>>212830053Yes, Every ancient empire was brutal and relied on slave labor, but Rome is uniquely mythologized by modern Western culture as the ultimate model of civilization.
Again, Rome's so-called law and order was a facade masking rampant corruption, exploitation, and a violent cult of personality around emperors. Their economy was parasitic built entirely on endless conquest and slave labor, incapable of innovation or sustainability. Also Technological progress stagnated because reliance on slave labor discouraged real development.
Recruitment failures forced them to arm the very barbarians who would later destroy the empire from within. This desperate move came because Roman citizens increasingly refused military service, tired of endless wars and poor conditions, forcing Rome to rely on outsiders they once considered uncivilized.
For example, Gladiator games and blood sports reveal a society obsessed with violence, not progress. they reflected and reinforced a society obsessed with violence and conquest, a war-addicted state that glorified bloodshed over genuine progress
In addtion Rome's cultural achievements were largely borrowed from the Greeks, repackaged and spread across their vast empire. While Rome excelled at engineering and administration, much of their art, philosophy, and literature were adaptations rather than original creations, revealing a civilization more reliant on cultural appropriation than innovation.
To praise Rome without acknowledging these brutal realities is to glorify a failed, oppressive regime that survives today only as a misleading myth to justify imperialist nostalgia
