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After the Greeks, the biggest influence was Rome. So much of Rome's legacy is still visible to us in the world today, the codification of the laws, the organizational skills required to run an empire so vast evolved into modern bearaucracy. Their engineerings skills, creatinfg aqueducts and a system of roads of roads that still exist today, and there are severral places the aqueducts the Romans contsructed are still being used. The skills available created armies that were the most advanced and well organized for centuries for many centuries after the fall. Much of what we know as language in Western Europe is based on Latin. Much of this reading will also be familiar with you, think of it as revisiting an old friend who you haven't seen for some time, that brings back many fond memories.
I also wondered if Mr. Durant has considered a list of additional reading, or supplementary selections. Since the list was first compiled almost 80 years, there are a lot of things that are not covered by the list today. Additions to the list will certainly be something to think about and consider as this website progresses.
The world we live in today would be very different if there hadn't been a Roman emipre to rise and fall, with a Catholic Church to step in behind it and take up its authority. The influence of the Church over the next millenium could not have occured without the empire as its foundation. Mr. Durant's passion for the study of history should inspire us all to learn more about this vast and wonderful world that we live in.
GROUP 4: ROME
8) Breasted and Robinson's "The Human Adventure"
Continue reading Volume 1 of Selection #8, Breasted's "The Conquest of Civilization," finishing chapters 20-30.
5) H.G. Wells' "The Outline of History"
Resume reading Selection #5 completing chapters 27-29.
16) Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Men"
Resume reading Selection #16 and read the lives of Cato(the Younger) (2), (Cato)Censor (aka. the Elder) (2), Tiberius and Caius Gracchus (3), Marius (2), Sylla (2), Pompey (3), Cicero (4), Caesar (3), Brutus (4), Antony (4).
27) Lucretius "On the Nature of Things"
Read the entire selection.
"On the Nature of Things" Volume 1 from The Internet Archive
"On the Nature of Things" Volume 2 from The Internet Archive "On the Nature of Things" Volume 3 from The Internet Archive 28) Virgil "The Aeneid"
Read the entire selection.
29) Marcus Aurelius "The Meditations"
Read the entire selection.
12) Henry Smith Williams' "History of Science"
Resume reading Selection #12 Volume 1 completing chapters 10-11.
11) Elie Faure's "History of Art" (Group 2)
"Decline and Fall" Volume 4 from The Internet Archive Resume reading Selection #11 Volume 1 completing chapter 8.
30) Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
Read chapters 1-4, 9-10, 14, 15-24, 26-28, 30-31, 35-36, 44 and 71.
"Decline and Fall" Volume 2 from The Internet Archive
"Decline and Fall" Volume 3 from The Internet Archive |
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This Day in History
This Day in History
provided by The Free Dictionary
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