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 | موضوع: "Ancient Greeks and Romans"  الخميس أغسطس 06, 2009 4:29 am | |
| Comparing and Contrasting
"Ancient Greeks and Romans"
by Stephen Fox
]Comparison and contrast are two thought processes we constantly perform in everyday life. When we compare two things, we show how they are similar; when we contrast two things, we show how they are different
There were many different cultures in the ancient world, but the two that had the most influence on European and American civilization were the Greek and Roman. Often these two people and their ways of living are lumped together in our minds, as if the two were really exactly alike or as if the Greek culture just continued unchanged into the Roman one. But that is not the case. In many ways the Greeks and the Romans could not have been more different
The Greeks were truly democratic, often without a single leader but instead governed by a group of men (an oligarchy) chosen by the people. The Romans were semi-democratic. They had a governing Senate, but that often consisted only of rich aristocrats, and the political power was often mostly or completely in the hands of a single emperor
True, both cultures were great builders. Tourists by the tens of thousands today admire the ruins in both Rome and Athens and make special trips to visit excavated towns from the ancient world like Ephesus and Pergamum (which are both Greek ruins although they are located in present day Turkey) and Delphi, and Roman Ruins in Pompeii and volubilus (in present day Morocco) and the remnants of old Paphos on Cyprus. But the construction interests of the two cultures were not the same. The Greeks tended to be more artistic. Yes, their buildings were well constructed and have lasted (as have the Roman buildings), but the Greeks were especially interested in temples, columns, and decorative facades. Practicality was fine, and they were indeed practical, but for them the important issue was beauty and pleasing form. The Romans, on the other hand, were more engineers than artists. They concentrated their efforts on urban planning, well-functioning aqueducts for a good water supply, solid public forums and buildings, and the best roads ever built up until that time. Even their statuary, of which they had plenty, tended more to celebrate civic heroes than to add the gracefulness of gods and goddesses to their architecture
In both cultures the government levied stiff taxes on the people to pay for all those buildings and roads. Local governments in the Roman Empire (but not in the empires of the Greek city-states) were allowed to levy their own taxes too
As to the literary arts, those also flourished in both cultures, but again in different ways. Both the Greek and Romans liked poetry, especially the long epic poems detailing wars, heroes, and gods. But Greek epic was the result of a centuries-old oral tradition, handed down from generation to generation, as in the case of Homer's "Iliad" about the Trojan War, while the Roman epic was composed on the spot by living writers, as in the case of Vergil's "The Aeneid" about the founding of Rome
Only in cooking and eating habits are the two cultures really similar. Both people ate very well indeed: lots of fish, fresh vegetables and fruits, healthy meals, holding at the same time long discussions and sipping excellent wines
Both cultures also loved the theater, but the Greeks favored high tragedy, which showed the fall of great men and women on a grand scale, and bawdy comedy that was so spicy and physical that it would be censored today, while the Romans preferred satire, which is a more intellectual form of comedy that makes fun of current problems and public figures
In fact, it would probably be fair to say that they both loved life in their warm, sea-oriented climates, and they both lived life fully | |
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