ROMAN CULTURESHARU COOK, BRANDON CATANESE, ASHLEY FRANCKOWIAK

THE DEEP INFLUENCE OF GREECE

Background• When the ancient Greek empire fell to the roman republic, the romans took Greek slaves some of who

ended up as teachers for roman children

• This educational influence led to a strong Greek influence on the roman culture is evident in areas of religion, art and architecture, literature and philosophy

THE DEEP INFLUENCE OF GREECE

Greek Influence on religion

• Greek mythology was adopted by the romans

• Roman religion has similar gods to the ancient Greek religion but with different names

• Under Greek influence, the roman gods became more anthropomorphic which means having human characteristics for example: love, jealousy, hate, etc.

• The Romans included deities of the Greek pantheon but was more comprehensive

• Both rome and Greece were polytheistic

DEEP INFLUENCE OF GREECE

Influence of greece on art and architecture

• Almost all Greek aspects of architecture was based on ideals of balance and proportion

• There is 3 different styles of Greek architecture that is characterized by the different columns, or orders, supporting the building.

• The Parthenon is a Greek structure that still stands today

• Romans eagerly adopted the Greeks symmetrical and proportional designs of the Greeks and combined it with the Etruscans arch

• The romans used these styles to create their own structures like the circus maximus, the colosseum, and the pantheon.

THE DEEP INFLUENCE OF GREECEInfluence on art and architecture continued

• Although there was a distinct blending of different cultural tastes, it came out to create a distinct art and architecture of the romans.

• Roman temples are clearly related to Greek temples with the use of marble columns, a wide front porch, and an enclosed sanctuary called a cella.

• The realistic proportions, movement, and overall beauty of the Greek sculpture was inherited by the romans.

• They copied Greek sculptures before creating their own

• Greeks and romans both created free standing statues and releifs that were commonly used to decorate temples

• Roman releifs, mosaics, and paintings very commonly had Greek mythology as its central theme.

• Most roman statues were clothed with togas while Greek ones were usually nude and bare.

THE DEEP INFLUENCE OF GREECE

Influence on literature and philosophy

• Much of roman literature was influenced by Greek literature.

• Having educational influence of Greek nobles lured the influence of Greek literature.

• Some Greek lyrics were translated into roman.

• The main language in ancient rome was Latin which was used for writing but Greek was one of the first languages of rome.

• Romans produced great poetry.

• When romans began writing they adopted a. philosophy from the Greeks.

• The philosophy was called stoicism and it was a Hellenistic philosophy. Which just meant it was a Greek one.

• Zeno of Citium founded this philosophy, stoicism.

GRECO-ROMAN POLYTHEISM

• The romans had a polytheistic religion mostly influenced by Greek polytheism, but other civilizations beliefs influenced their religion too.

• their gods included Jupiter (aka Jove), Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Vulcan, Pluto, & Apollo. These are just a few of the gods of roman culture.

• Although they were based on Greek gods they were a more warlike and angry humanistic set of gods and goddesses.

• Became more monotheistic towards the end.

ADDITION OF A CULT OF DEIFIED EMPERORS

• Julius Caesar had taken a gigantic win in Gaul he came back as hero but things start to take a turn.

• Around 50 B.C.E. Caesar had gained an accumulative wealth, power, and enemy's.

• Caesar had then invaded Italy sparking a civil war which soon ended and Julius became the emperor of Rome

• As emperor he had many changes put in place but after just 5 years his senate had killed him leaving no heir so his nephew Augustus came to power.

• 5 emperors of the house of Caesar; they were Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

TOLERANCE OF ALL RELIGIONS THAT WEREN’T HARMFUL TO THE STATE

• Rome was a vast empire and had taken most of its conquests by force but had to keep people from losing their cool such as keeping their religion as long as they honored roman gods too.

• Most conquerors made people that they controlled but rome wanted to have good relations with their people, so they incorporated ideas, philosophy, architecture, and religion into their own.

• It also taught primitive tribes how to write, speak, and practice religion {although a lot of conquests ended in people forced into slavery}

• Even though rome allowed some religions to stay some had to leave theirs because they were harmful to the state

• But there was one religion they did not uphold this rule for the people of Judea because they helped Julius in a significant battle

TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY

• In the first b.c. centuries, Christians were persecuted, punished and often times put to death.

