10/26/2012 The Preservation of Culture

by Sissy Nunez

Should languages and civilizations be preserved after most of the people of said culture are imprisoned or dead?

So, we first look at the most extreme example for a benefit.

Rome.  The most concreted faction that gave the undoubtedly the most advancements from almost all cultures,spanning from western civilization, across the ocean again, and back to Islam as far as advancements in invention, medicine, language, and public works go.

Before the sacking of Rome in 410 A.D., Romans had access to running hot and cold water, sanitation that had kept disease more minimalized,and medicine that allowed people to keep living productive lives after serious infection,possible brain trauma,amputation,etc.  The people also had public works like roads and aqueducts, as well as a public system of welfare.

Latin could be easily translated to Greek at the time to help with the language barrier, as implied through the great Library of Alexandria.  The loss of this civilization set us back over a thousand years in terms of the things I mentioned--invention, science & medicine.  The rudimentary observations made by Galen, the surgeon to Marcus Aurelius in the second century and a father to medicine through his works, although largely lost (which is why we should preserve), were still implemented until a reignition of interest in the 16 century, which led us to research his implications and thus led to the expansion of modern medicine.  The loss of sanitation and public works aided the spread of plagues and the deterioration of cultures in general in large expanses.  

The collapse of rome also aids in loss; the unification of language throughout many countries at the same time, with the perpetuation of empires like Rome to flourish at the cost of other civilizations, destroys other cultures and languages--the Gauls, Picts and Celts, to name a few.  Only recently, 2000 years later, is Ireland trying harder than ever to revive Gaelic.  Many of the rituals, practices,and cultures of these people are seen as pagan or new age, and for the most part not taken as seriously as, say, Christianity, as a direct result as the flourish of the Roman Empire and its conquering different countries and dissolving their countries and cultures for the good of Rome.