Greek and Roman Culture

Running head: GREEK AND ROMAN CULTURE

Greek and Roman Culture

HUMA215-1203A-10

Topics in Cultural Studies

Abstract

The Greeks started the ideals of philosophy and government while the Romans provided the world with the idea of a government by the people for the people. The Romans took what was good in the Greek culture and expanded on those theories just like we do today.

Greek and Roman Culture

Cultures as they develop tend to feed off each other and incorporate elements from previous cultures, especially when a culture has been successful and provided us with new innovations in art, government, architecture and philosophy.

The Greeks can be considered one of the first truly modern societies, providing the world with great art, impressive architectural achievements and many philosophers that many of our current beliefs are based on. The Romans on the other hand provided us our truly first representational government as well as many new architectural achievements that would be lost during the dark ages.

The Greek culture (Sayre, 2012) consisted of primary cultural groups, the Cyclades, the Minoans, and the Mycenaean. The Cyclades were seafaring people that inhabited the 100 or so islands south of the Greek mainland. The Minoans (Anna, 2004) were part of the Greek civilization and were concentrated on the Island of Crete south of the Cyclades. Roman culture (Sayre, Empire, 2012) not only absorbed the Greek culture but through its military conquests also incorporated the Turks, Gauls, Egyptians, Sumerians, Moors, and Iberian cultures just to name a few. The Romans can be called the first true melting pot of cultures, prior to the United States.

The Greek governments consisted of many city states and were fierce and independent states in some cases isolated from each other, where the Romans united the known world through military conquest and treaties. The Greeks provided us with the first forms of democratic government through representatives of the people. Romans on the other hand provided us with the first republican form of government through an elected senate that initially held the power of the emperors in check, much like our system of checks and balances today.

The Greeks introduced us to nude naturalistic artwork emphasizing male nudes called Kouros and young maidens called Korai. Greek art emphasized the more naturalistic view of the human body emphasizing the perfect proportions of the body, while Roman art was heavily influence by the Greeks. The Romans tended to adopt the styles of the Greeks and make it more human not worrying about the imperfections of the human body. The Greeks also had a unique style of architecture that has been on display for centuries at the Acropolis which is characterized by its large limestone blocks and marble columns which incorporated construction techniques of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders which is exemplified by the types of columns and decorative carvings.

Both the Greeks and the Romans worshipped many gods and goddesses,