1. Empire-The first great achievement was obviously the Roman's vast empire. It stretched over 3 continents. It also lasted for a long time. 1101 years...and if the Eastern Roman Empire is included in the number, it would be 2078 years!
2. Army-The Roman Legion was perhaps the most powerful army ever. They were capable of defeating armies much larger than themselves with simple weapons. They had shields, spears, and swords, not tanks, airplanes, battleships, nuclear warfare, etc. like today
3. Modern Cities-The Romans were the founding fathers of many great cities today. Examples include London and Cologne.
4. Great Builders-The Romans were revolutionary builders, engineers, architects. They constructed aqueducts, roads, baths, walls, amphitheaters, temples, arches, cities, palaces, etc. Many of these structures still stand and are used today.
5. Latin-As Rome conquered, their language followed. As the empire collapsed, other languages and empires arose from what was left. Latin gave birth to many other languages, and was the official language of business for a long time.
6. The Alphabet-We use much the same alphabet today as the Romans used, with the additions of the letter "W". Roman numerals are also still used today.
7. Law-Roman law was a great institution. It included the Twelve Tables and the Justinian Code. Rome created many of the laws that we take for granted today. The Romans wrote twelve basic principle laws down on brinze, which came to be known as the Twelve Tables. Later, Emperor Justinian refined many of these laws, which were finished in AD 529 and came to be known as the Justinian Code.
