Rome and Romanization
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
This assignment gives you the opportunity to practice determining the purpose and function of artifacts in order to create your interpretation of a specific historical development-Romanization.
Discuss the impact of the process of Romanization on the Roman world. Identify at least two examples of cultural structures that were patterned across Roman-conquered cities. Cultural structures can include physical features of Roman-ruled cities, practices, policies, ideas, or any artifact that was used to shape the conquered regions.
Discuss how these structures impacted daily life, which may include politics, economics, or social roles. Describe how and with what intent these events were “memorialized” or used in the cultural arena.
Step 1: Choose two appropriate sources. At least one source must come from the CSU Online Library. The Academic Search Ultimate and eBook Academic Collection databases in the CSU Online Library would be good places to start your search. If you need additional help with using or locating information in the online library, there are library video tutorials available on the main page of the online library under the heading “Research Guides.” Resources from outside of the library should be credible and peer-reviewed and cannot include Wikipedia, Biography.com, History.com, any type of message board, or other similar encyclopedias.
Step 2: Complete your research. Choose one interesting development that illustrates the main point that you want to make about your chosen physical structures, practices, or ideas. Gather details about your choice. For example, what types of buildings were first introduced in Rome, and why were they purposely replicated in other, smaller cities?
Step 3: Draw conclusions from the details you found, and prepare your thesis. A thesis is prepared after you have completed your research and gathered enough information about the chosen structures. You should sit back to think about what it means to see the influence on culture. Your thesis statement should offer your reader the overall insight into the use and impact of the structure on Roman development.
Use the following guidelines to help decide on your thesis.
- Ask yourself about how the cultural element (idea, practice, or structure) was shaped by its time period and environment.
- Ask yourself how the structure impacted the lives of the people around it, the general public, and the immediately following period in the history of Rome.
- Find the perfect specific example to demonstrate the qualities of the structure you would most like to show.
Step 4: Write your essay. Your essay must be at least 500 words in length. All sources must be referenced and cited according to APA guidelines.
Be sure to consider the following guidelines in your essay.
- The introduction should engage the reader and clearly present the essay’s thesis and summarize the main points that clarify your point of view. The last sentence of the introductory paragraph should be your specific thesis.
- Organization should clearly present points arranged to illustrate your opening thesis. Paragraph order and organization should clearly present points arranged to illustrate your opening thesis rather than to narrate the chronological story.
- Writing should be clear and concise with no spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors.
- The number of sources should meet or exceed any expressed assignment requirements, and the sources should be peer-reviewed or academic in nature. At least one source must be from the CSU Online Library.
- APA guidelines should be used for reference entries and in-text citations.
If you need assistance with writing or formatting your essay, there are additional tutorials and webinars available in the myCSU Student Portal through the Writing Center. All other questions should be directed toward your professor.
Resources
The following resource(s) may help you with this assignment.
SAMPLE STUDENT ANSWER
Impact of Romanization
Romanization was defined as the process of adopting the Roman culture and ways of living by native people the Romans found when invading foreign lands (Nicols, 1987). The term was coiled by Francis Haverfield who noted that Romanization was a process where territories occupied by the Romans were being civilized. Romanization impacted the lives of natives in various ways as discussed in this essay.
One of the ways Romanization impacted natives is religion. Romans brought with them many religious activities that the natives adopted. Nicols (1987) noted that Romans were primarily polytheistic in that they worshiped and recognized many gods and goddesses. Mars, the god of war and Jupiter, the highest are among the Roman gods that were adopted in areas that the Romans conquered. Romans also spread Christianity throughout their empire. Through romanization, many people turned to Christianity. Christianity became a major Roman religion and was strengthened by people such as Paul of Tarsus (Wiesner-Hanks et al., 2019).
This religion spread to various parts of the world conquered by Roman emperors. Another way Romanization impacted natives is language. The main Roman language was Latin. Before the invasion of the Romans, the natives had their indigenous languages. However, through the Romanization process, many areas conquered by the Romans started to communicate in Latin and decades later, Latin became the official language of the entire Roman Empire (Adamik, 2021). The Latin language influenced many areas including science and health. Many of the scientific names are named in Latin today.
Roman leaders ensured that various Roman cultural artifacts were present across Roman-conquered cities. Latin language and Christianity are examples of cultural strictures that were patterned across Roman-conquered cities. Latin impacted the daily life of the natives politically, socially, and economically. The language became one of the primary languages in the Mediterranean region (Adamik, 2021). Those who did not know Latin could not be employed in Roman Republic positions. They also had difficulty associating with other people or doing business because most of the individuals in Romanized societies communicated in Latin.
In other words, Latin was used as the main way of communication in the cultural arena, and thus those who did not know this language had hard problems conducting their daily activities. Christianity practice also changed how the conquered people used to view spirituality and religion (Wiesner-Hanks et al., 2019). In most regions, natives believed in many gods (Nicols, 1987). They worshiped many gods who stood for different functions. However, the introduction of Christianity influenced them to adopt the practice of believing in one God and eternal life. These concepts were new to many regions. However, as the Roman leaders continued to expand their empire, the faith continued to spread.
In conclusion, Romanization highly impacted the culture and practices of the natives. For instance, the natives had to adopt Latin, a new language which became the mother tongue of the Romans. The provinces had to learn Latin to interact easily in the Roman Empire. Christianity also changed how natives viewed spirituality and religion. They had to believe that there is eternal life and one God.
References
Adamik, B. (2021). Romanization and Latinization of the Roman Empire in the light of data in the Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age. Journal of Latin Linguistics, 20(1), 1-19.
Nicols, J. (1987). Indigenous culture and the process of Romanization in Iberian Galicia. The American Journal of Philology, 108(1), 129–151. https://doi.org/10.2307/294918
Wiesner-Hanks, M. E., Crowston, C. H., Perry, J., & McKay, J. P. (2019). A History of Western Society, Concise Edition, Volume 1 (13th Edition). Macmillan Higher Education. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781319112547
Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
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