Your opinions of Rome...

[Barreldriver]

I'm curious to see how others view the Roman activities throughout ancient Europe. For a while I had a bitter prejudice towards the Roman's for invading a great portion of Europe and the acclaimed destruction of ancient tribes at their hands, however when I take another glance I feel a sort of mysticism towards Rome.

Roman military prowess was astonishing, their weaponry excellent, the vast nature of the Empire jaw dropping. I often ponder, if I were an ancient Celt or Germanic warrior and were put into Roman military service and subject to Roman citizenship would I feel bitter or proud?

At first I had thought bitter, but after further thinking I had concluded that I would have felt a sense of power, after all I would have been allied with one of the greatest forces to ever present itself on Earth and I cannot deny the beauty of the Empire, the monuments, the tech. and the security offered by being a "Roman".

Then I wonder how much of "Roman" beauty is lore and myth, and how much is fact. I see Rome as a symbol of the power of unification of European tribes, under Rome many of the absorbed cultures were still able to flourish via the absorption of foreign cults into the Roman religious varieties yet remain secure under the might of a great Empire.

I can honestly say I am torn between support and distaste towards Rome, and nonetheless I can say I am intrigued. Please feel free to share your opinions.

[Gooding]

I'm curious to see how others view the Roman activities throughout ancient Europe. For a while I had a bitter prejudice towards the Roman's for invading a great portion of Europe and the acclaimed destruction of ancient tribes at their hands, however when I take another glance I feel a sort of mysticism towards Rome.

Roman military prowess was astonishing, their weaponry excellent, the vast nature of the Empire jaw dropping. I often ponder, if I were an ancient Celt or Germanic warrior and were put into Roman military service and subject to Roman citizenship would I feel bitter or proud?

At first I had thought bitter, but after further thinking I had concluded that I would have felt a sense of power, after all I would have been allied with one of the greatest forces to ever present itself on Earth and I cannot deny the beauty of the Empire, the monuments, the tech. and the security offered by being a "Roman".

Then I wonder how much of "Roman" beauty is lore and myth, and how much is fact. I see Rome as a symbol of the power of unification of European tribes, under Rome many of the absorbed cultures were still able to flourish via the absorption of foreign cults into the Roman religious varieties yet remain secure under the might of a great Empire.

I can honestly say I am torn between support and distaste towards Rome, and nonetheless I can say I am intrigued. Please feel free to share your opinions.

No real problem with them on this end, really. I think the whole Roman mystique is probably done to death by now, but I've no issue with them.

[Birka]

I like your thoughts on Rome and come to much the same conclusions. They had a very brutal empire. You either bowed down to Roman rule or were eliminated. An unmatched length of rule, best military of their time.

But, how many European cultures did they destroy? On the other hand we only know of many of these groups of Europeans only because of Roman records.

[Barreldriver]

I like your thoughts on Rome and come to much the same conclusions. They had a very brutal empire. You either bowed down to Roman rule or were eliminated. An unmatched length of rule, best military of their time.

But, how many European cultures did they destroy? On the other hand we only know of many of these groups of Europeans only because of Roman records.

My thoughts too, and it's not like Rome forbid native traditions, heck they even absorbed some of them lol.

Sometimes I think a "new Rome" would be good for us, preservation of our people, cultures, and security by numbers.

[Svarog]

My thoughts on Rome, to sum it up in the first sentence, negative and impressive, contradictory opinions are always present when it comes to Rome, if Ancient Greece is considered a cradle of European civilization, Rome can be considered as a cradle - of filth - in European civilization. I can't help it but to think about Roman social perversion and immoral nature first when it comes to this thread and about everything else later, and by that I certainly do not mean on sexual perversion although when it comes to that Romans were kind of sick too, homosexuality, incests and orgies in front of everything.

When it comes to culture I also have no respect for Rome as most of it was copy-paste from the Greeks mostly with minimal effort to change a thing or two, also, a piece of Roman culture came with each Barbaric nation conquered, they would take whatever they like, from religion to simple customs, Romans... just when you take a look who were the first elite citizens of Rome and how did all of they got where they did, it's not much to be surprised off.

