What is so "ancient" about Rome?

When people think of Rome they always think of Ancient Rome. There are many reasons they think of this because a lot of how we live today came from Ancient Rome. Ancient means “of or in time long past, esp. before the end of the Western Roman Empire.”(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ancient) Since Rome started a long time ago it is referred to as ancient. A lot of things that are still used in modern day came from ancient Rome but have been modified since then. Rome also has a lot of stories telling us how Rome was started and they believed in many ancient gods.

A lot of our history comes from the Ancient times in Rome. The story of Romulus and Remus was the story about how Rome began. They were abandoned twins and they were both brought up by a wolf. When they got older they decided to found the city where the wolf raised them. They both fought over where they should put this city and then Romulus killed his brother Remus. He then decided to found Rome and that is how Rome was named and founded. (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/romulus_and_remus.htm)This story is just a legend, meaning it is not true, but Rome has many stories like this explaining things in an exciting way. These stories go way back into the ancient times which mean that most of roman history came from the Ancient times. Now you might think why is it always Ancient Rome that comes to mind first not another old, big city? Well in the ancient times Rome was the city with the biggest population. It had over one million people living in it and this city had a lot of power and advanced quickly. Rome also had a lot of very big and important buildings. Some of these buildings are still standing today and they are extremely old. Sometimes people think of an old person being ancient. Well in this case the old buildings are considered ancient especially since they came from the ancient times in Rome.
A lot of the technology and ideas we use today came back all the way from Ancient Rome. Now of course they are not exactly the same as the ones they used back then. They have been modified lot and by a lot of people to get them to the stage where they are today. The idea and a lot of the technology today did come from the Ancient Romans. The Romans started roads so people could get to places. Now in modern times we have roads everywhere and many different types of roads. The Romans made many tools that helped them in their everyday life. We still use tools today that came from them except we have modified them. Also there has been a lot of time for us to modify the tools they used in Ancient Rome. In some cases we modified so much that it is just a machine and there isn’t really much manual work for us to do. In Ancient Rome they modified there government a lot. It turned out to be a pretty successful government and our government today resembles theirs in many ways. All of the technology and things we use have had to come from somewhere and Ancient Rome was one of the biggest influences on everything we use. (http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_roman_inventions.htm)
Overall Ancient Rome is “ancient” in many ways. They have some of the most ancient history. There is history that dates back farther than that time but some of the greatest advances in history were during the ancient Roman time. They were one of the most important cities in the ancient times and they had a big influence on many things. Also a lot of our technology comes from them and it has made a huge impact on the world today.

source:

"Ancient | Define Ancient at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ancient

"Ancient Roman Inventions." Truly Rome Apartments in Rome. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_roman_inventions.htm

"Romulus and Remus." History Learning Site. Web. 05 Mar. 2010. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/romulus_and_remus.htm