Culture+&+Traditions

= Culture & Traditions ** Maddie Dignam and Andrew Fitzgerald ** =

Ancient Roman culture revolved around it's famous seven hills; Aventine Hill, Caelian Hill, Capitoline Hill, Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Quirinal Hill, and Viminal Hill. As well as it's monumental structures. Surprisingly, Romans had Gymnasiums, Theaters, and Public Baths. Ancient Romans also had many traditions of their own, just as we do today. Many of our traditions are evolved from some of theirs.

One Roman Tradition was the naming of their Children. At birth, Children were given three names. As we know it, A first, middle, and last name. Today we think nothing of our last names, besides the connection it gives us to our family. In Ancient Rome, the handing down of the family name was treated with great respect. It was very honorable, and a celebration would be held. The child was given trinkets that were believed to ward of evil spirits. Roman children played many games similar to those children play today. Rattles, Balls, See-saws, kite's, and forms of yo-yo's were used. They played game's such as tic-tac-toe, as well as forms of red-rover and leap frog.

An interesting Roman tradition were the family homes. All members of a family lived in one home. Including the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and great grandparents. Lower class families lived in apartment-type buildings called Insulae. Insulae consisted of two rooms used mainly for sleeping. The apartments had no running water or plumbing systems. Upper class families lived in large homes with spacious courtyards called a Domus. All of the rooms in a Domus would surround the central courtyard. Especially wealthy families would even decorate their homes with colored walls and mosaics. We can relate to that today with the size of our homes. Wealthier people live in expansive homes while middle class families live in modest houses. Below is a virtual tour of a wealthy families home or 'Domus' media type="youtube" key="WCo5nA4rZag" height="390" width="480"

Romans got some of their ideas for their architecture from the Etruscans, when they brought their ideas to Italy in the 12th century. Romans discovered that the use on concrete was much more practical in making arches, aqueducts, and temples than stone was. They added volcanic ash to their concrete mixture to strengthen it. The ancient romans buildings were strong and durable. media type="youtube" key="lND7_c6my30" height="390" width="480"

  What Makes Roman Culture Roman Culture is the collective beliefs, traditions and lifestyle of a civilization. This is a very broad definition and the term cultural achievement can be used to describe almost anything that a civilization accomplishes, ex. The’ Arch de Triumph’ in Paris could be described as a major cultural achievement by the romans as they transformed a once simple gaulic town into a major city and the capital of a major Province once the home of a great many tribes most of which posed a major threat to the existence of the republic at one point or another. A huge example of Roman cultural superiority over other groups and nations is the sheer staying power of Roman creations, ex. Roman Maps of the world were used by Magellan during his circumnavigation of the globe in order to find the Spice Islands. Rome has shown that it is the father of modern life, without roman technology then modern life would be impossible. Many modern traditions are derived from their ancient roman variants such as the idea of representative government or the hatred of tyrants. These ideas have traveled across time, throughout history into the modern day. Almost all of the ideas that are thought to be purely Roman are adapted from other nations and civilizations. Such as the Roman variants of philosophy could not exist without their Greek equivilants.