How Did Greek Influence Ancient Rome

When talking about Ancient Rome there’s no doubt that it holds a spot as one of history’s greatest empires/civilizations. All throughout Rome’s history you can find many instances where the empire conquered many places, due to the country being such a mighty force they were very well respected. The great empire wasn’t always viewed that way though. Ancient Greek influenced Rome greatly while it was a growing empire off of the Tiber river. Roman beliefs, especially the gods and goddesses played a significant role in the Ancient Romans lives. The Romans achieved great success in building a strong military, something the Greeks did not care for. One of the bigger influences that Ancient Greece had on Ancient Rome traces back to religion. Before

Soon the Romans began to adopt the Greek deities into their own religion. Of course the names of these special deities would be changed, but all of their functions would remain the same. The Gods were very important to the Romans, they viewed them as people and would regularly asked them for help with decisions that dealt with society. (“Religion in the Roman Republic”). Mars, who was the god of war became the first god the Romans created. Soon to follow Mars was Jupiter and his wife Juno, they’re the parallels to Greek god and goddess Zeus and Hera. Venus, the goddess of love and Apollo, the god of healing soon followed them. Jupiter and Juno were the supreme deities, this just means that they are the strongest and most powerful out of the twelve Roman gods, next in line to become the supreme deity after them is Mars. (Monroe 63). The Romans tried to honor and show their respect to the gods in anyway they could, as a result to this he focused more on home worshiping than their Greek counterparts. (Monroe 62). To show their respect even further, when they were making their calendar they dedicated certain days and even

One reason sacrifices were to be taken seriously is because they were seen as a “recharge’’ for the gods. Also sacrifices were the only form of communication they thought they had with the gods. Another thing is that the Romans viewed these sacrifices as gifts to the gods. The Romans feared that the “power supply” provided by the gods would become runned down if it wasn't charged regularly. (“Religion in the Roman Republic”). There were certain rules that had to be followed when a sacrifice was taken place, the first rule is that “ A single vitium could not be sacrificed to two gods.” (“Religion in the Roman Republic”). The second rule is that the sacrifice had to be accompanied with this saying: “Mcte esto!” Which means “Be you increased!” Lastly, the rules about the sacrifice itself. The gods had certain terms for the “gifts” they could receive. Factors were color, quantity, value. Gender ext. For example, white animals could only go to celestial gods, male animals could only go to male deities. Gifts didnt not only mean sacrifices, the Romans would invite foreign dancers to dance for them at their temples for hours at a time, although this was only done on special occasions.One thing that was even more special than inviting dancers is a statute of themselves, the Romans believed giving a god statues of themself