How Did Greek Culture Influence Roman Civilization

Greek culture had a tremendous influence on most of the ancient cultures and empires of the ancient world and Rome was no exception, especially after Alexander the Great becoming King and a uniting force which brought control, prosperity and a Greek identity to all of the Greece, his expeditions and conquest created a transfer of knowledge, culture, traditions and people to and from Greece and the occupied territories.

Many historians agree that around 500 BC, the Roman people began to adapt Greek ideas and Greek cultural influence overtook the original Roman culture they realized the benefits they could reap from adopting the knowledge and wisdom of the great Greek philosophers, with passage of time Greek culture touched shaped and influenced every aspect of the Roman civilization from government to arts.

Government:

The most visible and obvious Greek cultural influence on Rome was an adaptation of a democratic form of government, the concept of democracy was introduced, adopted and established in Greece. The Romans adopted this democracy concept, tweaked it using there interpretation and started

using the concept in there government.

Religion:

Greek religious beliefs and practices had a profound and lasting effect on the romans, the romans borrowed the Greek religious concepts, myths and Gods, made some changes and adopted it as their religion.

The Greek myths and god remained same in functionality , but had different names eg.

Greek God Zeus became Roman god Jupiter, similarly Greek God Poseidon became Neptune, Goddess Aphrodite became Venus. These Roman God names became our solar system's planet names in modern times. These Roman gods played either similar or very much the same roles as their Greek counterparts. Other than the Greek gods, the Romans also adopted the idea of the Oracle at Delphi a holy woman who would supposedly act as medium and interpreter to send and receive messages to and from of the gods, priests and powerful people would goto the oracle for consultation and to ask god for favors. The Roman oracle was situated in a different location than the one in Greece, but would perform very similar services and the Romans would goto the oracle for consultation and advice from the

gods.

Clothing :

Greek clothing was very simple which usually consist of a long a rectangular sheet that was draped and wrapped around the body, and fastened with pins in various different ways to create different types of styles. The Romans adapted this dress style of the Greeks, and even had the same names as the Greeks for some of the individual parts of the clothes, later on this was amended and additions were made by the Romans, but many of the underlying elements stayed the same.

Language :

Latin was the main language of Rome that was used as an official language to conduct day to day business, but Greek language was also used extensively in official documents and government assemblies, Greek Language became a second language and was taught alongside with Latin in Roman schools. Stories and epics of Greece were also adopted by Rome, literary work by Homer and Sophocles were also included in Roman literature. The two most important social classes during the Roman empire were the Romans and the Greeks, who were thought of as equals.

Architecture :

Another area where Greeks had a major influence on Rome was buildings and architecture, as an example the Romans took the Greek columns and used them as their own in creating their temples and other important buildings. For this reason, many of the great Roman buildings greatly resemble the ancient Greek architecture. Portraits and Busts carved on marble was very popular among the Romans, this technique and most of the artist involved in the process were actually Greeks.

In conclusion I would say that Greek society and thoughts had a very big impact on the Roman empire and had a lasting impression in shaping the Roman civilization and thought process