Hellenization

Greek The processes of spreading the influence of Greek mythology, philosophy, language, and culture to societies and cultures that came in contact with the people of ancient Greece. In Greek and Roman mythology, Hellenization refers to the process by which the people of Rome and central Europe, and eventually the Roman Empire, adapted and adopted the myths of Greece as their own, though often giving different names to the gods and goddesses and modifying the stories to meet Roman needs. Greek colonists living in southern Italy and on the island of Sicily before 800 b.c. were the first to influence the younger civilizations developing in central Italy. A period of widespread exploration and colonization of Italy by the people of Greece took place from 800 to 650 b.c., beginning, according to archaeological and linguistic evidence, with the people of Etruria. By 650 b.c., Rome came under Greek influence through trade and through the arrival of Greeks as residents of Rome. By the first century b.c., Greek culture had deeply influenced the thought, culture, literature, and mythology of Rome. The early people of central Italy believed in gods and spirits closely connected to the needs of everyday life, but those beings appear not to have developed stories of their own. The Romans, over time, applied the stories of Greek gods to the names of their gods. The Romans, however, did not simply adopt the Greek myths. They transformed the gods and their legends to meet the social, personal, historical, and religious needs of their own culture. Ancient histories and poetry as well as archaeology suggest that Apollo was the first Greek god to have a strong influence on Rome. A temple dedicated to him was built at Cumae, on the western shores of Italy in the Bay of Naples. Greeks settled this location, about 120 miles southeast of Rome, as early as 730 b.c. The neighboring people may have gone there, too, to worship the gods. (See Sibyl of Cumae.) Roman religious and civic leaders introduced more Greek gods into Roman life during emergencies. For example, leaders brought to Rome in about 295 b.c. the cult of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, to help stop a devastating plague. Even after the Romans made Greece part of their empire in the first century b.c., the Greek religions continued to have a strong influence on the cultures of Rome. Scholars of Rome's religious history suggest this Hellenization period was, in large part, due to the Roman characteristic of incorporating the cultures of conquered lands into the Roman culture. Other experts suggest that the Romans, having never developed a full mythology of their own, sought out the myths of other lands, including those of the Far East as well as Greece, to meet cultural and personal needs.