Rome Stuff You Need to Know The Legions The Roads The Law The Latin

All Roads Lead to Rome First paved road called via Appia (Appian Way) over 310 000 km of road built 5

Roman Law: The Twelve Tables Rome was among few societies that developed laws that were codified (written down) and fully analyzed by jurists In response to pressure by the ordinary people to break the monopolization of the law by the patricians and upper class Twelve Tables: written 450 BCE in Latin Most laws related to civil matters Formed basic legal procedures and appropriate punishments Roman law still distinguished between rich and poor, freemen and slaves 6

Latin For the next thousand years Romans spoke Latin, which spread throughout the Mediterranean Greek was the only other language to survive Latin still to this day has a strong presence in language of medicine and law e.g. Canis lupus familiaris For the next thousand years Latin was the language of Roman government and legal system became the international language of the Christian church education and scholarship 7

Examples of Latin Veni, vidi, vici “I came, I saw, I conquered” Alter ego “another I” Bona fide “in good faith” Et cetera “and other” Cerebrum “brain” Exit or exeunt “He / she / they go out” Habeas corpus “you must have the fact / body of the crime” Via “by way of” Vice versa “the other way around” Et al. “and others” 8