I know it's a broad question, i'm just curios about the Romans from a broader perspective. What would an alien looking at rome think in reference to other empires/cultures etc ?
I feel like this is a very difficult question to answer- purely because I can only consider it from the Western perspective. As I don’t know the relationship other cultures have with their history, it is difficult to make a judgement on even if we do view Rome as special, or whether our relationship with the culture is similar to say, the Iraqi’s with Ancient Sumer.
Having studied Ancient History, I can’t honestly say I have noticed anything particularly special about Rome. They certainly were a large, and mostly successful empire, but I feel the same could be said for Assyria, Persia and probably many others.
The special nature of Rome does likely derive from the western perspective. I think it is important to understand the role Rome played in the formation of modern states- and particularly the Roman church. After the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, the state and church became incredibly connected. People were not willing to forswear their Roman identity entirely, and subsequently Christian Rome maintained its ties with Pagan Rome in its art, architecture and self-identification. While Christianity certainly wasn’t inclusive of Paganism, a lot of Roman Pagan symbolism can be found in Early Christian and Medieval art.
With many Christians seeing themselves as Roman, and the debateable head of Christianity being centred in Rome (quite when the Pope became recognised as the head of the Catholic Church is a question I have not yet been able to find an answer to) the empires successor states mimicked Rome (or Byzantium, the new Rome). The Roman Empire seems to have become a concept even, rather than an entity. Charlemagne was crowned ‘Emperor of the Romans’ in 800, despite other societies claiming they were the true successors of Rome.
With these early states, the Franks in what is now France, and the Visigoths in Spain etc. maintaining a connection with the Roman empire, Rome never really fell out of the consciousness as a Great city and empire. The Roman Empire was strongly tied to religion, and due to the continued identification of Late Antique and Early Medieval people as being Roman, the Pagan Art and Architecture was still admired. Thus, Rome has become solidified as a great empire in the west, at least partially due to its tie to the Christian church.
I've often thought this about this too. Both for the Romans and the Vikings.