Greek Influence In Roman Culture

[Guest spartacus]

Apparently the Greek way of life was held in high esteem by many Romans including Emporers, who even had their children tutored by Greeks!

 

But the question is, is how far into Roman culture where the Greeks absorbed?

[skel]

i think could easily agrue that they were almost one in the same...

[Fatboy]

Well, the fact that the Romans considered themselves decendants of refugees from the trojan war shows the prestige value of all things Hellenistic to the Romans.

They emulated Greek culture, appropiated their myths and legends and even merged their respective pantheons of gods.

Any self respecting Roman nobleman wanted to be connected with Greek civilisation in any way possible - they wished they were Greek, or more accurately wanted to be seen as the successors to Greek civilisation - it gave them credibility when throwing their weight around at the very least

By the same token, the Greeks came to consider themselves Roman. Even by the fifteenth century, with the original

( western )Empire dead a thousand years, only a brave man would address the Byzantine Emperor as King of the Greeks.

Although they spoke Greek, lived in Greece and had almost nothing in common with the long dead Latin Empire, the people of the resilient eastern Empire still considered themselves as Romans. So, yeah, they were thoroughly absorbed in to Roman culture

[pompeius magnus]

The biggest reason for the big influence from the greeks was most likely the Greek colonies in southern Italy as well as the sending of 2 romans to Greece to copy Salon's laws around 454 BCE incorporated Greek law with Roman law.

[Ursus]

The educated Romans would have been immersed in Hellenic culture. But most Romans weren't educated. I can

[Olympia]

In anycase, even if Roman culture was deeply influenced by the Greek one, Roman never accepted Greeks for different reasons...

First of all they know Greeks had a more elegant culture and they dind't accept their sexual costumes...

My teachers taught me that Romans invidiated Greeks (like before they hated the Etruschi (sorry, I don't know the English word...)).

[Ursus]

Invidiated? Sounds close to the Latin word for "jealous."

 

You mean ... envied?

 

Some Romans probably envied the Greeks. Others were probably sincere in their belief that Greek cultural values undermined traditional Roman concepts of virtus.

[Marcus Regulus]

I think the fact was the Romans had a better political system and midset for conquest and backed it with what could be termed one of the best professional armies of the time. The Greeks did everything else better -- language (as evidence by the fact that more people spoke Greek than Latin even at the height of the empire), culture, music, poetry and especially philosophy still rulled in Athens not in Rome.

 

The Roman's knew this an copied everything Greek but changed the names to Latin. The only person to really disrespect the Greeks was Sulla who burned the city of Athens, but the funny thing is he took all the Greek stuff with him. I don't know it was more of Rome taking Athens and moving it to Rome in a lot of ways.