How did Romans learn about Greek culture?

Answer 1

You could say that the Romans learned about Greek culture by absorption. There were many Greek colonies in southern Italy including Sicily where the Romans had contact. They also gained possession of these colonies by conquest, just as they gained possession of mainland Greece itself.

Answer 2

The Romans discovered Greek culture by contact. Italy was home to many Greek colonies. In fact part of southern Italy was called Magna Graecia. Sicily too, was colonized by the Greeks. As Rome expanded, so did contact with the Greeks and Greek culture.

Answer 3

Greek influence started very early on in Roman history. The Greeks established colonies (settlements) in southern Italy in the 8th and 7th century BC. Being a more advanced civilisation, their arrival had a big impact on all the Italic peoples they came in contact with during the archaic (early) period. This led to the adoption and adaptation of the western Greek alphabet by all Italic peoples, including the Latins (the Romans were Latins). Greek motifs for pottery decoration and Greek architectural styles were adopted by the Etruscans. Etruscan civilisation arose out of trade with and influence by these Greeks in what has been called the orientalising period. Recent archaeological evidence has shown that the archaic Latins were also involved in this process and that there was influence from the Greeks of Cumae (a Greek city near Naples) as well as the Etruscans. This is not surprising as both were neighbours. In the 6th century BC the Romans started using the books of the Sibylline who were Greek oracles, some of whom lived in Cumae in Italy.

Greek influence on the Romans continued past the archaic period. During the Second Punic War (218-202 BC) they 'imported' Cybele (whom they called Magna Mater, Great Mother) a Greek goddess because the sibylline oracles said that with this Rome could defeat Carthage. The Romans also adopted the Greek god Apollo, who was an oracular god; that is he was the god of the oracles.

The Romans also adopted the Greek gods Aesclepius (Apollo's son) Castor and Pollux.

Greek influence on the Romans continued past the archaic period. Influence from the Greeks of mainland Greece increased. By the time the Romans became involved in mainland Greece in the third century BC, the Roman elites had already become Hellenised (absorbed Greek culture). The elites looked up to the Greeks. Their education was both in Latin and Greek and they were fluent in Greek. The highest stage in their education was a stay in Greece to study Greek philosophy. The earliest educators in Rome were Greeks. In Rome there were Greek libraries as well as Latin ones. The Romans adopted some Greek gods and linked their gods to the Greek ones. They also absorbed much of Greek mythology. Roman architecture and sculpture were based on Greek models; hence the term Greco-Roman art, and Greek artists were highly praised in Rome.