Greco-Roman relations in classical antiquity

Greek people had settled in Southern Italy and Sicily since the 8th century BC, allowing the Italian tribes to come into contact with Greek culture from an early period and bringing them under Greek cultural influence. Italian use of the alphabet, weights and measures, and temples were derived from the Greeks.^[2][3] Roman culture was highly influenced by the Greeks; as Horace said, Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit ("Captive Greece captured her rude conqueror").^[4]

Statue of Mars from the Forum of Nerva, early 2nd century AD, based on an Augustan-era original that in turn used a Hellenistic Greek model of the 4th century BC, Capitoline Museums^[1]

Early influence

The Romans came into close contact with Greek culture during the conquest of Magna Graecia, Mainland Greece and the "Hellenistic countries" (countries that had been marked by Greek culture and language) in the 2nd and the 1st centuries BC. The Romans saw in Hellenistic cities a lifestyle that could be more comfortable than theirs. Formerly sparsely-ornamented houses acquired columns, statues, mosaics on the floors, tapestries and paintings on the walls. Meals were taken while reclining instead of sitting, conforming to Greek custom.

The Romans also derived knowledge in trade, banking, administration, art, literature, philosophy and earth science from Greek influence.^[3] In the last century BC it was popular for young Romans to study in Athens^[5] and perfect their knowledge of rhetoric at the large schools of philosophy. It was also seen as a necessity to able to speak Greek as well as Latin. The everyday interpenetration of the two languages is indicated by bilingual inscriptions, which sometimes even switch back and forth between Greek and Latin. The epitaph of a Greek-speaking soldier, for instance, might be written primarily in Greek, with his rank and unit in the Roman army expressed in Latin.^[6] In the Roman East, laws and official documents were regularly translated into Greek from Latin.^[7] Roman commentaries testify that Roman couples even used Greek for pillow talk.^[5] The identification of Romans with Greek became so close that some Roman writers in the 1st century BC and 1st century began to entertain the claim that Latin was an Aeolic Greek dialect.^[8]

Roman culture formed part of a broader Graeco-Roman culture and shared common ideals with the Greeks in terms of culture and civilization,^[5] partly because of the Greeks who were voluntarily or involuntarily in Rome. The Roman Emperor Nero visited Greece in 66 AD, and performed at the Ancient Olympic Games, despite the rules against non-Greek participation. He was honoured with a victory in every contest, and in the following year, he proclaimed the freedom of the Greeks at the Isthmian Games in Corinth, just as Flamininus had over 200 years previously.^[9]

Greek cities like Ephesus or Athens flourished during the long era of peace (Pax Romana). Though Greek, cities like Ephesus were not explicitly distinctive from Roman cities.^[10] Because of the general prosperity, there was no revolt against Roman rule, which could be seen as positive. Although Greeks and Romans had friendly ties due to their similarities, they both sought to differentiate themselves, often through language, customs, and literature.^{[citation needed]}

Some Romans resisted this Greek influence on every aspect of life. For example, Cato the Elder prophesied Rome's demise; he considered everything Greek to be suspect; he even mistrusted Greek doctors and claimed that they plotted to poison Romans. Roman writings frequently stereotyped the Greeks as untrustworthy, debauched and overly luxurious. Roman aristocrats warned of Greek influences corrupting Roman morals or Roman religious piety, and believed that excessive imitation of the Graeculus "Greekling" (a Roman slur for Greeks popularised by Cicero) would lead to the collapse of Rome.^[11] Roman perceptions of Greeks mirrored the earlier Greek perceptions of Persians: as a formerly upright and militarily strong people who had become weak, decadent and dishonest.^[5] Although Roman writers associated the Greek cultural tendencies of Nero and Domitian with their despotic reputations, Greek culture became more accepted in the 2nd century. When the emperor Hadrian, nicknamed graeculus for his strong support for Greek culture, broke with the prior Roman tradition of being clean-shaven, imitating Greek fashion by wearing a beard and portraying himself in a himation or pallium instead of the usual Roman toga, Romans received his behaviour positively.^[12] According to Cassius Dio, a Roman from the East, Romans typically used the term Graecus as a negative reference to the lowly origin of a Greek person. Emperor Julian, who considered himself culturally Greek and praised Hellenization as the foundation of the Roman Empire, was himself mocked as a Graeculus and a pretentious fraud by Roman troops from the Western provinces.^[13]

