We had dear friends round for dinner this evening, and as usual, we started chatting about everyone’s favourite topic, the Roman Empire.
Now, a lot of people have terrible takes about the Romans; pretty much anyone who talks about the Collapse of Rome has no idea what they’re talking about (there is a 1300 year gap between the death of Julius Caesar and the fall of Constantinople). But JT, our guest, was onto something when he commented how the Romans weren’t particularly big on science or innovation.
Sure, they had cool things like arches and aqueducts, but they’re more of a product of engineering. Meanwhile, the Greeks were on the forefront of all things scientific, mathematic, and technological. Roman spears in 1200 AD weren’t that far away from what they were chopping Gauls up with in 12 BC.
Why? Well, the going theory is that the Romans didn’t believe they had the power to innovate; breakthroughs were instead gifts from the gods. Layer on top a complete dominance of the known world, and the need to innovate just wasn’t there. Finally, what they lacked in technological progress they more than made up with in management and leadership; their ability to turn hordes of men into world conquering fighting units was largely based on training, tactics and discipline, not a slightly sharper spear.