In the early republic social divisions determined the shape of politics. Political power was in the hands of the aristocracy - the patricians. They dominated the affairs of state, provided military leadership in time of war, and monopolized knowledge of law and legal procedure. The common people - the small farmers, artisans, and landless urban dwellers - had few of the patricians' advantages. They did, however, have a voice in politics but were mostly overshadowed by the patricians. One of the greatest institutions of the republic was the formation of the senate, a council of noble elders who advised the king. The creation of several assemblies

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Another of the Roman's greatest contributions was their large amount of art. They created forms of art; fine tuned other existing forms to suit their needs, and created an extensive body of literature. Roman art in it's heyday was a pinnacle of human artistic achievement and it is truly a shame that hardly any of it still exists. Roman literature is often overlooked because it is compared only to the Greek literature that the Romans tried to emulate. They did have their masterpieces though. Virgil's Aeneid is arguably one of the greatest epic poems in history as it competes on the same literary plane as Plato's Republic and Homers duet epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Romans also enjoyed plays as the Greeks did, and had playwrights of its own. Roman science was unremarkable while their architecture and engineering was quite amazing. The rich had running water and there were extensive sewer systems. During construction they also made use of the arch and the dom

Some common words found in the essay are:
Roman Empire, Odyssey Romans, Romans Roman's, Empire Revival, Virgil's Aeneid, , Empire Roman, roman law, Bill Rights, Republic Homers, civil law, historical roman, influence roman, punished action,
Approximate Word count = 700
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)