Major Ancient Civilizations
Senior 4 · History
Major Ancient Civilizations
Lesson 5 of 5
25 min
The first piece of evidence for this lesson is in front of you. Every letter you are reading is a letter of the Latin alphabet, the alphabet of ancient Rome. So is every letter of a Kinyarwanda word such as Muraho. The history of these letters is a history in miniature of how ideas travel:
Historians trace the chain like this: the Latin alphabet grew out of the Etruscan alphabet; the Etruscans had taken a version of the Greek alphabet used at Cumae, a Greek colony in Italy; the Greeks had adapted the Phoenician alphabet, adding letters for vowels for the first time, from the late 9th or early 8th century BCE; and the Phoenician alphabet in turn derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs. The chain starts in Africa and returns to Africa: Europeans brought the Latin alphabet to Rwanda, where it is now used to write Kinyarwanda, English and French.
Definition
Legacy: something handed down from the past that still shapes the present: institutions, ideas, words, buildings or customs. A legacy can be positive or harmful.
Classical: belonging to ancient Greece and Rome. Neoclassical: a later style that copies classical models, such as columns and domes on government buildings.
Etymology: the origin and history of a word. Example: "democracy" comes from Greek demos (people) and kratos (power).
| Field | Greek or Roman origin | Where you meet it today |
|---|---|---|
| Government | Athenian democracy; the Roman res publica ("public thing") and its Senate (from Latin senex, old man) | The Republic of Rwanda; its Parliament's upper house, the Senate, has 26 members serving eight-year terms |
| Law | The Twelve Tables and Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis | Civil-law systems across continental Europe and beyond; Latin terms still used by lawyers |
| Language | The Latin alphabet; Greek and Latin roots | Kinyarwanda, English and French in Latin letters; French grew out of spoken Latin; words such as history (Greek historia, inquiry) and geography (earth-writing) |
| Science and medicine | Euclid's geometry; Hippocratic medicine; Latin as the language of learning | Geometry in your mathematics course; doctors' ethical oaths; Latin scientific names such as Gorilla beringei beringei, the mountain gorilla of the Virunga volcanoes |
| Time | The Julian calendar (45 BCE); July named for Julius Caesar (44 BCE), August for Augustus (8 BCE) | The Gregorian calendar, a 1582 modification of the Julian, used across the world, including in Rwanda |
| Architecture | Columns, arches, domes, concrete | Neoclassical government buildings, banks and churches around the world |
| Sport and the arts | The Olympic Games (from 776 BCE); drama: tragedy and comedy | The modern Olympics, first held in Athens from 6 to 15 April 1896; Rwanda has competed in every Summer Games from 1984 to 2024 |
A legacy is not always a gift. Three harmful inheritances matter for an African student:
Rwanda was never part of the Greek or Roman world. So how did the Latin alphabet, the Senate, the Gregorian calendar and Christianity, which became the state church of the Roman Empire in 380 CE, reach Kigali? Mostly through Europe, and mostly in the colonial period: German and Belgian rulers and Christian missionaries brought European languages, schools, churches and forms of government (Units 5 and 7 of this course). That makes the classical legacy in Rwanda a second-hand legacy, filtered through colonialism. Since independence, and especially since 1994, Rwandans have chosen which parts to keep and adapt: a Senate, but one that reserves seats to represent historically marginalised communities; a Latin alphabet, but used to write Kinyarwanda; the Olympic Games, joined in 1984 as an independent nation.
Warning
Influence must be traced, not assumed. "Rwanda's Senate comes from Rome" is too simple. The word and the idea of an upper house of elders do come from Rome, but Rwanda's Senate was designed by Rwandans in the Constitution, to meet Rwandan needs. In legacy answers, show the route by which an idea travelled and what changed on the way.
Tip
The legacy formula: Then (the Greek or Roman original, with a date) → Route (how it travelled: Rome, the Church, European empires, colonial rule) → Now (a named example today, ideally Rwandan or African) → Judgement (helpful, harmful or changed). Four sentences, one strong paragraph.
Important
Discuss. Which legacy of Greece and Rome matters most to Rwanda today: democracy, law, the alphabet, science, or the Olympic ideal? Choose one, then argue against your own choice for one minute before you decide.
TED-Ed, "The ancient origins of the Olympics", by Armand D'Angour. Watch for what stayed the same and what changed between the ancient Games at Olympia and the modern Games revived in 1896: a legacy reshaped, not copied.
Practice
Key points
Further reading
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the analysis, the alphabet diagram, the table, the case study and the exercises. This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Put the alphabets in the order in which each grew from the one before, earliest first.
Tap the cards in the right order.