• The Christians were horribly targeted and persecuted in group by nero in 64 b.c.

• Later under certain emperors Christianity was tolerated to a point

• A huge turning point in history took place in 312 B.c. emperor Constantine converted to Christianity

• The number of Christians sky rocketed in Rome after conversion and years LATER iT LOOkEd LikE iT WOULd bEcOME THE OFFiciAL LANgUAgE bUT “pAgANiSM” WAS not going to go away

PRIMARY SOURCE

• Titus Lucretius Carus, a roman philosopher and poet wrote, "On The Nature Of Things", which is an example of Roman literature and culture, around 50 B.C.

• Although not much is known on Lucretius' life, it is largely speculated that he was against the religions of the time and their practices which can be seen in the later parts of the excerpt

• Lucretius had very modern ideas for the time such as believing in an infinite cosmos, believing that all matter comes from something and dissipates into something, and believing that gods have no

connection to the human world. These ideas can be seen throughout the handout

• Lucretius' ideas went against the beliefs of religious leaders and their ideology

FUN FACT: It is thought that the lack of information on Lucretius is due to religious leaders wiping any evidence of his existence

50 BCON THE NATURE OF THINGS

by Ti tus Lucretius CarusPROEM

Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,Dear Venus that beneath the gliding s tarsMakest to teem the many-voyaged mainAnd frui tful lands- for a ll of living things

Through thee alone are evermore conceived,Through thee are risen to visit the great sun-

Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,

For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers,For thee waters of the unvexed deep

Smi le, and the hollows of the serene skyGlow with diffused radiance for thee!

For soon as comes the springtime face of day,And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred,

Fi rs t fowls of air, smit to the heart by thee,Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,

And leap the wild herds round the happy fieldsOr swim the bounding torrents. Thus amain,

Seized with the spell, all creatures follow theeWhithersoever thou walkest forth to lead,

And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams,Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains,

Kindl ing the lure of love in every breast,Thou bringest the eternal generations forth,

Kind after kind. And since 'tis thou aloneGuidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught

Is ri sen to reach the shining shores of light,Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born,

Thee do I crave co-partner in that verseWhich I presume on Nature to compose

For Memmius mine, whom thou hast willed to bePeerless in every grace at every hour-

Wherefore indeed, Divine one, give my wordsImmorta l charm. Lull to a timely rest

O'er sea and land the savage works of war,For thou a lone hast power with public peace

To a id mortality; s ince he who rulesThe savage works of battle, puissant Mars,How often to thy bosom flings his s trength

O'ermastered by the eternal wound of love-And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,

Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee,Pastures on love his greedy s ight, his breath

Hanging upon thy l ips. Him thus reclinedFi l l with thy holy body, round, above!

Pour from those lips soft syllables to winPeace for the Romans, glorious Lady, peace!

For in a season troublous to the stateNeither may I attend this task of mine

With thought untroubled, nor mid such eventsThe i l lustrious scion of the Memmian house

Neglect the civic cause.

Whi lst human kindThroughout the lands lay miserably crushed

Before all eyes beneath Religion- whoWould show her head a long the region skies,Glowering on mortals with her hideous face-

A Greek i t was who first opposing daredRaise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,

Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's strokeNor threatening thunder of the ominous sky

Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zestHis dauntless heart to be the first to rendThe crossbars at the gates of Nature old.And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;And forward thus he fared afar, beyondThe flaming ramparts of the world, until

He wandered the unmeasurable Al l.Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports

What things can rise to being, what cannot,And by what law to each its scope prescribed,Its boundary s tone that cl ings so deep in Time.

Wherefore Religion now is under foot,And us his victory now exalts to heaven.

I know how hard it i s in Latian verseTo tel l the dark discoveries of the Greeks,

Chiefly because our pauper-speech must findStrange terms to fit the strangeness of the thing;

Yet worth of thine and the expected joyOf thy sweet friendship do persuade me on

To bear all toil and wake the clear nights through,Seeking with what of words and what of song

I may at last most gloriously uncloudFor thee the l ight beyond, wherewith to view

The core of being at the centre hid.And for the rest, summon to judgments true,

Unbusied ears and singleness of mindWithdrawn from cares; lest these my gi fts, arranged

For thee with eager service, thou disdainBefore thou comprehendest: s ince for theeI prove the supreme law of Gods and sky,

And the primordial germs of things unfold,Whence Nature all creates, and multipliesAnd fosters all, and whither she resolves

Each in the end when each is overthrown.This ultimate stock we have devised to name

Procreant atoms, matter, seeds of things,Or primal bodies, as primal to the world.

