Rome took much of its culture from the Athens and Greece, but this played little role in development of Rome as a superpower. The Romans admired Greek art and literature. They took some of these things and put them in to the Roman lifestyle but, The Romans created much of their own art, literature, and culture as well. Rome’s rise to power could have certainly been accomplished without Greece influence.
The culture and art from Greece was brought to Rome many years before the Greeks were conquered. Merchants, artists and ambassadors traveling to Rome brought not only art and literature with them, but bits of there culture as well. The Romans got a much more in depth look at the art of Greece after it was conquered by Rome. The leaders of the Roman military shipped Greek Manuscripts and art back to Rome for the emperor and all the people to see.
During the Hellenistic era, Athens and most of Greece began to beautify the cities, new buildings were built, and many citizens took to erecting statues. The Greeks had a style of statues described as “emotional and realistic art” (pg115). Thousands of statues were made in Greece during the period. Romans had there own style of statues, which had an intense realism that sometimes revealed unpleasant details in the statues. Thus, the Romans developed a liking for Greek statues. People began placing them in public buildings and private residences, the demand for Greek statues out numbered the amount of original Greek statues, so reproductions had to be made to satisfy the people.
Romans not only took art and literature from Greece, they also took the people of Greece, Rome had thousand of slaves of many nationalities it is estimated that” 20-35 percent of the population (pg138)” were slaves. Having many Slaves was a sign of wealth in Rome. Slaves were used for house work, cooking, being waiters, cleaning, gardening, and farming. The Greek slaves were used for other things as well; they were given jobs such as, musicians, artists, and doctors. Romans even became so influenced by Greek art and culture that some hired Greek tutors to teach their children, or sent them to study in Athens. The fact that the Greeks were teaching the Romans is probably why so much of the Greek culture spilled over into the roman life style. Slaves were taken from many different places, so if Greeks had not been enslaved, the Romans would still have built there fabulous empire, they would only have lost some insight into Greek culture. The Athenians also had slaves, before they were conquered by the Romans. there were “around 1000,000” slaves in Athens that worked as cooks, maids, house workers, and some were owned by the state for public projects.
Although the Romans took many aspects of Greek culture and put them in to there culture, Rome was an extremely powerful nation with many of its own ideas and aspects of its culture. The Romans were the first people to put concrete in to a large scale use. With the use of concrete, and skills in engineering, the Romans built “a network of 50,000 miles of road, bridges and aqueducts.” (pg 137). The most famous of all roman construction feats was the Coliseum, a large amphitheater built to hold 50,000 people; it was used to stage gladiatorial contests, fights between men and animals for the entertainment of the people and the emperor.
The Romans also developed a superb system of law. The first code of roman laws was the Twelve Tables, created in 450 B.C.E. These laws were later reformed and the body of law know as the law of nations was created. These laws allowed the Romans to have a standard of justice for all people. This body of law included standards such as regarding a person as innocent until proved other wise and people were allowed to defend themselves against accusations. These principles were highly looked upon, so much so that many of these principles have survived to the current day.
Despite the fact that Greece culture had such an impact on Roman culture, Rome was not built or maintained by the Greeks, Rome was held up by its people and its leaders. Rome had numerous accomplishments independent of Greek influence, some of which have survived until the current day.
