Greek and Roman Society, Relationships

Ancient Greek and Roman civilization left an indelible stamp on history, including the areas of literature, politics and the state, architecture and art, religion and philosophy. As J. M. Roberts (88) comments, we must, however, trace the origins of society to Greece “The role of the Greeks was pre-eminent in making this world and with them its story must begin...The Greek search for excellence defined for later peoples what excellence was and their achievement remains difficult to exaggerate.” Yet, if it were not for the Roman and Arab civilizations that emerged around them, we might not know a great deal about the Greek contribution to society. When Rome conquered Greece, Romans were not unimpressed with many aspects of their culture and society which they readily adopted. For example, the Romans adopted the Greek system of education with a focus on the disciplines that are today embodied in the Liberal Arts curricula. This analysis will focus on three elements shared by both cultures which will help demonstrate the relationship between these two ancient civilizations: literature; gods (polytheism); the state.

The Roman arts, including plays, poems, sculpture, dance and architecture, mirrored their Greek counterparts. It is the transmission of these aspects of Greek culture that still find expression in modern society, from the philosophy of Plato and Socrates to our architecture, legal system and education.

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tune in Rome, while the Greek god of wine, Dionysus was known as Bacchus in Rome. In Greece, the god of wine was celebrated through public festivals known as Greek Dionysia, while Bacchus was celebrated in similar festivals in Rome called Bacchanalia. In Rome “for the most part, the peasants everywhere pursued the timeless superstitions of their local nature cults, townspeople took up new crazes from time to time, and the educated professed some acceptance of the classical pantheon of Greek gods and led the people in the official observances” (Roberts 63). However, the gods served a vital role in both Greek and Roman societies. The gods were used in literature, architecture, and many other aspects of society to demonstrate to man his relationship with the gods and with other human beings. We see this in The Odyssey, as Odysseus is the exemplar of how a man interacts with the gods and other human beings. However, we see that in Prometheus Bound, the gods are often vengeful, exacting, and refuse to tolerate human interference or disobedience. In Prometheus Bound, Prometheus steals fire from Olympus and gives it to the mortals. Zeus is furious with him for this breach of his absolute authority. Prometheus is nailed to a r
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Approximate Word count = 1707
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)