What did the Romans ever do for the Greeks?

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve Amici.

 

A little variant from the original thread.

 

Any ideas?

[Northern Neil]

Salve Amici.

 

A little variant from the original thread.

 

Any ideas?

 

Game them a wondeful capital called Constantinople which became the envy of the world, and a sense of Empire that lasted until 1453.

[Primus Pilus]

Oddly enough, several centuries of border security, at least after Mithridates.

[Ursus]

Imposed unity on them, for one thing. Greek freedom was often nothing but the freedom to fight petty turf wars with each other.

 

For another thing, preserved and spread their culture to some degree.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Anything on the cultural or technological side?

[Minerva]

Anything on the cultural or technological side?

 

Aqueducts? e.g the remains of the one at Mytilene are thought to be from the Augustan era. But i'm honnestly not sure whether the Greeks had them already.

[Primus Pilus]

In the imperial period, Nero focused some considerable attention on Greece, though it was less of a cultural influence than what appears to have been his own preference. Hadrian in particular though was responsible for an extensive building program throughout Achaea. I suppose we could classify it as a sort of restoration of former classical architectural glory. He also instituted the Panhellion, an attempt to re-unify the various political factions of the province, but it doesn't seem to have ever amounted to much and likely didn't survive Hadrian.

[Klingan]

Very well chosen topic A. I have seen so many What did the Romans ever do for us, this is most refreshing.

 

Anything on the cultural or technological side?

 

Aqueducts? e.g the remains of the one at Mytilene are thought to be from the Augustan era. But i'm honnestly not sure whether the Greeks had them already.

 

My favorite subject, water technology!

 

Anyway most Greek cities was well supplied with water already before the Romans entered the picture and they proved that they had potential for long distance water transporting through most notably tunnels. They also had aqueducts.

 

There are two main differences between Roman and Greek water technology;

 

- The scale. The Romans made it all far larger, complex and advanced.

 

- A pressure system vs a free fall system. The Romans preferred pipes of lead for the in-pipes to make use of the pressure. The Greeks on the other side used basically pots as pipes, leading the water in a gentle slope downhills. This was never changed and the Greeks never took in the use of lead-pipes.

 

The conclusion must be that the Romans took inspiration from the Greeks and other neighbors (as the Etruscans) developing their system, then they took it a few steps further in scale and sophistication and spread it to most parts of the empire. However Greece itself were never incorporated in the urban system tradition and even as they did get aqueducts on several places, that was hardly anything new in the Greek world.

[Minerva]

Imposed unity on them, for one thing. Greek freedom was often nothing but the freedom to fight petty turf wars with each other.

 

Yes, Tacitus records an arbitral transaction that shows this though it appears not too important. In 25 A.D Sparta and Messenia were still contending over the territory in the borderland between the eurotas valley and Messenia, Which was the same cause of the outbreak of the Messenian war 800 years before. After 8 centuries, it was Rome that finally settled the matter by giving its posession to Messenia.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Imposed unity on them, for one thing. Greek freedom was often nothing but the freedom to fight petty turf wars with each other.

 

For another thing, preserved and spread their culture to some degree.

Basically, almost all that spread Greek culture (Sophocles, Socrates, Phidias, Aristophanes and so on) came from the petty turf warf period, not from the imposed unity periods, no matter if the imposers were Roman, Persian or Macedonian.

[Faustus]

The most important thing Rome did for ancient Greece was to pass on their Civilization to the west, better than they could have done it for themselves:

[ In his book A History of Private Life

Edited July 10, 2008 by Faustus

[Northern Neil]

Why the Romans? Because their civilization is supposed to be the basis of our own? I am not convinced of that: Christianity, technology, and the rights of man are far more important than anything the Romans have left us.

 

I would have thought that Christianity is probably one of the biggest legacies Rome has left us (and the Greeks), invented as it was by a Roman citizen from Tarsus, adopted and shaped to its definitive form by the Roman state.

Edited July 10, 2008 by Northern Neil

[caldrail]

Why the Romans? Because their civilization is supposed to be the basis of our own? I am not convinced of that: Christianity, technology, and the rights of man are far more important than anything the Romans have left us.

 

I would have thought that Christianity is probably one of the biggest legacies Rome has left us (and the Greeks), invented as it was by a Roman citizen from Tarsus, adopted and shaped to its definitive form by the Roman state.

 

I would think you were right, since the christian church preserves roman rituals and customs, not to mention some very roman attitudes. However - concerning the 'rights of man' - such things only exist when a culture decides they're worth achieving. A dictatorial government doesn't want Man to have Rights at all - it gets in the way of their decision making.

 

The british culture is an amalgam of celtic and germanic origin, with some roman influence lurking in the background, mostly in legal, religious, and educational areas. You can't really claim a political link because that was broken within fifty years of the roman withdrawal, when british government had collapsed and was taken over by innumerable petty kingdoms run by tribal warlords, although I do accept there were people trying to restore roman rule in spite of the prevailing anarchy.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, Amici. Let me see if I got it straight on the Greek culture spread.

 

Practically all the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, southern Italy (Magna Graecia), Sicily and the area surrounding Massalia and other Greek colonies (ie, in eastern Spain) were, by definition, Hellenized previous to the Roman conquest.

At least to some degree, that was probably also the case for Carthage and its dependences.

 

Do you consider the spread of their culture to the remaining Roman territories conferred any particular benefit or advantage to the Greeks?

Edited July 10, 2008 by ASCLEPIADES

[Faustus]

The most important thing Rome did for ancient Greece was to pass on their Civilization to the west, better than they could have done it for themselves...

Salve, Amici. Let me see if I got it straight on the Greek culture spread.

 

Practically all the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, southern Italy (Magna Graecia), Sicily and the area surrounding Massalia and other Greek colonies (ie, in eastern Spain) were, by definition, Hellenized previous to the Roman conquest.

At least to some degree, that was probably also the case for Carthage and its dependences.

 

Do you consider the spread of their culture to the remaining Roman territories conferred any particular benefit or advantage to the Greeks?

The advantage that comes from being at the cultural center of a unified whole (an empire or cosmos) as compared to that of being an