Empires by their very nature tend to be run by selfish cliques of aristocrats who ruthlessly exploit those under them. One reason people admire the Romans is that they were ahead of their time in many ways. Ancient Rome had a population of over a million people. This was due to an efficient waste didposal and water system. No European city reached this size again until AD1800. The Roman road network was not equalled until the late 1700's. The biggest masonary domes ever built were the Pantheon in Rome and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (now Istanbul)It was not until around AD1400 that comparable structures were built. The Romans pioneered huge public buildings such sports stadiums like the Colosseum or Circus Maximus that were only equaled in the twentieth century.Of coarse, the "sports" that went on in them were not something that we would want to repeat today. Roman medicine was very advanced for its day.It was not until the AD1500'S that the works of Galen were surpassed.Many have argued that the level of medical care avialable in Ancient Rome was not surpassed until about AD1900 in modern cities. For several centuries, the Romans tried to rule without kings and set up the Worlds first attempt at representative government in around 590 BC. They also pioneered the idea of secular law that is still with us today.

Rome was great but not great when it came to morality.