The Roman Debt to Greece

[Ghostmojo]

I think there was also an element within Roman society that wished to link itself to this previous dominant culture which it so admired. There were Romans who sought to relate themselves as some sort of lost Spartan tribe, and of course you have the whole Aeneas/Troy foundation myths. In earlier times I guess both Solon and Lykourgos had their place in Roman development. And of course Caesar, Pompey and Augustus all venerated Alexander whom they tried to adopt as something of a role model.

Back to religion - the Romans were not above grafting Greek idioms and tales onto their own and also quite open to importation as we have seen. But they seemed more interested in cults and rituals than the Greeks did. The latter saw more of a history and spiritual world occupied by their Gods - more of a whole picture.

Of course none of this is straightforward. My own knowledge of Spartan religion tells me how varigated even the Greek world was over this.