3RD pd world cultures | Similarities and differences between Greece and Rome. | Essay. | | Zack Skone | 4/18/2013 |

This document is about the similarities and differences between Ancient Greece and Rome. |

Comparisons and differences between the Ancient Greeks and Romans

The Ancient Greeks and Romans both began their histories as city-states. While the coastline and the mountainous terrain of the Greek peninsula isolated the various Greek cities from one another, the city of Rome was located in the middle of north-south boarder. Bordered on the east with mountains and on the west by the sea. Therefore, Rome was exposed to the migrations of people from the Po River in the north and Sicily in the south.
The two …show more content…

In the final outcome, as the Roman Empire declined in the west, Roman emperors transferred their capitol from Italy to Asia Minor. Long after the Roman Empire was gone, the Byzantine Empire, an amalgam of Roman and Greek culture, centered in the city of Constantinople, would endure. The Greeks had conquered their conquerors.
Aside from the obvious differences in language (one culture speaks as much Latin as the Vatican, while the other is all Greek to me), the Romans' art largely imitated that of the Greeks. The Romans, however, developed a more naturalistic approach to their art. Greek statesmen and generals, like their gods, are recognizable but physically idealized, whereas sculptures, mosaics or frescoes of Romans, from emperors to ordinary everyday people, betray physical quirks and nuances of expression that make them more human. Look into the face of Caligula's bust, for example, and in retrospect you might find yourself detecting something in those eyes that's not quite right… Although both places had agricultural economies that exported wheat, olive oil and wine, Athens built its power by sea trade, whereas Rome was more predatory, growing by conquest. Greek governments varied from kings and oligarchs to the totalitarian, racist, warrior culture of Sparta and the direct democracy of Athens, whereas Roman kings gave way to a representative, elected republic—until it was displaced by the power of the emperors. Athenian citizens