[extropy-chat] CULTURE: Did Romans ruin Greek Culture?

[natashavita at earthlink.net]

Scerir writes:

Yes. 

"Graecia capta ferum victorum cepit et artes 
intulit agresti Latio"

- Horace, Epist. II, 1, 156-7


>"Upon being seized, Greece seized her savage victor 
>and brought the arts into rustic Latium" 

This is the anciennt region of Italy, along the Terranian Sen.

>Susan Alcock wrote the excellent book "Graecia Capta: 
>The Landscapes of Roman Greece" (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993).

>The great mystery (at least to me) is why the Etruscan culture and
>civilization (and the Etruscan population too) was completely wiped out 
>by Romans.  What was the danger ? What was the superiority?
>Look it is very rare that a culture, a civilization is completely wiped out
>by another!

Roman art is derived from Etruscan art, which is fundamentally different
from the Greecian art in style and philosophy. 

In the reference I mention, "culture" is quite different from
"civilization" the former being considered one of honorable human spirit,
and the latter being a degeneration or collapse of that spirit.
The spirit would be the Greek sense of beauty, and the death would be
realism.  The engineers would be the Romans, and the intellectual beauty
the Greeks.

History:  "According to some scholars, the Etruscans invaded and conquered
Rome early in the Sixth Century B. C. Others hold that they did not conquer
the Romans, but entered Latium peacefully and rose to a ruling position in
Roman society. According to this group of scholars, some of the Etruscan
families became established as influential families in Rome’s early
aristocracy."

So, the Etruscians either siezed Rome or when there peacefully. Either way,
they did rule Italy for a while.  I'm not sure what happened to reverse
this.

Natasha



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