All joking aside, I really did feel connected to the Romans because of the way that they gained their identity. Everything I looked at made direct reference to how closely related to the Greeks they are. Kind of like a little brother who looks up to a big brother and tries to copy it.
This is where I come in. I am the fifth of six boys in my family, so I have four older brothers to look up to. This played a strong role in my development as a human. I developed interests, likes, dislikes, talents, and attributes from watching my older brothers. I also learned what not to do in order to avoid the wrath of my parents.
Rome also developed an identity by looking up to their heroes, the Greeks. From what I looked into, their music, art, literature, gods, cuisine, military, and other cultural things all have significant Greek influence.
This isn't to say that Rome is just a little, annoying copy-cat that follows you around. The Greek influence gave them a sort of head start so they could make advancements in society, technology, government, and create an empire that helped shape Western civilization even further. Similarly, I am not just a sum total of my older brothers. I have used what I learned from them and improved on it and am now the most talented and impressive member of my family, and will soon create an empire bigger than all of their kingdoms combined.
I definitely agree with your connection- I was just talking to my friend the other day about how the rising generations (aka our younger siblings) just get better and better. Sometimes you never realize that you have created your own shadow because you're so busy following your older sibling's. Rome definitely created their own shadow and probably didn't even realize it.
ReplyDeleteI've always looked up to my older brother and it's for the exact same reasons you talked about. But like you, I've taken the lessons of his life and become the better, more successful, more handsome, etc. etc. brother.
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