Greece and Rome are two classical civilizations that built the foundations to western culture in the modern world, they have many similarities and differences that poses the question, which one is better? Two specific similarities and differences include social and religious distinctions. Greece and Rome show a similar religious foundation due to minor interaction in politics, and to their very similar Gods and Goddesses. Greece and Rome show a difference in their social foundations due to women’s standings, and slavery.
In some ways, Greece and Rome’s religions can almost be called identical. Both in Greece and Rome religion had a small effect on politics. Although religion played a large role in Roman Life, it did not have a major affect in politics as it did in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and modern middle eastern nations like Saudi Arabia. Roman’s practiced Stoicism, or the idea that service to the state and community was the highest calling, implying that the Romans valued serving their nation rather than serving Gods and Goddess. As in Greece, most people didn’t take their gods seriously, and instead adopted philosophy, and secular values.
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The Roman’s are largely influenced by the Greeks, the most obvious Greek influence is their gods. The Romans simply gave their Gods and Goddesses different names. Zeus is Jupiter, Poseidon is Neptune, Aphrodite is Venus, Athena is Minerva, etc. The only observable evidence between their Gods and Goddesses are certain traits that the Romans changed. Greek Gods and Goddesses were more characteristic and creative, while Roman Gods and Goddesses focused on actions and did not have a complete physical
Throughout history, civilizations have organized their members and incentives in citizenship systems. Athens and Rome, both portray the traits of semi-perfect systems of their time. While Rome may have been the greater civilization, Athens had the better citizenship system, for having protective, unbiased, and open minded tradeoffs.
The religion of this culture group involved many gods. Unlike the present-day United States of America where the running of the country depends on the separation of church and state, religion, including the pleasing of the gods, heavily influenced the government of the ancient Greeks. Of all the gods they had, the most important gods of this religion emerged
Athens and Sparta were all very big, successful city-states in the ancient world that conquered many lands and won many battles. Ancient Athens and Ancient Sparta seem similar they have very different functioning societies. Athens was known for its impressive art and culture while Sparta was a very war-like city-state and their society was completely based on having a great military. The thing they had in common was that social status and the jobs that each rank of society had was very important. The social status was crucial to Sparta and Athens because, without it, both Greek city-states would not be able to function.
Roman mythology applies to the religious system, and origins of ancient Rome. These attributes are found through the art and literature that the Romans provide. Although, the Romans have supernatural elements they still proceeded to treat their traditional stories historically. The Romans focused on how a person contributes to the Roman community, and merely concentrate on politics and morality. Catholicism is one of the most common known religions. Catholicism focuses on the traditions, and values of the Christian churches. The two main things that differentiate Roman mythology, and modern day catholicism is their: beliefs and religion.
They had similar beliefs, but also immeasurable differences. It was composed of many meaningful gods and goddesses that all played a part in the everyday life of the average Roman and Greek person of that time.
Roman mythology, on the other hand, grew around the same time as Greek mythology. It all began around 800 B.C. when the Roman Empire was at its peak. However, the unique thing about the Romans is that their origin traces back to Latin and Italian cultures. They also share the same gods and heroes as Greeks but with different names. Rome was the first nation to have a set government that is similar to ours today.
