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.