Religious, Political, Social Structures and Worldviews of Ancient Greece and Rome - Essay Example

205680 Rome & Greece Comparison Paper The following discussion compares the religious, political, social structures as well as the worldviews of Ancient Greece and Rome. The civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome have arguably been amongst the most and influential through history. There are as will be evaluated a great deal of similarities as well as differences when it comes down to the religious, political, social structures and worldviews of Ancient Greece and Rome. These two civilizations had a key role in the way the European civilizations developed and also evolved over many centuries; and have had a significant influence over modern Western cultures. In their differing ways the religious, political, social structures and worldviews of Ancient Greece and Rome demonstrated the sophistication and the achievements of both these remarkable civilizations. The Civilization of Ancient Greece developed before that of Rome, and its impact would arguably be more important than earlier civilizations such as those of Egypt, Babylon, and Persia. Other earlier civilizations had done a fair amount to improve technology, understanding, and knowledge yet was not generally as advanced as that of Ancient Greece. The Egyptians, the Persians, and the Chinese did much to advance the levels of human understanding and culture, yet done of them developed such systematic knowledge as the Ancient Greeks did. A great deal of evidence about the achievements and the knowledge of the Ancient Greeks had survived to the present day, which makes it easier to understand their Civilization (Roberts, 1996, p.21) Ancient Greece began to flourish around the 8th century BC, due to the acquisition of writing and literacy skills, greater political stability as well as the establishing of trade contacts with Southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Ancient Greece was not a unified country rather it was a series of city-states and settlements often described by the Greeks as polis. The most powerful and important of these city states included Athens, Corinth, Macedonia, and Sparta. Some of these Greek city-states formed colonies in the Aegean and beyond which helped to spread Greek Civilization further afield (Speake, 1995, p.291). Although these city-states and settlements shared a common language alongside customs even if they politically distinct from each other. The survival of the poems by Homer arguably demonstrates that the Greeks had a well-developed understanding of the Aegean, the Mediterranean, and also the Middle East (Lane Fox, 2006, p. 16). Religion was considered to be very important by the Greeks, an importance reflected in the splendour of the architecture of the fine temples they built to worship in. The Greeks built their fine temples to be at the centre of their city-states, and the powers that be encouraged people to go these temples with lavish religious festivals, and also sporting events. The most important deities generally had the largest and most extravagant temples built so that people could worship them and understand their greater importance and divine power (Guhl & Koner, 1994, p. 1). The Greeks worshipped several different gods and goddesses with the most important of them being Zeus. These gods and goddesses needed to be worshipped and placated as frequently as possible, the devout could expect rewards whilst the unbelievers could only expect divine punishment. The Greeks that they were the people most favoured by the gods, as the deities were based in Greece itself, above Mount Olympus. Greek temples tended to be dedicated to specific gods and goddesses, and worshippers could visit several temples depending upon their beliefs as well as their need for divine assistance (Speake, 1995, pp. 545-46). The Greeks used complex language to convey their official religious beliefs, and scholars would use Greek and religious leaders long after the power of Ancient Greece had been eclipsed. The religious metaphors and concepts contained in Greek paganism and mythology had a strong influence upon the religions of other cultures and civilizations. Greek influence was most important upon the religious beliefs, practices, and rites of the Romans in particular. Roman paganism was heavily indebted to Greek religion. Even when Christianity replaced paganism the metaphors and concepts of the Greeks influenced the official Christian religion adopted throughout the Roman empire. The long-standing division of Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism started with the former using Greek and the latter using Latin (Roberts, 1996, p. 22). The Greeks had a more systematic set of political theories and ideals than earlier as well as contemporary civilizations did. Whilst other civilizations might merely have considered that politics consisted of having a king or emperor and then doing what they told their subjects to do. The main political unit of Ancient Greece was of course the city-state and Greek settlers established such settlements wherever they went including the Crimea, France, Italy, and Spain. The Romans picked up Greek influences because city-states where close by to them, Greek culture, religion, and political organizations were available in modern day Naples just as much as it was in Athens, Corinth, and Sparta (Lane Fox, 2006, pp. 34-35). Some Greek city-states were monarchies whilst many were republics governed by councils and civil magistrates. The rich and the land-owning families dominated the majority of Greek city-states and settlements, with aristocratic status being the best position to hold. The Greeks invented political terms and concepts still