http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRItkwRom101RomeHeritage.html
Ancient Rome Unit X:
Our Roman Heritage -- Western Civilization

Cum Grano salis: Did Rome discover America?

Roman artifacts in the Western Hemisphere Unquestioned authenticity but definitely questionable "context" -- provenance The Calixtlahuaca head -- Internet darling
http://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arch/calix.htm and
http://archaeology.about.com/cs/ethics/a/context_2.htm and
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&newwindow=1&safe=off&client=googlet&q=calixtlahuaca+head Or maybe the Carthaginians were in America? http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/carthage-new-world.htm has a number of Internet links but none with any particular rigor. Why should we care now that we have incontrovertible evidence that there were folks here at least 10,000 and maybe 15,000 years sooner than either the Romans or Carthaginians werearound?

"Roman" art and architecture in the US Art Almost everything we think of as "Roman" is actually much more modern*, with "Roman references." Folks were not actually duplicating Roman Rather they were trying to evoke thoughts of Rome, either by including Roman "attributes" or by identifying persons represented as Roman deities or persons. Examples: Relief on the façade of the Supreme Court; Mosaics in the "members reading room" in the Library of Congress;
Washington and Lincoln statuary -- are they cult statues of deified rulers? [a piece of Rome's Servian wall, sent to Abraham Lincoln by the people of Rome in 1865, is now built into the wall of the Springfield Illinois Lincoln Tomb. What was the situation in Rome of 1865?] Architecture Actually the architecture is usually what is classified as Greek Revival Greek influence, but through Rome Romans themselves were fascinated with Greek art, architecture, etc.
Romans claimed to have sprung from Troy -- see early units about origins -- but their view of Troy was Homeric, i. e., Greek Etruscan architecture was déclassé
(Romans also fascinated with Egypt, but as an effete oriental opposite to virtuous manly Greece) We think of Greek revival as Roman because of transmission route Marcus Vitruvius Pollio http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/1.html Full text
Vitruvius (Preface to book VII) listed a man named Ictinos as the architect of the Parthenon and said that Ictinos and another man, Carpion wrote a book about the Parthenon, but it, along with other Greek sources are lost. (See
http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2000/0802/culture_3-1.html) Andrea Palladio "Four Books" http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2000/0802/culture_3-1.html There's also a matter of scale that makes things more "Roman" Both Roman and US structures are bigger Parthenon was remarkable as the "100 foot Temple ("hekatompedos") for its 100 ft wide façade.
Colosseum was 620 ft by 5 13 feet about the same size as many columned government buildings in Washington Some Washington/US structures are pure Roman in style and feeling "Coliseums" and circuses
"Bath-like" railway stations Union Station in Washington
Also like the Basilica of Maxentius,
But that building itself was derivative of baths DC Subways -- grotesque (i.e., grotto-like) architecture in Roman size spaces

Latin terms and phrases in English usage "Professional" terms In law
In sciences Especially biology, astronomy, chemistry -- old sciences that were established when Latin was still the language of science;
But less so in math, physics, etc. -- perhaps more Arabic than Latin influence;
A "chemical" anomaly -- nobody knows whether the root is Greek of Semitic: There are appropriate ancient precursor words in both. "Alchemy" = al kimya? Common usage often have simply leaked out of the professional categories
Etymological factors Should we rant because classical languages are no longer widely taught?

Transfer of "Roman" ideals and ideas into the early American republic Important to remember that the founding fathers had a strong classical grounding
Also important, 17th century "Enlightenment" drew heavily on classical ideas Lenin would have identified the enlightenment as a "top-down" movement Cincinnatus -- gets absolute power, but isn't corrupted Who was this man, and did he really ever exist? Did it/Does it matter if he existed? Ideal more important than the existence of the person Message of Cincinnatus emulators: pick me and I won't take advantage
Washington as Cincinnatus Society of the Cincinnati -- its purposes and how it was used
Washington didn't exactly "campaign" -- just kept showing up in the uniform he had taken off Grant or Eisenhower? Grant I've read contemporary accounts of the Grant campaign and find no references to his running as Cincinnatus, but he did have a horse with that name while in office. The statue of Grant in front of the Capitol shows him on Cincinnatus. (He had another named Jeff Davis that he rode during the war -- captured in a raid on Jeff's brother's farm.) Eisenhower Was he a Cincinnatus? Was Truman (who actually did just go home after serving)? Is there a Cincinnatus in this year's election? Clark and his people talked it up a lot.
Kerry's military political ads Are there really folks who think what the US needs is a benevolent military dictator?

