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Summary
-pre-class requirement-

Greece and Rome were the most dominant civilizations, cultures of the ancient world.

We can see Greece being one of the biggest producers of art, culture, and religion of entire

ancient times. More than that greeks gave humanity the well-known concept of democracy.

Here any political decision and activity were done by the will of the citizens of any city-state

along with the whole of Greece. The democracy developed by greeks was taken by the

modern world state as being the most correct system of political ruling. In terms of art, they

made one of the finest pieces of statues and then inserted them into the religious system.

Religion was a very important part of ancient Greece. Roman Empire afterward took over

after the Greek Parthenon, by they only renamed the god’s names. If we talk about culture,

greek culture, language, and philosophy remained the predominant one in the cultural life

among the ancient thinkers even if the Romans became the rulers.

On the other side, while Rome is accused of tyranny we can see a lot more developed

systems in the sense of political unity, economical flourish, and military victories. When in

ancient Greece not anybody could be a city-state citizen, in ancient Rome even strangers and

slaves could receive citizenship, by taking the correct steps. Romans also created what we call

today urbanism. By this, we understand how a city works with markets, arena shows, and

business. Culturally speaking, what we know about ancient Greece is due to what Romans

selected from Greece's inheritance. So they had a great role and responsibility in transmitting

forward the ancient culture. The advantage of Romans over the Greeks is the way of rulership.

While de Greece is known for democracy, the Roman Empire is known for its more

dictatorship. It turned out to be the most efficient system considering the vastity of the empire

and the cultural mosaic of the conquered nations and lands.

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If they had applied democracy it would be a fatal error because the power wouldn't be

kept in a single place and the empire would have fallen quicker than we know from its

history.

The ancient Greeks create what we call today drama. But whatever the topic would be

tragedy or comedy, it wasn’t like in modern days theaters. The acting innovation of greeks

implies a lot of religiosity and political endeavors. Every act was dedicated to a specific god

(ex: Dyionisos) and at the same time, high members of the officials were present there as local

political importance. It was at the same time a place of civic gatherings where everybody had

to make a hard decision while looking at the act. All the actors wore masks because that

helped them to enter their roles better.

After the Athenians lost the peneloposian war with Sparta, and the war in Syracuse the

democratic rulership starts to tremble. Athenians as people start to not worry about the

common matters because they voted for Athen collapse. Up in northern Greece, the

Macedonian king Phillip and other forces start to threaten the democratic Athene. After a

bloody battle, Phillip won and the era of democracy is gone, replaced by the king’s one.

Drama in this context starts to move its emphasis from external, political, and military matters

to internal issues like boys falling in love with girls and man learning that nobody can live

solitary.

In the time of Alexander the Great, the theatres continue to exist, but after his death,

gradually a new power arises in the italic peninsula, Rome. At first, Rome was a city-state,

republic, battling for more power. After Romans conquer the Greek city of Taras, they

assimilated in their culture greek plays, architecture, except for the Latin language. They

implemented the greek drama as a sign of conquering the surrounding cultures. Rome had its

influence in spectacles life, where the acting was replaced gradually with gladiators combat

and other types of entertaining. Theatres became a part of a more complex cultural and

political system.
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Rome was the first empire to develop a system where peoples of every nation could

become Roman citizens. There have been many cases of slaves that were freed and then

brought to Rome and became Romans. Rome as a metropolis was the first to have 1 million

inhabitants from all around the globe. No matter where did you come from, what is your

religion and habits Rome assimilates you and makes you a part of it. Colosseum was a place

where exotic animals and gladiators fought. For its people, Rome brings the international

element as a show, at the same time presenting its imperial power.

Life in Rome as an ordinary citizen is not sawed as the glory and the majesty of

imperialistic Rome. The street life was not so bright in ancient Rome. Besides the smell and

the dirt of a narrow streets metropolis, it was a very crowded city with living six or seven

floors blocks in which every family lived in a very small room. Every rich people or trader

has in front of the house its stall which faces the streets. Also, it was the danger of something

accidentally falls on your head from those blocks and the night drunk bullies and robbers who

awaited you at the dark corners of the streets.

In today’s modern civilization we describe the family as blood relatives, but in ancient

Rome, the family consists of more than that: slaves and workers. The ancient Roman world is

very similar to ours in the sense of marriage and family life. Childhood wasn’t so easy as it is

today. As a child, you worked to form a young age, and many children did not make it to

adulthood. Rome should be understood not only as of the mighty city of the empire but also as

real-life Rome which for many meant a very harsh life to live. The entire family, including the

slaves, were buried at the same place with no differential tomb.