used to this day. Religious position, as well as social status strongly influenced the political position of people (Speake, 1996, p. 546). Surviving literature from Ancient Greece can aid our understanding of its religion, politics, social structure, and worldview. The Greeks viewed themselves as the most advanced people in the world, whilst they were willing to trade and have links with others, those others were inferior to them. The Civilization of Greece was superior to that of any rival barbarian culture. That was irrespective of their actual political and military positions in relation to other powers such as Persia and Rome (Roberts, 1996, p. 23). The cultural, political, social, and global perspectives of Ancient Greece were spread further afield. The poems of Homer were amongst the cultural aspects of the Ancient Greeks, which was widely read and studied by the Romans (Lane Fox, 2006, p. 38). The works of Homer certainly appealed to a wide audience amongst the Romans, and in a way demonstrate how much of a strong influence that the Greeks had upon the Romans. The societies of both these civilizations were remarkably similar. Homer portrays the heroes of his epics as being aristocrats or gods that did great things. The social structure and worldview he presents in his poems might have been mythical yet any Greeks and Romans that read them would have been able to see the close resemblance to their own societies. Homer is acknowledging that many of the Greek aristocrats generally liked to trace their ancestry back to the gods, goddesses, or the former royal families of the republican city-states. Homer depicted the aristocracy, as been the most important characters in his stories after the Greek deities. That was an accurate reflection of the fact that Aristocratic men were the most highly ranked individuals in Greek societies. Aristocratic men formed the mainstay of civil magistrates, landowners, and also military leaders. The aristocracy preferred oligarchic rule to either tyranny or democracy yet would often settle for tyrannical rule that provided stability to democratic control that could cause anarchy (Lane Fox, 2006, p. 40). The Iliad and the Odyssey were certainly amongst the most influential pieces of literature produced in Ancient Greece. Taken together these poems provide valuable into how the Greeks regarded themselves as well as how they regarded other civilizations around them. The Greeks were just like the gods and the aristocrats within Homer’s epic, better than anybody else that they came into contact with was. Besides showing the superiority that the Greeks felt in relation to other civilizations the poems set out the moral, political, religious, and social values that all the Greeks held in common with each other (Kishlansky, p. 36). The Romans effectively adopted all of the Greek deities as their own, just renaming the gods and goddesses. For instance Zeus was renamed Jupiter. As there had been Greek city-states and settlements in Italy the Romans had come into contact with Greek religion before beginning their own territorial expansion, they knew the deities, the mythology, as well as the architectural style of the Greek temples (Roberts, 1996 p. 35). The Romans for their own religion also used Greek styles of worship and temple designs. The Romans were generally highly tolerant of other peoples religious beliefs and practices, and would usually allow freedom of worship, sometimes other deities and religions of the countries they conquered became popular amongst the Romans themselves (Lane Fox 2006, p. 41). Just as the Greeks believed that religion was important so did the Romans, as it helped to maintain political order besides keeping the social structures well balanced. Roman religious toleration did not extend to Christianity, which was believed to be politically and socially divisive, especially after the first wave of persecution under the emperor Nero (Lane Fox, 2006, p. 575). Originally Rome had been ruled by a monarchy, yet it had expanded greatly during its republican period which lasted until Augustus Caesar became the first emperor. In political terms the members of the Roman Senate held the greatest amount of power, and they were drawn from the landowners and the leading aristocratic families (Speake, 1996, p. 547). As the Roman empire expanded political power could be obtained by achieving high military rank and then returning to Rome after victorious campaigns. During the republican era leading generals could become consuls and often got their victories marked with parades, new temples and paying for festivals. The best example of this was Julius Caesar, whose successful military career brought power, wealth, and prestige as well as eventual assassination (Lane Fox 2006, p.330). In many respects the Romans adopted many of the customs as well as the beliefs of the Greeks, without so much of the superiority complex. The Romans were willing to allow any suitable non-Romans to gain citizenship of the empire provided that they paid their taxes and remained to the emperor. The worldview of the Romans was that they were the strongest power in the world yet that they were prepared to allow their colonies a great deal of autonomy in their day to day affairs as long as their loyalty to Rome was maintained (Roberts, 1996, p. 37). Bibliography Guhl E & Koner W, (1994) The Greeks – Their lives and customs, Senate, Reading & New York Kishlansky, Sources of the West, Readings in Western Civilization Lane Fox R, (2005) The Classical World – An epic history of Greece and Rome, Penguin, London & New York Roberts J.M, (1996) A History of Europe, Penguin, London & New York Speake G, (1995) The Penguin History of Ancient History, Penguin, London & New York Read More