Day 8

The Legacy of Greco-Roman Culture

• Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman cultures combined

Roman Fine Arts

• Sculptures now more realistic
• Bas relief is a type of sculpture, images from a flat background
• Also had mosaics
• Many rich homes had at least one mosaic
• Also painters
• Most famous paintings found in Pompeii, as early as 2nd century B.C.
• In 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius erupted and killed 2000 people and covered the city in ashes, which preserved the city and art

Learning and Literature

• Stoicism- virtue, duty, moderation and endurance, philosophy of the Greek teacher Zeno
• Literature used knowledge of Greeks but had new themes and ideas
• Virgil was a poet who wrote the Aeneid, which took ten years to write
• Ovid wrote light and witty things unlike Virgil
• He wrote Amores
• Wrote history
• Livy compiled a multivolume history of Rome from its orgins to 9 B.C.
• Tacticus was a famous historian because he stated facts accurately
• Annals and Histories
• Wrote of Good and Bad of Rome

The Good and Bad of Rome

The Latin Language

• Language of Rome
• Taught even after the fall of the Western Roman empire
• Was the official language of the Catholic Church through the 20th century
• Latin developed into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian
• Those were all romance languages
• English had about half of its words derived from Latin

Master Builders

• Build arch, dome and used concrete
• Built spectacular things such as the Colosseum
• Archs supported bridges and aqueducts (these were up high)
• Aqueducts brought waters to cities and towns
• Many structures are inspired by this around the world
• Thomas Jefferson began a Roman revival in the 18th century

Roman System of Law

• Standards of justice
• Standards were influenced by Stoic philosophers
• All persons had equal treatment under the law
• A person was considered innocent till guilty
• The burden of proof rested with the accuser rather than the accused
• A person should be punished only for actions not thoughts
• Any law that is grossly unfair or unreasonable should be set aside
• Inspired many political systems

Rome's Enduring Influence

• Preserved both Greek and Roman culture even past the fall of Western Rome
• Historian R.H. Barrow stated Rome never fell because it has turned into an even greater idea, it has achieved immortality
• It was not the only complex empire of its time
• In India, the Mauryan and Gupta empires dominated the land, while the Han empire ruled over China

1. a. Greco-Roman culture was Hellenistic, Greek, and Roman cultures combined

b. Pompeii was a city in the Roman empire which was covered with ash after the eruption of a volcano; the ash preserved much art and buildings

c. Virgil was the famous poet who wrote the Aeneid

d. Tacticus was a famous historian who wrote facts accurately

e. An aqueduct was a structure used to bring water into cities and towns

5. Latin evolved into many modern languages used in the west. All of these considered romance languages