The Roman Empire As An Heir To Greek And Hellenistic Civilization (Essay Sample)

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The Roman Empire as an heir to Greek and Hellenistic Civilization
Introduction
Many people today state that the world has become a global village but will be shocked to know that the world became a city a couple of millennia ago during the Hellenistic Age where the Greek word “cosmopolitan” was conjured which loosely means the world as a city and the city as a world. This was a unique period of history that many historians have only equated with post-20th century period for its tolerance, diversity, and multiplicity of culture. The dominant culture nevertheless was the Greek culture, which ruled the whole world, and one did not have to be Greek to ascribe to the Greek culture. The succeeding empires would inherit some aspects of civilization from the Greeks with Roman Empire, which succeeded the Hellenistic Age notably among them. This essay will investigate how the Romans were the heirs of Greek and Hellenistic civilization through comparison of accounts by Professors Matthews, Platt, and Noble on one hand and Professor Weber on the other hand.
The Hellenistic Age
The Hellenistic age lasted for almost three centuries spanning from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE to the definitive triumph of the Romans in the Mediterranean world in 31 BCE. Professor Weber has summarized this period as a time “of consumption, brutality, sophistication, experimentation” where people tried to seek “justification and consolation in religious cults.” The Hellenistic age had a profound impact on civilization largely influenced by the Greeks (the Hellenes) however; the Greek culture was not the singular culture present at the time. The Greek’s influence could be felt in architecture, art, governance, philosophy, ethics, religion, and science. The Hellenistic age’s profound impact can be felt in modern day age in terms of philosophy (cynicism and skepticism), cultural practice (multiculturalism and tolerance), globalism (cosmopolitanism), and education (Euclid’s geometry and Archimedes experiments).[Roy Mathews, Thomas Noble and Dewitt Platt, Experience Humanities, Volume 1: Beginnings through the Renaissance, Volume 1 (New York: McGraw- Hill Education, 2013), 83] [Thomas Michael Kowalick, “The Western Tradition Transcript” The Western Tradition Videos narrated by Professor Eugen Weber, 1989, 23] [Mathews, Noble and Platt, 101]
The Roman Empire
Before 500 B.C. Rome was just another city in Italy but what would happen the next two centuries would change the world permanently with the impact reverberating two thousand years later after fall of the Roman Empire. What just begun as a conquest of cities around Rome but within Italy would develop into a conquest of the neighboring countries in the Mediterranean region and ultimately into conquest of the entire world. The Greeks were preoccupied with their war with Persia oblivious of what was happening in Italy and this would prove to be a fatal error as the Hellenistic Age and Greek domination finally fell to the Roman rule in 31 BCE signaling change of guard in world political and cultural landscape.[Kowalick, 26]
It might come as a surprise to many people but early Romans were farmers living in a fertile plain rich with grain, vegetables and fruits. Their virtues were largely based on discipline and self-discipline i.e. ‘Pietas’ the respect for established authority and tradition, ‘Fides’ being true to your responsibilities, ‘Religio’ the common belief that bind men together, and ‘Gravitas’ the sober seriousness that marks a real man. The early Roman society was strictly patriarchal with the father having significant authority over the son regardless of the age or position of power the son had. All this would however change when the Romans came in contact with the Greek and Hellenistic civilization.[Kowalick, 27]
The Romans were generally people who had self-discipline and loathed luxury and consumption practices of other cultures but as soldiers won battles abroad, they went back with practices picked up from the conquest. The young generation started developing new tastes, fashions, and luxuries, which had been deemed inappropriate by the older generation. These sophisticated cultural practices of abundance and tolerance were prevalent in the Hellenistic age and were in conflict with the conservative practices of the older generation, which had gotten used to a simple agricultural lifestyle. The older generation deplored the decadence of the Greek culture but the younger generation seemed to embrace it and enjoyed showing off their wealth.[Kowalick, 28]
The desire for public display coupled with the zeal to make Rome the world seat of power led the city to inherit the grandeur architecture exhibited by the Greeks. The Romans felt that the head-quarter of the Roman Empire ought to have great, solemn, and spectacular buildings such as temples, palaces, triumphal arches and columns. There are many similarities in architecture between Greek buildings and Roman buildings. The Romans improved on the Greek designs by making them large and grandeur. They also improved on the Greek sculptures by introducing new realism and practicability, which the Greek sculptures, did not possess. However, Greek civilization was the root of most of Roman art creativity.[Kowalick, 29]
Mathews, Noble, and Platt state that Rome owes a lot of civilization to the Hellenistic world for they imitated a lot from the Greek culture. They claim that a lot of art in museums today are Roman copies, which were inspired or even imitated from the ‘Greek’ culture. Additionally, it has been established that Roman poets and playwrights adapted Hellenistic models. Other than art, the Romans inherited some of the gods from the Greek culture and as they interacted with other regions in the Hellenistic world during their conquest, they came back with different types of cults, gods, and religion. The chief Roman gods and goddesses had their Greek counterparts e.g. Mercury had a Greek counterpart called Hermes.[Mathews, Noble and Platt, 103] [Mathews, Noble and Platt, 111]
In terms of literature, the earliest Roman writing is in Greek language since it Latin at that time was considered to be too poor to be considered as a language of high art. The Romans used the Greek language to write history, lyric, epic poetry, comedy, and tragedy. However, as Latin improved with time it replaced the Greek language as the official writing language for the Romans. The Greek and Hellenistic civilization also influenced Roman’s theatrical tradition. One famous Roman poet is Catullus (84-54 BCE) who enthused his audience with his poems of love the expressed innermost feelings of desire, disappointment, and jealousy. Catullus’ poetry prowess has been credited to the Alexandrian school of the Hellenistic Age.[Mathews, Noble and Platt, 112] [Mathews, Noble and Platt, 113]
The Hellenistic philosophy was not spared either in Roman inheritance of Hellenistic civilization and was introduced in Rome in 200 BCE. Stoicism was the most used philosophy in Rome through the teaching of Seneca, Epictetus, and the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The Romans also inherited Greek tradition of music and for a considerable long time, Roman music perpetuated Greek forms and ideas. Additionally, poets like Horace infused music into their poems continuing the Greek tradition of lyric poetry. Some musical instruments present in Rome were imitated from Greece such as stringed instruments (the lyre, and the kithara) as well as woodwind instruments (single aulos, oboe, and the double aulos). The hydraulic organ was perfected in Hellenistic Alexandria became a crowd puller in Rome when the Romans incorporated it in their military music.[Mathews, Noble and Platt, 115] [Mathews, Noble and Platt, 116]
The Romans did a lot of improvement on architecture and showing great innovation and creativity through mathematical ratios between the height of an arch and the width of the base. However, they still borrowed some aspects of architecture from other cultures like constructing imperial temples. One prototype of imperial temples ...