The Roman and Greek Empires were great empires for their time. They were the empires to be feared and to this day they are still ones many people know. These empires were strong but eventually weakened. In this, we will take a look at how “changes in beliefs and attitudes of citizens in both civilizations changed over time. These changes affected the people’s dedication and commitment to their communities, thereby internally undermining national power.” We will do this by looking at the changes in the duty or view of the empire, religion, and the government. Both the Romans and the Greeks originally had high views and respect for their empire. For the Greeks, they had a duty to their polis. “In the Homeric world of war, men do not have rights, but only duties. By serving the city-state with their virtuous behavior, they are also serving themselves.” (Lecture 5). The Romans had a similar idea but they “managed to create their own world and they called it the Roman Empire…” …show more content…
However, over time this also changed. For the Romans, the introduction of Christianity did not seem like a big deal until it started to spread like wildfire. Christianity directly opposed many of the ideas and ways that the Romans lived. For the Greeks, there was this overall loss of religion after the wars (Lecture 8). The Greeks turned from religion to logic and reason. This was a drastic change that happened in the Hellenistic period of Greek history, but it goes without saying that their ideas then shape where we are now. The power of the Greeks was undermined by their own wars with each other, and the result is the start of this new idea of logic over religion. Many countries unify under the band of religion and set their values based on their gods and goddesses. What happens when those values and ways of life suddenly crumble with the change or division on the idea of