How Did Greek Culture Influence Roman Culture

With Rome absorbing so many nations and their people, over time their purity of thought changed. Morey summed it up nicely when he said that though Rome conquered Greece, Greece civilized Rome (Morey, 1901). This change was accomplished by those who were taken into slavery or servitude. They ended up being teachers and philosophers who then taught the Romans citizenry pushing their ideas to the masses. Additionally, remember the Greeks were great storytellers, art in and of itself. Therefore, as the Greeks were absorbed by the Romans, the Romans, not having great raconteur before the Greek integration, that I'm aware of, adopted the Greek stories modified as their own.

Relief with a dancing maenad, ca. 27 b.c.–14 a.d.; Augustan Roman copy of a Greek relief attributed to Kallimachos, c 425–400 BC

Figure 1 - (Bealby, n.d., pg. 46)
In contrast, the Romans were celebrants of the assets of Honor, Loyalty, Virtue, and Hope (Morey, 1901) but with the introduction of the Greek "gods," their religion became corrupt and tainted, an homage to the power of paganism.
Also, the Romans lacked art on a grand scale. Indeed, how could they, from the time of the revolt against their monarchs, they were thrust into constant war, having never learned the way of artisans, poets, writers and theater. The Romans practiced the art of war and were very good at it. So it's no surprise that the Romans would take the art, literature, and theater and adopt it for themselves. As an example, I've been to over 46 countries, and I have trinkets and treasures from most of them. If I, being a lowly traveler have "things," imagine what bringing back home the spoils of war would do to society. Imagine, if you will, growing up never seeing a play, or in our case, a movie. When you first see it, you're amazed, some to the point of imitating it at
home.

After reading the assignment, I couldn't help but think about the way America is following the very steps of Rome. We were a simple people, called upon the world to wage war, and then we send in the CEOs to finish the plundering, while we, as a society, become more and more avaricious. Having lived outside of the US for the last 14 years, it's shocking to see how quickly we've changed and even missing pop culture fads like "chipotle" everything. It's heartbreaking really how much we resemble Rome.