Obrad Stanojević

THE GREEKS AND ROMANS – DISTANT NEIGHBORS

Summary

There are deep ties between the Greeks and Romans in their history and culture. Both peoples belong to the Indo-European group. The Latin alphabet derives from the Greek alphabet. Roman religion has similar pantheon of gods to Greek religion. The first centuries of the Roman state did not differ a lot from Greek polises. However, there are also significant differences. The Greeks have influenced a lot to the civilizations of Ancient Near East. Conquering of Alexander the Great has led to a merging of cultures and creation of „Hellenism“. Despite of that, barbaric peoples have stayed beyond the reach of „Hellenism”. The opposite thing happened to the Romans. They failed to merge the Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, and Hebrews in their melting-pot, but they managed for a short time to alienate barbarians and half-barbarians from their native languages, customs and beliefs turning them to Roman citizens. For instance, the Dacians have forgotten their own and accepted Roman language, and until today, this is the only country that contains the name of Rome in its own name, Rome = Romania. Two peoples had different attitudes toward law. While the Greeks looked upon law as a craft unworthy of clever young men, the Romans had the opposite view. For the Greeks, philosophy is the biggest gift that gods sent to people, but the Romans are not interested in philosophy. Judging by general characteristics, the Romans are less talented people than Greeks, but on the other hand, they do not lack pragmatism.

Key words: The Greeks, The Romans, differences, similarities, law, philosophy, state, distinctiveness.