Greece and Rome Compared: Similarities and Differences

1Two sources: Romans judge the Greeks

Two Roman poets of the time of Augustus summed up how Romans saw the difference between themselves and the Greeks.

Source A. In the Aeneid, written between 29 and 19 BCE, Virgil has the ghost of Aeneas' father foretell Rome's destiny. In John Dryden's translation of 1697:

"Let others better mould the running mass
Of metals, and inform the breathing brass,
And soften into flesh a marble face;
Plead better at the bar; describe the skies,
And when the stars descend, and when they rise.
But, Rome, 'tis thine alone, with awful sway,
To rule mankind, and make the world obey"

Virgil, Aeneid, Book 6, translated by John Dryden.

"Others" means the Greeks: better at bronze and marble sculpture ("the breathing brass"), at speeches in court ("plead better at the bar") and at astronomy ("describe the skies"). Rome's art is to rule.

Source B. Horace, Epistles, Book 2, letter 1, in Latin: "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio." In Ganzaa's translation: "Captured Greece took her wild conqueror captive, and brought the arts into rustic Latium" (Latium is Rome's home region).

Analyse them together. Both sources agree: Greece excelled in arts and learning, Rome in power. But notice the authors. Both were Romans writing under Augustus; Horace was a friend of Augustus' adviser Maecenas and became a spokesman for the new regime. A Roman who praises Greek art while claiming the "art of ruling" for Rome flatters his own state. The sources are excellent evidence of Roman attitudes; your job is to test their picture against the facts.

2The comparison at a glance

3Similarities, explained

1. Setting and economy. Both grew around the Mediterranean, farmed olives, grapes and grain, and depended on sea trade (lesson 1).
2. Religion. Both worshipped many gods, and Romans identified their gods with Greek ones: Jupiter with Zeus, Juno with Hera, Minerva with Athena, Mars with Ares, Venus with Aphrodite, Neptune with Poseidon, Mercury with Hermes.
3. Society. Both relied on enslaved labour, and both limited political rights to men of the citizen body; women could not vote or hold office in either.
4. Culture. Rome adopted Greek architecture (columns and temples), theatre and literature, and educated Romans learned Greek. Horace's line in Source B says exactly this.
5. Expansion. Both founded colonies: Greek apoikiai and Roman coloniae, often settlements of army veterans.

4Differences, explained

5Case study: one African country, Greek then Roman

Egypt lived under both systems, which makes it an ideal test of the differences.

• Greek rule (305 to 30 BCE). After Alexander, his general Ptolemy founded a Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt as pharaohs from Alexandria. Greek was the language of the court: Cleopatra VII, queen from 51 to 30 BCE, spoke Greek as her first language and is the only Ptolemaic ruler known to have learned Egyptian. Egypt was an independent kingdom with its own king or queen.
• Roman rule (from 30 BCE). After defeating Antony and Cleopatra at Actium (31 BCE), Octavian invaded Egypt in 30 BCE and seized it as his personal possession. From 27 BCE it was an imperial province, governed by a prefect appointed by the emperor, who commanded the legions, organised taxation and administered justice. Its grain fed Rome.

The contrast in miniature: a Greek kingdom run for its own dynasty from Alexandria, then a Roman province run from Rome for the Empire. Yet in the towns of Roman Egypt, citizens went on speaking Greek and following Greek culture. That is Source B again: the Roman ruled, but Greek culture stayed.