.

The year 27B.C. divided the history of Rome into two periods: before then, Rome had been a republic; in that year, Octavius took supreme power as emperor with the title of Augustus. Two centuries later, the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent, encircling the Mediterranean, reaching Scotland in the north and spreading into Armenia and Mesopotamia in the east. The emperorsrelied on a strong army--the famous Roman legions -– and an efficient bureaucracy to exert their rule, which was facilitated by a well-developed system of roads. Thus the Romans enjoyed a long period of peace lasting two hundred years, a remarkable phenomenon in history known as the PaxRomana.

What I write is what about rome. Of course,that is not enough.