The Gifts of Rome

The Roman emperor is gone; the ancient city of Rome was destroyed; the Roman Empire has disappeared. But the Romans gave us words and inventions that we use every single day. You’re using one of them right now! How many books do you have in your house? How often do you use a book?

The Romans were the first people to use books with pages.

The words you’re reading came from the Romans too. We use the Roman alphabet to write our words. Whenever you sing The Alphabet Song or write a word, you are using the letters that the Romans used.

Do you know the twelve months of the year? Most of those months have Roman names. January is named after the Roman god Janus. March is named after Mars, the god of war. June is named after Juno, the most important Roman goddess. July and August are both named after Roman heroes: July is named after Julius Caesar, the famous Roman general, and August is named after Augustus, Rome’s first emperor.

Do you like to go swimming in the summer? If so, thank the Romans. The Romans built big bathtubs, big enough for twenty or thirty people to wash in at once. These bathtubs were the first swimming pools.

If you look at a US penny, you’ll see that it has the picture of a head on it. The portrait is of Abraham Lincoln, one of the United States’ greatest presidents. The Romans began the custom of putting the heads of great leaders on coins. They put pictures of their emperors on their coins. Today, we put pictures of our leaders on coins—copying the Romans.

Now look at a dime. On one side of the dime, you can see some tiny words: E pluribus unum. Those words are in Latin, the language that the ancient Romans spoke. They mean “Out of many, one.” This means that America has many different states in it, but all of the states are united together into one country. The Romans gave us these words to write on our coins.

We live on the Earth, but there are seven other planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

All of our planets have Roman names. They are named after Roman gods and goddesses. Jupiter was the king of the gods. He was a big, important god, and Jupiter is a very big planet. Mars is named after the god of war; Mercury is named after the messenger of the gods, and Venus is named after the goddess of love and beauty. Saturn is Jupiter’s father. Neptune is the god of the sea, and Uranus the god of the sky.

Finally, even our words come from Rome! The English language borrowed many, many words from Latin, the language of the Romans. Can you figure out what English words come from these Latin words?

The frigidarium was the room where Roman bathers jumped into very cold water. What word sounds like frigidarium and keeps things cold? The refrigerator!

A Roman child lived in a familia with his mother, father, sisters, and brothers. What is a familia? A family.

The Latin word for book was liber. What word sounds like liber and is a place where books are kept? A library.

In Latin, a ship is a navis. Do you know what word comes from navis? It means “many ships that sail together.” That’s right—navy.

Have you ever written “P.S.” at the end of a letter? If so, you’ve used Latin words. “P.S.” stands for the Latin words “post scriptum,” or “after the writing.” A “P.S.” goes after the main writing of the letter.

In Rome, a floris was a beautiful plant that smelled good. Can you think of a beautiful plant that smells good and sounds like floris? Our word “flower” comes from the Latin floris.

Even though the ancient Roman Empire is gone, we use the words, inventions, and ideas of the Romans all the time. So, in a way, Rome will never completely disappear. The gifts that the Romans gave to us are still with us today.

Note to Parent: Romulus Augustus ruled 475–476.