These views did not prevent the same anti-Greek Romans from adopting some elements of Greek culture and intellectual life, although some like Cato the Elder and Gaius Marius would refuse to use Greek in an official capacity.^[11] It was mandatory to use only Latin in the Senate, and Roman magistrates avoided using the Greek language to conduct diplomacy with Greeks, including in Greece.^[8] While Crassus and Atticus both spoke Greek like native speakers, Augustus, despite his interest in Greek studies, was not fluent in Greek and avoided writing in that language.^[8] Cicero noted that some Romans would deliberately speak Greek with mistakes to sound more 'Roman', and he opposed Lucretius' belief that Greek was superior to Latin at expressing philosophical concepts (egestas patrii sermonis).^[8] The emperor Claudius tried to limit the use of Greek, and on occasion revoked the citizenship of those who lacked Latin. Even in addressing the Roman Senate, however, he drew on his own bilingualism in communicating with Greek-speaking ambassadors.^[14] Suetonius quotes him as referring to "our two languages,"^[15] and the employment of two imperial secretaries, one for Greek and one Latin, dates to his reign.^[16]

Conversely, some Greeks held the Romans in disdain, who had devastated their homelands, robbed temples and public buildings, decimated the population and brought many Greeks to Rome as slaves.^{[17][18][19][20]} Aemilius Paulus, the victor of the Battle of Pydna in Greece in 168 BC, is said to have personally sold 150,000 Greeks to Rome as slaves.^[21] Enslaved Greek teachers, doctors, entertainers were brought to Rome in large numbers, alongside vast quantities of looted Greek art decorating Roman forums, temples and villas.^[22] Greek leaders initially denounced the Romans as barbarians that had to be kept out of Greece, arguing that their treatment of captured cities was 'savage' (ὠμός) and 'lawless' (παρανομία), standard Greek criticisms of those they labelled 'barbarians'.^[23] Polybius similarly described Romans as greedy, brutal and overly religious, similar to descriptions of other 'barbarians'.^[23] Dionysius of Halicarnassus explained that the Greeks of his time, in the late 1st century BC, generally saw Romans as barbarians, but he argued instead that Romans "are Greeks."^[23] Dionysius claimed that the Romans were not only Greek in cultural values but also ancestry, portraying the success of Rome as a consequence of their "Greekness". This narrative reinforced the Greek claim to cultural and political leadership over the world's peoples.^[24] Greek grammarians including Dionysius, Philoxenus of Alexandria and Tyrannion developed the theory that Latin was derived from an Aeolic Greek dialect.^[25] Aelius Aristides praised Rome for bringing peace, but insisted that Rome's importance came from the momentary politics of the era, while Athens was inherently great and the source of all value, calling Greece "the center of the whole earth".^[5] Later, the Greek physician Galen referred to the Romans as "born barbarians but cultivate the ways of the Greeks."^[5]

Late antiquity

By late antiquity, the division of the two parts of the Roman Empire began to accelerate between the weakened and disorderly Latin West and the more prosperous Greek East. In Constantinople, the center of the Greek East, Greek-speaking poets and historians referred to Rome as a foreign city full of vice, corruption, and decadence. Outdated visions of late antiquity as poverty, depopulation, barbarian destruction, and civil decay have been revised in light of recent archaeological discoveries,^[26] and it is assumed between the 4th and 7th centuries AD, Greece continued as one of the most economically active regions in the eastern Mediterranean.^[27] Both Greek and Latin were in active use by government officials and the Church during the 5th century.^[28]

