James Douglas
12/13/06
Take home Exam
Roman Life

5. The Roman culture not only serves as the model for our society in the United States today, it has been the culture that has had the single biggest impact on the culture of the United States as well. It could be our stance on war with other countries, it could be the way our cities are set-up, or our very way of life; every facet of our life is directly in influenced by the Roman ways and ideas. Rome had a very harsh stance on the war with other countries. After defending and later defeating Carthage in the Punic Wars, the Romans decided that they might as well launch a series of pre-emptive strikes on other countries to eliminate any threat that may or may not arise. This is exactly what the United States of America is doing in the Middle East right now. The United Sates went in to the country of Iraq with the intention of preventing any threat of ever arising. The U.S. had evidence that there might be some weapons of mass destructing, so they went in the country as a pre-emptive strike much like Rome did with its neighboring country such as Gaul. Rome also takes over countries in a manner similar to the United States. The Romans would take over a country and would give them a choice to either become Romans or they would destroy the entire city. The United States acts in a similar manner in that they force democracy on a country; democracy is just as good becoming part of the U.S. because the U.S. sticks around makes sure they act in an acceptable manner. The United States city structures directly resemble the city layouts of ancient Rome. Rome was known for a very organized grid of streets with the market places in the middle of the city along with any important buildings. This made for a very busy town center where citizens could easily get all that they needed. This is much like the downtown of any