Posted By admin on February 28, 2010

Hellenistic Greek Roman

Some ideas on Greek influence on the Romans?

For my essay tomorrow, I have to discuss the Greek influence on the Romans, but we have only gone through Greece in class, can anyone tell me some major influences?

Also can someone tell me what is the difference between the "Hellenistic Period" and "Hellenic"?

Romans primarily borrowed and adapted high culture from the Greeks, mainly the Athenians. Romans put on Greek plays and modified Greek plays to create Roman drama, mainly in the plays of Plautus and Terence, who were a generation apart between c220-160 BCE. Romans were heavily influenced by Greek philosophy as well. Plato was, of course, widely read and studied in Rome, but by the Augustan Period (27 BCE - 14 CE), the Hellenistic schools of Epicureanism and Stoicism were the most popular philosophies in Rome. Romans also valued Greek religion and epic. All educated Romans learned Homer in Greek, and the Roman nation epic Aeneid is essentially a sequel to Homer with a political twist.
As philosophy meant not only Ethics and Metaphysics as we tend to think, but Physics and Astronomy as well in antiquity, Romans used Greek mathematics and physics to develop large scale tools and architectural features.
Romans also copied Greek art in mass. Most examples of Greek art that come down to us are Roman marble copies of Greek bronzes from the Classical Period.
In architecture and technology, however, Romans looked not to imitate, but to surpass the Greeks. Their buildings, especially aristocratic homes, were far more elaborate and substantial. Their public works were far more developed- the best public works projects until the very recent modern age were those of the ancient Roman empire. Roman theatre buildings were self-contained where Greeks built theatres into natural slopes. The Roman political system did not resemble Greek democracies.

Hellenistic Period refers to the time after the death of Alexander and before Sulla's sack of Greece, 323-c100 BCE.
Hellenic simply refers to the Greek speaking ancient Mediterranean. When thinking of ancient Greeks, you really shouldn't think in terms of Greece, but Greek-speaking communities. Greeks from the Bronze Age until the Hellenistic Period existed not as a country but as independent cities that shared a common language and religion. This loose association of Greek-speaking poleis was known as "Hellas," which is the name of Greece in Greek today.

Category: Antiques
Tags: art, greek, hellenistic, history, roman