Is it just me, or was Roman Republic/Empire record keeping quite impressive?

Question

it seems we know much more about the Romans, their movements and the exact dates... than we know about many groups that were around long after the Roman Empire collapsed...

we seem to know much about their battles and wars.. and the actions surrounding them... and they seem to be much more factual and less bias, on the whole, than most other historical accounts from anywhere near the same period...

Answer 1

The Romans were known for their meticulous record-keeping, and they have left us with a legal tradition that endures to this day. They apparently were most known for this kind of tradition of nationhood as we know it. In fact, though, the Roman numerals were primitive compared to the Arabic numerals. The Romans used little more than a counting system, and you needed this chess board-looking machine called a tabulating machine in order to more easily keep track of assets!!! After Arabic numberals make thier way from the east and the zero is invented that revolutionizes everything b/c now u can count a number infinitiely large or infinintely small with ease!!!mathematics takes off!!!!! just add a zero!!!!!

Answer 2

I don't think that we know more about the Ancient Roman Empire than we do about later political entities like the Medieval Holy Roman Empire. We have far more records from the Middle Ages than we do from Ancient Rome. Infact, it is due to the meticulous scholarship of medieval scribes that a lot of the ancient manuscipts were preserved. We can certainly construct life in the Late Roman (Christian) empire than we can do in the Classical period.

Answer 3

We do know a bit and more so as time goes on. However, there is going to be a bias in the Roman reports. Also, there have been a couple of time periods where there is little to no writing of.

Answer 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA4vc853khU