Great Roman inventions that shaped the Modern World

Despite the fact that the period of Rome’s great expansion ended almost 2.000 years ago, we still have some Roman inventions used in the modern world. Some of them could surprise you, and some of them could make you think that it was easy to invent something like that. But don’t forget the fact that they had at the time different kind of intelligence level and different kind of knowledge that we have today. It was also much harder to put into practice the idea of a new invention.

So, let us don’t waste time and get into exploring the coolest inventions in use today.

1.The Roman Numerals

        Yes, the name gives it away. Despite Arabic numbers were introduced in Europe by Al-Andalus in the 11th century, Roman numerals proved to be very persistent and were used long after the fall of the Roman empire until the 14th and 15th century, then they were replaced by the more convenient Arabic numbers. The reason? Arabic numbers were much easier to use and they were far more convenient. Some of the Roman numerals are still in use today in certain contexts, such as:

  -page numbers

  -sequels to movies

  -occurrences that record big events

  -name of Popes or Monarchs

-Generational suffixes

2.The Julian Calendar

        As the name suggests, the Julian Calendar was implemented by the Great Julius Caesar in 45 BC. Caesar had always been interested in the idea to introduce a new scientific timeline. He proposed the Julian Calendar in 46 BC and the edict accepted it one year later. The calendar itself was based on numbers, and it worked on a system of 12 months:

   -Ianuarius

   -Februarius

   -Martius

   -Aprilis

   -Maius

   -Iunius

   -Quintilis(Iulius)

   -Sextilis(Augustus)

   -September

   -October

   -November

-December

        The 7th month of the year was later named as Iulius in the honor of Julius Caesar because it was the month of his birth.

The Julian Calendar was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar as the main calendar of the world in 1852 by Pope Gregory XIII. Reform was required because too many leap days are added with respect to the astronomical seasons on the Julian scheme.

The Julian Calendar is still in use today in many Orthodox Churches.

3.Newspaper(Acta Diurna)

        We can not say that the Romans invented the newspaper because there was no paper at the time, but they had something even cooler. The Acta Diurna, which is attributed to Julius Caesar, and we could describe it like a daily government Gazette inscribed onto stones.

The Acta had two different contents:

-governmental, like court news

-personal, like births, deaths, marriages

The Romans also preserved the documents for lately research purposes.

4.Sewage and Sanitation systems

        Oh yes, it sounds crazy that more than 2.000 years ago the Romans had something like that. They were the first to use proper toilets and underground sewage systems. During the height of the Roman Empire, there were seven major sewers running out of Rome, and the structures can be found even today underneath the city.

        Waste was flushed with the help of water brought into Rome on Aquaducts and flowed through a central channel into the main sewage system and thence into a nearby river.

The Roman baths and the sewer systems suggest that the Romans took personal hygiene and public health very seriously. The sewage system was so advanced that it remained virtually unchanged until the 19th century.

5.Fast food Restaurant(Thermopolia)

        Despite the Romans may have not lived such a fast-paced world that we live today, they also needed fast food restaurants which were known as places with a bad reputation, but they provided fast and cheap food for the poor Roman citizens. Some of the locations were fancier than another. They had decorated back rooms, functioning as dining rooms, but most of the times people who came here preferred to eat the food on the run.

What did the menu contain? Some handy snacks to eat on the go such as lentils, meat, cheese, fish sauce served with a type of warm spice wine.

6.Traffic signs

Traffic signs were introduced by the Romans on their roads in order to make trade and military traveling easier. They erected stone columns throughout their empire, which contained information like distances and directions such as the traffic signs today.

7.Using Arches to build structures

The Romans were not the only ones in history to build arches, but they were the ones who realized that using arches to build structures is the most efficient way. Arches also had a reduced cost, because they needed less material than a horizontal wall for example.

8.Laws

        Yes, it may surprise you, but Romans were politically very strong and established some laws that we still use today.

        Examples of laws that were part of the Roman judicial system:

 -Habeas Corpus: is a recourse through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether the detention is lawful.

-Pro Bono Publico: professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment.

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