They learned and appropriated. People and cultures that think anything foreign is evil don’t tend to advance.
The Romans weren’t some progressive legend. But they integrated and distributed knowledge and technology expertly, and were genuine innovators in their chief technology, that of scaled administration.
> When I was growing up we were taught the Romans' own imperial myth that they had built upon nothing
Why do you think this says anything about the Romans versus the context in which you were educated? Is there a single historical source from Republican, Imperial or Eastern Rome you can point to that claims Rome was built on nothing (other than the founding of Rome)?
They identified as conquerors. You don’t get a triumph for shooing some goats off a hill.
They learned and appropriated. People and cultures that think anything foreign is evil don’t tend to advance.
The Romans weren’t some progressive legend. But they integrated and distributed knowledge and technology expertly, and were genuine innovators in their chief technology, that of scaled administration.
> When I was growing up we were taught the Romans' own imperial myth that they had built upon nothing
Why do you think this says anything about the Romans versus the context in which you were educated? Is there a single historical source from Republican, Imperial or Eastern Rome you can point to that claims Rome was built on nothing (other than the founding of Rome)?
They identified as conquerors. You don’t get a triumph for shooing some goats off a hill.