The Twelve tables Original Roman tables First ten tables, then two more First ten from an initial committee dominated by Plebs
Last two from successor committee dominated by Patricians Results were predictable, but still important because they codified pre-existing rights and because they were always available to the public -- in the Forum then in the Tabularium then in all forums US Bill of Rights Demanded by some states as precondition for ratifying 1789 Constitution 12 amendments proposed by new national Congress -- conscious copy of Roman tables: rights listed and available to the public Only numbers 3 through 12 immediately accepted Second proposal adopted 200 years later: 27th Amendment -- Congressional pay First proposal concerned number of persons in a congressional district and was never adopted -- and nobody's pushing it

Complex constitution Polybius -- history, personality, connections, longevity, cryptography Didn't invent anything -- merely noted that Rome had managed what some Greek philosophers advocated
Description of Roman system as a successful way to avoid anacyclosis American founding fathers were familiar with Polybius Jefferson made sure -- sent copies to Constitutional Convention from Paris
Montesque was also debated by the Convention -- and he had cited Polybius
Founding fathers knew, of course that the Roman system had failed And they knew why and sought a way to avoid it in US: Permanent civilian control of the military
Biggest test in recent years was Truman's firing of MacArthur Test of time? ---- We're still much younger than Rome was when the republic failed Republican train-wreck started about 100 BC -- the Roman Republic was a little over 400 years old
We've been running on this constitution only since 1789 -- 225 years -- and we had that major civil war before we were half our present age
Internet Links for this unit: Adams Letters 30 and 31-- Ancient Republics and Opinions of Philosophers
  http://www.constitution.org/jadams/ja1_30.htm and

http://www.constitution.org/jadams/ja1_31.htm


Adams -- Defense of the Constitution
 

http://www.constitution.org/jadams/ja1_00.htm


Latin Phrases and words used in English
 

http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/englatin.htm


Twelve Tables in Latin
 

http://www.rome.webzone.ru/ius/library/twelve/twelve.html
 

and in English
 

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/12tables.html


and a summary table of the tables, with excerpts
 

http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/12tables.html


Library of Constitutional Documents
 

http://www.constitution.org/liberlib.htm


Origins of Modern Constitutionalism -- Wormouth, the whole book
 

http://www.constitution.org/cmt/wormuth/wormuth.htm


Polybius and the Founding Fathers: the Separation of Powers
 

http://www.sms.org/mdl-indx/polybius/intro.htm


The Histories of Polybius -- surviving books and fragments -- full text in English
 

http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/home.html


Polybius -- who was he and why should we give a hoot? (by tkw)
 

http://www.mmdtkw.org/VPolybius.html


Polybius 6.11-18 Constitution of the Roman Republic (Porter trans.)
 

http://duke.usask.ca/~porterj/DeptTransls/Polybius.html


Rome in the American and French Revolutions -- images
 

http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~tjmoore/imagesofrome/18thcentury/index.html


Rome in Fascist Italy -- images
 

http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~tjmoore/imagesofrome/Mussolini/index.html


Rome in US art and architecture -- images
 

http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~tjmoore/imagesofrome/19thcentury/index.html


Library of Constitutional Classics
 

http://www.constitution.org/liberlib.htm


Montesquieu--Consideration on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline
 

http://www.constitution.org/cm/ccgrd_l.htm


Origins of the constitution
 

http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/OriginsoftheConstitution/index.shtml


Origins of the US Constitution
 

http://library.thinkquest.org/11572/origins/index.html?tqskip1=1


American Philosophy in the 18th and 19th Centuries
 

http://www.unm.edu/~rgoodman/american.html