Both had great cultural achievements. Rome is known for its architecture, but so was the Carthaginians. As far back as 6th century BCE, the Carthaginians already had tall buildings as high as six stories to serve as apartments as well as indoor plumbing (Great Military Battles, 2013). Both were also economic powerhouses with expansive trade networks. Both also had similar governing systems, both having magistrates/consuls as the executive
It is evident that the Romans emulated much or all of Greek culture into their lives, even down to their philosophies and complete blatancy of using the same gods and goddesses. However, there was an apparent shift of Greco-Roman polytheism to medieval monotheism, which is where persons in this period started to pivot their attention primarily on just God, disregarding old traditions of other gods. They went from issuing deities to make sense of their ancient world, and using rational thought (never was this used before) to probe for questions, to a reliance on just one god for all explanations (the medieval period). However, as time progressed, during the time of the Renaissance, people were using some of the same techniques as Greco-Roman
The word “ancient” can be a hard word to describe. It has no specific time period, but also does at the same time. When something is described as ancient, it is something that is extremely old, or was in the very distant past. Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek civilizations co-existed from 1150BC to 146BC. They had different systems, beliefs, and life styles, just like how different countries do today. There were also similarities, such as both having a single person be the ruler, not giving equal power to everyone. For Greeks, this would be a king and for Egyptians, and Pharaoh. Both Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece believed in mythology – a similarity between the two. However, much of their mythology was different. Although both Egypt
Many daily customs of Romans were intended to show worship of their many deities according to Our Human Story, pg. 176, it is evident that Roman lives massively incorporated their gods and goddesses into everyday life. However, even though Romans appropriated much of Greek religion, they found their lives deeply rooted in the same morals and
If this is an essay about the similarities and difference between the Greek and Roman gods then it would only make sense to start with the kings of the gods, Zeus and Jupiter. They are both the rulers of the heavens and are the gods of lightning. Since they are both the rulers of the gods they also are to uphold the rules of Greece and Rome. They both have the same stories of how they came to power. Their fathers Saturn and Cronus had eaten all of their brothers and sisters because they were told that one of their children would over throw them. But their mothers Hera and Rhea hid them and gave Cronus and Saturn a rock in baby clothing. When Zeus and Jupiter had reached maturity they returned and defeated their fathers releasing their siblings. That is really where the similarities end though. Zeus was a total pervert. He was the illegitimate father of many children but not only with other goddesses but with mortals. One of his most famous children was the Greek hero Perseus, “Zeus visited a princess by the name of Danae as golden rain. From this Perseus was born” (“Encyclopedia Mythica”, n.d.). Zeus also had a son, the popular hero Heracles. Zeus was a god that was known for throwing lightnin...
Roman vs. Greek Civilization Although both Roman and Greek civilizations shared similarities in the areas of art and literature, their differences were many and prominent. Their contrasting aspects rest mainly upon political systems and engineering progress, but there are also several small discrepancies that distinguish between these two societies. This essay will examine these differences and explain why, ultimately, Rome was the more advanced civilization of the two. Greece, originally ruled by an oligarchy ("rule of the few"), operated under the premise that those selected to rule were selected based not upon birth but instead upon wealth.
Both the Greek and the Roman civilization were polytheistic. Greeks were a very religious people. In Greece each city-state had a patron god or goddess that protected their city. Greeks believed that their Gods appeared in human form but had superhuman strength and ageless beauty. Many of the Gods are depicted on various painted scenes on vases, and stone, terracotta and bronze sculptures by themselves or in mythological scenes interacting with humans and lesser Gods (Realign and Death). Rome’s Gods and Goddesses were from a blend of a variety of cultures including Greece. They too believed the gods were actively involved in their everyday life, so much so that they held sacred meals for their Gods during religious festivals in which the invitations were sent in the God’s name and a place was set for them at the table. The oldest male in the family preformed religious rituals for the whole household to the family God, while the state employed priests and Priestesses to worship at the temple. Though they could not predict the future the priests were the one who could read signs to see if the Gods were happy or angry with the people. In the first century a new religion was born in the Rome that spread all throughout the empire and corners of the world, Christianity (Life in
Throughout the history of the world there have been a number of civilizations which have had a longstanding influence not only their own people and culture, but also on various other societies and civilizations. The Greek and Roman civilizations are two such civilizations. Both Greek and Roman influences have permeated societies and cultures besides their own. While there are many notable similarities between ancient Greek and Roman mythology and religion, there are likely also many differences in their origins, beliefs, and practices. Still, ancient Greek and Roman mythology and culture have influenced people of the world from the medieval ages up to the present. Indeed, ancient Greek and Roman mythology and culture have influenced world theology through the ages.
Roman artwork is extremely intricate and diverse, however, a lot of what is referred to as Roman art can better be described by the cultures it conquered. The ancient Greeks were the most influential of these cultures, from their temples and sculptures, to their reliefs and paintings. Greece was the first culture to create major programs for sculpture, painting, and architecture. Many of the first Roman artists were of Greek descent as their artwork reflects the Classical and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece. A lot of what is considered to be Roman artwork is criticized as being mere copies of Greek artwork since they modeled their forms and styles after the Greeks, but other cultures influenced the Romans as well, mainly the Etruscans,