Even military of Rome as impressive as it is was took from elsewhere tho they did invented many things and their style of waring is one of the things I do respect, also, how their country was organized most of the time as it really had it bad moments, 'their' architecture, again, a lot was took elsewhere and many actual workers were not Romans but the slaves of the empire, when i think about it, I don't really have any positive opinions about Rome

Tho.. I did shorten this up as I just woke up and am too lazy to type and think

edit: now when i kind of woke up and read whole thread i realized I completely missed the subject hahaha I read the title your opinions on Rome but what i did not get is that it is meant on their activities aka waring policy, will reply later, gotta work now

later

[Tabiti]

Like every huge empire with its rise, power and decadence...
I think one of the main reasons for Rome's decadence was the creating of a multicultural capital city, which led to its liberalization in moral, sexual, racial, religious and etc way.
However, Roman culture seems to be one of the most advanced in the Ancient world when it is about architecture, philosophy, arts, public laws, politics. In few words: Roman empire was a modern state in the Ancient world with all its advantages and disadvantages.

[Barreldriver]

My thoughts on Rome, to sum it up in the first sentence, negative and impressive, contradictory opinions are always present when it comes to Rome, if Ancient Greece is considered a cradle of European civilization, Rome can be considered as a cradle - of filth - in European civilization. I can't help it but to think about Roman social perversion and immoral nature first when it comes to this thread and about everything else later, and by that I certainly do not mean on sexual perversion although when it comes to that Romans were kind of sick too, homosexuality, incests and orgies in front of everything.

When it comes to culture I also have no respect for Rome as most of it was copy-paste from the Greeks mostly with minimal effort to change a thing or two, also, a piece of Roman culture came with each Barbaric nation conquered, they would take whatever they like, from religion to simple customs, Romans... just when you take a look who were the first elite citizens of Rome and how did all of they got where they did, it's not much to be surprised off.

Even military of Rome as impressive as it is was took from elsewhere tho they did invented many things and their style of waring is one of the things I do respect, also, how their country was organized most of the time as it really had it bad moments, 'their' architecture, again, a lot was took elsewhere and many actual workers were not Romans but the slaves of the empire, when i think about it, I don't really have any positive opinions about Rome

Tho.. I did shorten this up as I just woke up and am too lazy to type and think

edit: now when i kind of woke up and read whole thread i realized I completely missed the subject hahaha I read the title your opinions on Rome but what i did not get is that it is meant on their activities aka waring policy, will reply later, gotta work now

later

In reality not all subjects of Rome were slaves. Many were willing allies seeking the security of being "Roman". As was the case of many Germanic chiefs. Others were not comfortable with it and events took place like those at Teutoburg and Gaul.

[Galloglaich]

Rome's longevity, ingenuity, might, and overall impact upon our civilization are due some accord of respect, however I just can't help but feel some kind of instinctual antipathy towards the Roman civilization. I think it's rooted in my disgust at the modern nation state and the concept of empire for which the Romans set such a looming (proto) archytype. I'm just not a Statist.

Roman culture seems too homogenizing for me. Some people are wowed by the imperial majesty of imagining legion upon legion of Romans lined up in all their military finery. For some reason that idea kind of makes me sad and repulsed. My ideal would be somewhat more tribal and more pro-individual. I'm a barbarian at heart.

[Barreldriver]

Rome's longevity, ingenuity, might, and overall impact upon our civilization are due some accord of respect, however I just can't help but feel some kind of instinctual antipathy towards the Roman civilization. I think it's rooted in my disgust at the modern nation state and the concept of empire for which the Romans set such a looming (proto) archytype. I'm just not a Statist.

Roman culture seems too homogenizing for me. Some people are wowed by the imperial majesty of imagining legion upon legion of Romans lined up in all their military finery. For some reason that idea kind of makes me sad and repulsed. My ideal would be somewhat more tribal and more pro-individual. I'm a barbarian at heart.

I hear you out their, I guess I prefer the "barbarian" mind set, however I love Rome's military success. So perhaps a Barbaric Rome? Tribal politics, more individual based, however with a military capability to mirror or exceed Rome's.

[Útrám]

An empire reigns over the weak, that's what it does. IMO Rome's struggle honed the skills of other Europeans to quite an high extent; If they would just have sat around and established rapports cultural development would have been impeded.