Greek and Roman culture, although similar, are very different and interesting. Since the Romans adopted culture from the Greeks, many traditions are the same. When the Romans conquered the Hellenistic cities, they became fascinated with the idea of a Greek style of doing things. All things Greek were now considered popular. This is how much of the Greek way of life made its way into the Roman society. The first part of culture that the Romans adopted was the Greek art. Scores of Greek paintings were stolen from Greece and imported into the Roman Empire. Roman artists began adopting the Greek style of art, from the emotional intensity to the great detail. “In many cases, it is very difficult to distinguish between Hellenistic …show more content…

In Greek mythology, the god Ares, the god of war, was shown as a simpleton who had no composure and wasn’t important. On the other hand, the Romans revered their god of war, Mars, with great prestige. This shows that the Romans were a society more focused on war. Most of Roman mythology and religion was taken from the Greeks and changed a little. Many of the Roman gods correspond almost directly to a Greek god. The Romans also didn’t write much about the trials and tribulations of their gods. The Greeks, on the contrary, wrote long epics and poems about gods, giving us much of what we know today. The Greeks and the Romans differed in their ways of thinking. Greek had great philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Socrates—who ask such great philosophical questions that philosophers even today ask these same questions. The Romans didn’t have many great philosophers, and they borrowed most of the philosophy from the Greeks. The only notable Roman philosopher is Epictetus. The Greeks had a different approach to writing than the Romans. The Greeks wrote about adventures, whereas much of the Roman writing was either to mimic Greek writing, or about wars and battles. Great epics and poems written by Homer, one of the most famous poets in history live on today as some of the greatest literature ever written. Scholars today study the Iliad and the Odyssey, trying to draw some knowledge out of it. The Roman book Aeneid, written by Virgil, is a parallel