Romans - Greek Copycats?

[cisbio]

Millions of people spout off on YouTube. Why Mr Cropper thinks the privilege of hearing his misinformed rants is worthy of payment is a mystery.

[cisbio]

Amphitheatres were a Roman innovation -although the term is derived from Greek. Perhaps Mr Cropper is confusing them with Greek theatres?

Load-bearing arches and domes were also perfected by Romans, as was the use of concrete, making Roman architecture quite distinctive from Greek forms.

[cisbio]

1) Carthage DID found a land empire, although it didn't last very long.

2) Carthage didn't totally disappear. It was re-founded as a colony and became the second-largest city in the Western Empire. Punic culture and language is traceable in many cities on the coast, such as Leptis Magna.

3) Rome was not uniquely enamored of Greek culture in the ancient world. "Hellenistic" culture had spread throughout the Levant and beyond, mainly as a result of Alexander's conquests and the successor states.

[legendre007]

MrCropper, my favorite Roman lawgiver was Cicero. In his own time, he warned about the dangers of the welfare state & he said there was nothing ethical or humane about it. I find it no surprise that Aristotle influenced Cicero, & that Cicero was considered an inspiration among the USA's Founding Fathers. ^_^

I was shocked to learn of the evils committed against Cicero by Julius Caesar & especially Marc Antony. Such cruelty. :'-(

[ROBARVS]

@iluan666

Yes, it is true that Lucretius was a great Roman philosopher; however, one should keep in mind that Lucretius was an Epicurean, and Epicurus was Greek. Lucretius, then, was a proponent of a philosophy that came to be in Greek culture and that drew upon the ideas of other Greek philosophers (such as Democritus).

[MrCropper]

"if it wasn't for the roman empire, all the Greek science and philosophy would have been lost."

Actually, the Romans had less to do with saving Greek thought than the area under Alexander's influence. Greek thought was cradled by what is today the Middle East, not so much in Rome. It was later brought by Muslims to North Africa, where Albertus Magnus found Aristotle and brought it to Europe, where Thomas Aquinas studied it. Rome didn't help much.

[endgammer]

@MrCropper Thank you for your video on suggested reading. Just got Starr's History of the Ancient World

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper what about the Romans technology?

[MrCropper]

@americanliberal09 "what about the Roman[']s technology?"

They didn't invent the arch (it was in use many centuries earlier in the mid-east). What other technology did you have in mind? Archimedes, btw, was a Greek, and his machines put the roman's best war tech to shame. The Romans overcame with numbers and brute force. Their engineering was impressive, but they were industrious, not inventive.

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper you have got to be kidding me sir?

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper

oh did you mean Archimedes heat ray, that's supposed to burn roman ships?

i have to say that Archimedes was a great inventor, but modern historians rejected his heat ray because they doubt it could have burn their ships in seconds,

fire arrows will do the work.

[MrCropper]

@americanliberal09 "Archimedes heat ray"

The heat ray may have been apocryphal, and the giant lever which supposedly picked Roman ships up out of the water was almost certainly post-event exaggeration, but there must be a grain of truth in such stories. In the end, all the ingenuity was for nought because the Romans took Syracuse, but the Romans are not to be remembered as scientifically advanced, merely militarily efficient.

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper what about Pliny the Elder's book Natural History?,

what about Vitruvius's book De Architectura?

I'm not going to deny the fact that the Greeks have a major impact on the Romans, but don't forget mr.cropper, the greeks also learn mathematics and astronomy from the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians. so can you call the Greeks copycat too?, even they borrowed a lot scientific achievements from the middle east.

[MrCropper]

@americanliberal09 " the greeks also learn mathematics and astronomy from the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians"

Please see my video on Greek Mathematics for authoritative quotes on that subject. The Greeks inhereted ONLY practical, inductive, rule-of-thumb maths from Egypt and the Fertile Cresent. The Greeks owe very, very little to other cultures as far as math goes. That is not my opinion; it is the statement of mathematicians.

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper hey watch your video, I'm really convinced that the Greeks mastered at mathematics while the oriental cultures enthrall their sciences upon religion and mysticism.

Mr.cropper you completely change my mind on ancient china, i thought the Chinese invented everything for the west but i was wrong. thanks for the video.

hey, i was wondering when are you going to do a review on ancient china by the way?

[MrCropper]

@americanliberal09 " when are you going to do a review on ancient china by the way?"

I'm not sure it would be worth my time. If I did such a video, it would basically be an exercise in debunking myths about China and iterating how backward and undeveloped their culture is and has been for thousands of years.

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper alright,keep it up with your videos Mr.cropper

[dysvanlist]

could you please make a video about nihilism? and not the dumbass kind of nihilism like believing in nothing.

[MrCropper]

"I expected more detail and specifics in this video"

Such a video would be much longer, and may follow depending on monetary considerations.

[catothethird]

I expected more detail and specifics in this video, but I suppose that does exist in some of your other videos on both civilizations. Still, next time some more concrete examples might be a nice addition.

[TakisAthensGr]

No shit, we borrowed, they borrowed, we bankrupt, they bankrupt

[MultiFortunatus]

If the Romans copied so much why didn't they have big philosopher's?

[iluan666]

@MultiFortunatus

They did have big philosophers, for instance Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Hypatia, Epictetus and Augustine of Hipo (well he was a theologian). But all of them had a huge influence from greek philosofers.

[americanliberal09]

roman woman have more rights than Greek woman except for Sparta.

so you want to call the Romans copycats Mr.cropper?

if it wasn't for the roman empire, all the Greek science and philosophy would have been lost.

when the they conquered Greece, the emperors build more forums, libraries and Amphitheaters.

[americanliberal09]

wrong, it's true that the Romans learn much from the Greeks, but Romans have a legionnaire warfare while the Greeks still have phalanx Mr.cropper.

the legionnaire was more flexible than the Greek phalanx, the Romans can switch to row to row to exhaust the enemy, while the Greek phalanx can't change at all.

Amphitheater was an roman invention not a Greek one.

republicanism is an roman one not Greek.

don't forget Mr.cropper, Greece was ruled under democracies and monarchies

[MrCropper]

@americanliberal09 "Amphitheater was an roman invention not a Greek one."

Nope, that was Greek.

"republicanism is an roman one not Greek."

Wrong again, Greece had voting first, but representatives, I accede, were a Roman innovation on Greek voting.

"Romans have a legionnaire warfare while the Greeks still have phalanx"

True, they had minor innovations in warfare. But that should be expected, since they came hundreds of years after Greece was an established power.

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper Greece pretty much have democracies and oligarchies. i don't think their any evidence of Republicanism coming from classical Greece.

but i thought the dark ages begin with Christianity controlled western Europe and burn most of the greco-roman knowledge.

what about emperor Hadrian whom admired the Greeks, he also build libraries and forums in athens

[americanliberal09]

@MrCropper the Romans being brutal? oh please the Greeks were brutal too.

the Athenians invaded other Greek city-states and force them into slavery,

the Spartans invaded and enslaved other Greeks.

of course I'm not claiming that the Romans were all perfect, but the Greeks were not a utopia either

[AtomicExplosion95695]

Buy better noise equipment. You're terribly quiet and I can't hear you over the noise of Mount&Blade: Warband.