I fear perhaps thou deemest that we fareAn impious road to realms of thought profane;

But 'ti s that same religion oftener farHath bred the foul impieties of men:As once at Aulis, the elected chiefs,

Foremost of heroes, Danaan counsellors,Defi led Diana's altar, vi rgin queen,

With Agamemnon's daughter, foully slain.She felt the chaplet round her maiden locksAnd fi l lets, fluttering down on either cheek,

And at the altar marked her grieving sire,The priests beside him who concealed the knife,

And a l l the folk in tears at sight of her.With a dumb terror and a sinking knee

She dropped; nor might avail her now that first'Twas she who gave the king a father's name.

They ra ised her up, they bore the trembling girlOn to the a l tar- hither led not now

With solemn rites and hymeneal choir,But s inless woman, sinfully foredone,A parent felled her on her bridal day,

Making his child a sacrificial beastTo give the ships auspicious winds for Troy:Such are the crimes to which Religion leads.

And there shall come the time when even thou,Forced by the soothsayer's terror-tales, shalt seek

To break from us. Ah, many a dream even nowCan they concoct to rout thy plans of life,

And trouble all thy fortunes with base fears.I own with reason: for, i f men but knew

Some fixed end to ills, they would be strongBy some device unconquered to withstand

Rel igions and the menacings of seers.But now nor skill nor instrument is theirs,

Since men must dread eternal pains in death.For what the soul may be they do not know,

Whether 'tis born, or enter in at birth,And whether, snatched by death, i t die with us,

Or vis i t the shadows and the vasty cavesOf Orcus , or by some divine decree

Enter the brute herds, as our Ennius sang,Who fi rs t from lovely Helicon brought downA laurel wreath of bright perennial leaves,

Renowned forever among the Italian clans.Yet Ennius too in everlasting verse

Procla ims those vaults of Acheron to be,Though thence, he said, nor souls nor bodies fare,

But only phantom figures, strangely wan,And tel ls how once from out those regions rose

Old Homer's ghost to him and shed salt tearsAnd with his words unfolded Nature's source.

Then be it ours with steady mind to claspThe purport of the skies- the law behind

The wandering courses of the sun and moon;To scan the powers that speed all life below;

But most to see with reasonable eyesOf what the mind, of what the soul is made,

And what i t is so terrible that breaksOn us asleep, or waking in disease,

Unti l we seem to mark and hear at handDead men whose bones earth bosomed long ago.

SUBSTANCE IS ETERNAL

WORK CITED

• Wasson, Donald L. “Roman Religion.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 24 Sept. 2018, https://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Religion/

• Carus, Titus Lucretius. “The Nature Of Things.” Translated by William Ellery Leonard, ON THE NATURE OF THINGS, Fordham, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/lucretius-natureot.txt

• Muscato, Christopher. Study.com, Study.com, https://study.com/academy/lesson/greek-etruscan-influences-on-roman-art.html

• Wasson, Donald L. “Roman Literature.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 22 Sept. 2018, https://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Literature/

• “How Did the Ancient Greeks Influence the Romans?” Reference, IAC Publishing, https://www.reference.com/history/did-ancient-greeks-influence-romans-45c75d7d6d7e59fb

• Wells, Arthur Frederick. “Lucretius.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 June 2017, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucretius

• “Republic to Empire.” PBS.org, PBS, 2006, https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/republic.html

• Ashbrook, Tom, and Tom Hollond. “Five Dictators of Rome.” Wbur.org, Wbur, 20 Jan. 2016, http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/01/20/rome-dictators-nero-history

• “Religious Tolerance and Persecution in The Roman Empire.” Primohistory.com, Primohistory, https://www.primohistory.com/Religious%20Tolerance%20and%20Persecution%20in%20the%20Roman%20Empire.pdf

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/christianityromanempire_article_01.shtml