The situation of the Romans and Rome began to change rapidly and many local Roman traditions disappeared. It became common to hear the Greek language in Rome, largely because the Greeks dominated the economic life of Rome. This dependence caused tension with the Romans; in 440 the Western emperor Valentinian III decided to expel "all the Greek merchants" from the city. This move caused a famine which forced Valentinian to withdraw the edict.^[29] Although some leaders in the Western Empire called upon Eastern assistance during the decline of the West, not all Westerners welcomed this interference. Praetorian prefect of Gaul Arvandus called the emperor Anthemius as a "Greek emperor" and saw him as an alien intruder, urging the Visigoths to remove him.^[30]

Justinian's reconquest

Main article: Gothic War (535–554)

Belisarius mosaic, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

After recapturing Rome and parts of Italy, the violent Gothic wars and the various sieges throughout Italy further disillusioned the native Roman population, worsening the reputation of Greeks such as Belisarius and his troops, who were mostly Greek or Greek speaking. When Belisarius arrived in Italy, the Goths began to propagate anti-Greek sentiment, stereotyping the Greeks that were in Rome as useless mimes and thieves. The sentiment successfully spread due to the resentment already borne between the Romans and Greeks. At the climax of the tension and violence the Romans wrote a letter to the Emperor Justinian in which they proclaimed that they would rather be ruled by Goths than by Greeks; the Roman resentment against the Greeks was not limited only to the troops of Belisarius, but to all Hellenic influence in general.^[31]

Belisarius, noting the growing distrust of the Romans, wrote a letter to Emperor Justinian I over his concerns about the intentions of the Romans: "And although at the present time the Romans are well disposed toward us, yet when their troubles are prolonged, they will probably not hesitate to choose the course which is better for their own interests. [...] Furthermore, the Romans will be compelled by hunger to do many things they would prefer not to do."

To reestablish order Justinian and Belisarius began to replace the native Roman popes and high functionaries or nobles who often conspired against the Byzantine troops in Rome or Italy, with Greek speakers from Syria, Antioch, Alexandria and Cilicia. This policy of "Hellenization" in the Italian peninsula and in the newly reconquered western provinces of the empire, each with a Byzantine exarch, was closely followed by Justinian and his successors.^[29] The Greek merchant enclave in Rome, the ripa graeca, became the center of Byzantine period Rome.^[29] Writing in the reign of Justinian, John Lydus recounted an incident in the 5th century when a certain Cyrus, Prefect of the City, recited edicts in Greek instead of Latin. Lydus believed that this event fulfilled an ancient prophecy which predicted the downfall of Rome "when they forgot their ancestral tongue."^[32]

The Ravenna exarchate, and the following Catepanate of Italy, were responsible for the strong and continued Hellenic-Eastern influence on Italy over native Roman traditions and customs due to the shrinking of a native Roman-Latin population, whose already weak cultural identity constantly faced wars, famines and most importantly, their neighbors' Hellenic influence resulting in the decline of the previous Latin Roman culture.^[33]

The widespread destruction of Italy in the war, harsh Gothic and Byzantine reprisals of their opponents' supporters, and heavy Byzantine taxation led the Italian populace to shift allegiances: instead of loyalty to Empire, their identities were increasingly tied to religion, family and city instead.^[34]

However in the more prosperous East, their Byzantine counterparts reflected a Hellenizing influence over the Mediterranean. Reaching again its second highwater mark under Basil II's reign, Hellenic influence had profound effects in neighboring territories such as the Georgian, Armenian, Balkan and Italian provinces. Greek culture successfully reestablished their position and influence on former Hellenistic territories such as Syria, Lebanon, much of Palestine and the surroundings areas.^[35] From the 6th century, Greek culture was studied in the West almost exclusively through Latin translation.^[36] Latin loanwords also appear liberally in Greek texts on technical topics from late antiquity and the Byzantine period.^[37]