What did Greeks and Romans share?

Answer 1

It was a question of what the Romans developed in common with the Greeks. This is because they became deeply influenced by the Greeks.

Recent archaeological evidence has shown that the archaic (early) Latins were

already starting to be influenced by the Greek colonies (settlements) which were established in southern Italy and Sicily from the 8th to the 6th century BC; especially the Greek city of Cumae (near Naples, some 125 miles south of Rome).

Already in the 6th century BC the Romans started using the books of the Sibylline who were Greek oracles, some of whom lived in Greek city of Cumae in Italy. They also adopted the Greek god Apollo, who was an oracular god (that is he was the god of the oracles) and built the Temple of Apollo Medicus (the doctor) in in 431. BC. Apollo's son, who mediated Apollo's association with medicine and healing, was also adopted. The Senate was instructed to build a temple in his honour by the Sybil oracles in 293 BC. The Romans also procured a statue of him from Greece. The Romans also adopted the Greek twin gods Castor and Pollux and the mythology associated with them by the late 5th century. They turned Heracles, the Greek mythological hero (whom they called Hercules) into a god because he was said to have killed Cacus, a fire-breathing giant who was terrorising the Roman countryside and founded an altar near the city during his 10th labour. During the Second Punic War (218-202 BC) they 'imported' Cybele (whom they called Magna Mater, Great Mother) a Greek goddess because the books sibylline oracles said that with this Rome could defeat Carthage. Besides adopting some Greek gods, at one point the Romans linked their gods to the Greek gods and their associated mythologies.

The Romans adopted Greek columns for their temples and porticoes and the three orders (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian) the Greeks used to style them. They also developed composite orders which were a mixture of these orders.

With contact with mainland Greece, there was also influence from this part of the Greek world. The first professional teachers in Rome were Greeks. The children of the rich received an education in both Latin and Greek and were fluent in Greek. The pinnacle of their education was a stay in Greece to study Greek philosophy. From Augustus onwards, the Romans modelled their statues on the Hellenistic ones. They also copied and modelled statues on those of the great classical sculptors of Greece. They adopted Greek medicine and Greek sports. They adopted and greatly improved on the Greek cranes and the ballista (a crossbow-like) catapult. Latin tragedies and comedies and theatre were based on the Greek ones. Roman theatre architecture was inspired by that of the Greeks. However, whilst the seating of Greek theatres were always built on hillsides, the Romans also built theatres with their own foundations which could be built on flat land.

Answer 2

They didn't share much. It was a question of the Romans becoming deeply influenced by Greek culture, rather than the Greeks sharing something with the Romans. For quite a long time the Greeks resented Roman rule in Greece. The Greeks also preserved their language and culture. Unlike other conquered peoples, they did not become latinised.

The Roman elites came to look up to the Greeks. They received an education in both Latin and Greek and spoke Greek fluently. The pinnacle of education for elite men was a stay in Greece to learn Greek philosophy. Rome had Greek libraries as well as Latin ones. Roman art became Greco-Roman art because it was influenced by Greek art. The Romans absorbed substantial parts of Greek mythology and Roman goods became linked to Greek gods. They also adopted the divination books of the Sibyls, who were Greek oracles.

Answer 3

Men and women.