09b: Romans and Hellenism

Roughly a quarter of a century ago, the deluxe yours truly was a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I was frankly astonished to be passing first-year Latin. I was shocked when my Latin professor told me to start first-year Ancient Greek as a junior. My anguished question "But... but... why?" was answered with this fundamental truth of Classical studies: "You cannot be an educated Roman without being an educated Greek."

This was true almost from the beginning of Roman history. Though the Etruscans were by far the biggest outside influence upon the Roman civilization, the Greeks had undeniably influenced the Etruscans. For all intents, the Etruscans' deities were renamed versions of Ancient Greek deities, and the Romans' deities were basically renamed Etruscan deitiess. Yet there were other sources of Greek influence. Even before the first little settlements on the hills which became Rome, the Greeks had been quite active in colonizing Sicily and southern Italy. Rome traded and fought with Greek-speaking Italian cities to the south, and had dealings with mainland Greece as well. Although some see this as unlikely, the Romans may have sent a fact finding mission to Greece before drafting the Code of XII Tables in 450 BC. Yet the Romans were not above holding a little resentment, even then. Note that the Romans particularly cherished the myth about Aeneas founding their country precisely because he was not just a Trojan War hero of divine lineage; he was a Trojan and not a Greek.

The conquest of Greece in the second century BC reintroduced Romans to Greek culture, or Hellenism, in a much greater way. The term Hellenism describes a culture adapted from the classical Ancient Greeks and spread through the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East during the conquests of Alexander the Great. Even after Alexander's empire crumbled, and after the Romans conquered the empires of Alexander's successors,  Alexander's Hellenistic ways thrived. Roman soldiers who had experienced Hellenistic life came back home describing luxuries on a scale previously unimaginable to a culture steeped in the mos maiorum. Greeks reclined at dinner instead of sitting; their homes were comfortable and attractively designed; they worshipped in huge, beautiful temples and attended dramatic performances in gigantic theaters. Romans were impressed at the attention Greeks paid to their food and their dress and even their music. To the simple small farmers who grew their own food and wore the clothes their wives made for him, the Hellenistic culture was dazzling.

Educated Romans were impressed by the range of the arts and literature and scientific advancement of the Greeks. The Romans' own intellectual achievements suddenly appeared rather scanty, and it became a point of Roman pride to match Greek cultural achievements whenever possible. The military achievements of the Greeks - their great successes and their great failures - were studied eagerly by Roman generals. Some unusually enlightened Romans, such as the family of Scipio Africanus, believed that Greek philosophy and the study of Greek political institutions could improve Roman government. To this we owe the writings of the Greek Polybius and his study of the Roman constitution - also written in Greek.  It soon became customary for wealthy Romans to have their own Greek teachers and philosophers at home - many of whom were still slaves. Oddly enough, they preferred slavery in a wealthy Roman family to freedom in their own native land. By the first century BC, it had also become customary for wealthy young Romans to attend public speaking school in Greece - taking instruction in Greek and delivering orations in Greek. They spoke Latin in public life, but often switched to Greek in private. To be an educated Roman, one now had to be an educated Greek too.

Yet not everyone was uniformly thrilled by this mania for all things Greek. The more traditional Romans referred to Hellenophilia as aemulatio - a term meaning "envy." Cato the Censor, deleter of Carthage, insisted that Hellenism would shatter the mos maiorum and bring the Roman world to its knees. He pretended not to know any Greek himself, and in 155 BC, even ordered that Greek philosophers residing in Rome to be run out of town. Cato himself protested far too much. His own history of Rome drew upon Greek models and Greek sources; his anti-Hellenism was mainly for political show against the Scipio Africanus family, which embraced Hellenism. Greek comedies and tragedies were imported to Rome, translated into Latin, and performed before enthusiastic crowds. But the audiences had either to stand or to sit in temporary bleachers erected for that particular festival. The idea of permanent theaters would not become acceptable in Rome until nearly the end of the Republic. Moreover, the worldly, sophisticated characters in these translated plays, especially the comedies, were portrayed as Greeks in order not to offend Roman sensibilities. Roman dramatists who claimed the traditional Hellenistic freedom of speech sometimes found themselves in prison thinking of ways to get out.

As a nation, the Romans were quite free of self-esteem issues. They were secure knowing that despite their apparent cultural inferiority, they had conquered and pacified the entire Greek world. They were big enough to admit the Hellenic culture was superior in many ways. Yet I believe they entirely let go of the idea that the Greeks were somehow more civilized. As Rome became more powerful and more interested in shaping how people saw Roman culture, Romans became concerned that Roman art and Roman literature should reflect Rome's unique status in the world. Having Greeks like Polybius write about the Roman Constitution was great, but the Roman Constitution deserved to be explained by a Roman political scientist. Ironically, the "Roman" art and "Roman" literature which resulted invariably resembeled Greek models in one way or another. This explains why the civilization of the Romans is most often known as "Greco-Roman." Although the Romans would never entirely lose their envy of Greek accomplishments, their admiration never faded away. Ironically, this Greco-Roman culture would later be carried on by the Byzantines - a Greek-speaking people which called itself the Romaioi - Ancient Greek for "the Romans."