How do you think an ancient Roman would react if they were to somehow be transported to today's world? Do you think it'd be mostly positive or negative? I'm fairly certain a few emperors would be very happy to see how they're remembered and a few extremely displeased.
I think Justinian I would be incredibly happy with the global influence he had. Although it took many years, he’s arguably shaped the world more than any other Roman ruler due to his Corpus Juris Civilis.
Claudius would be happy to see how historians think of his reign,a stuttering fool at the start but grew into the role despite all the plots against him but invaded Britain although it took a lot longer than expected to bring the tribes to heel. Nero and Caligula won't be remembered well but somehow i doubt either of them would give a toss about that.
Constantine would probably be very pleased to see how profound an influence he had on the world post-conversion. Someone who'd probably be characteristically furious is Constantius II, whose reputation is largely due to the hugely unkind sources for his reign, but it's clear that he was an effective, conscientious ruler who fulfilled his role as Emperor with great enthusiasm. If he could read what was said about him and how relatively unknown he is today, he'd probably wish he'd purged more men outside of the imperial family. Ditto Domitian whose reputation and rule was very similar to that of Constantius. Justinian would I am certain wish he'd put Procopius' head on a spike but again he's well-remembered. However, I suspect he'd disapprove of the judgement of history that his rule in the end weakened the empire by over-extending its resources, creating massive problems for his successors. In terms of how they'd view the world. Well there's no empire and there's no Emperor, it's a world they wouldn't recognise in even basic terms. They'd probably also be pleased and confused as to why Latin is still inscribed on our coinage and public buildings, despite the population not knowing the language or what it even means.
Well, it depends on if the Roman is from pre-Empire era or not. I can see Romans from the Republic era being pretty pleased with how prominent democracy is in today's world. Cincinnatus, for instance, would be pretty pleased to see a major city in an entirely unknown continent being named after him. Heck, the Republic era Romans would probably be proud of the Roman influence on America - Some Founding Fathers used to sign off documents using the name Publius, so he's another fella who'd probably be happy. They'd dislike the lack of a patronage system in today's democracies though. That wouldn't make sense to them. Closest thing we have is folks working for companies, but the Romans would be appalled by the lack of support on both ends of employment. As others have brought up Christianity, I wonder if Romans from the Byzantine era would be pissed that we've become a more secular world? They'd of course probably die of a stroke once they hear that Constantinople is currently occupied by Muslims. Pre-Christian Romans would obviously be more concerned that its not Roman territory any longer without caring much about the Muslim part. I have a feeling they'd also be much more happier to see today's secular world. It's interesting to think about how unhappy ancient Romans would be with the Byzantines to be honest. They wouldn't really like the Byzantines IMO. Finally, I'm sure Romans will be surprised to see how prominent the backwater of Britannia eventually became but they'd also be unbearably smug about it. I'm sure they'd take all the credit for it - same goes for France, Spain, Portugal, heck Western Europe in general. I also wonder how their reaction would be to Germany. They wouldn't be surprised to see the Germans as the villains of the World Wars I imagine. It's actually interesting how European history panned out now that I think about it. All the Western Roman provinces did splendidly well for themselves in the Colonial era but Germany, never Roman territory, didn't match that success. Following on from that, I also wonder what their take would be on Colonialism. They'd be all for the so called "civilising" of barbarians after all, but in contrast to the Colonial powers, Rome extended citizenship and general acceptance to the "barbarians" much more willingly and happily. The Colonial powers never really, or only extremely rarely came close to that. All in all, I imagine they'd be pretty pleased. While the Empire is dead and Rome the city itself is radically different, the vast majority of the world feels at least Roman influence. Really, apart from China and Central Asia, Roman values live on everywhere else, albeit in vastly different quantities of course. In many ways, Rome still lives on.
I wonder how Commodus would feel about Gladiator...or would they ask where did all the dodos go? As has been said some emperors have come out much better than others, probably unfairly so in some cases although we'll never know. Piss off folks like Tacitus, Plutarch and Livi and you'll be hated for all eternity I suspect that they'd be absolutely amazed with just how big the planet is and the sheer diversity of the continents. They'd probably kick themselves at having not realised that an absolute treasure trove of fuel and energy potential was underneath their feet (kind of). It's been mentioned already that dependant on the era of the Roman the religious make-up of the planet would amaze and baffle equally. They would also be utterly flabbergasted at the role women now play in (most) societies. What would be the one 'thing' that would gain the biggest reaction if it was shown to them? A plane? A gun?
Planes and the whole concept of aerial warfare. I can see Roman soldiers and generals being eager to fly a fighter jet as soon as they saw one. And of course, nuclear weapons. It'd be interesting to see their reaction to nukes, especially because nukes are one of the biggest reasons we don't have wars between superpowers like we used to right up until WWII. The Romans were inherently pragmatic but they still liked their wars, so it'll be interesting to see how quickly a Roman general would have taken to the concept of mutually assured destruction.
