6-5

Key Words: Greco-Roman culture: a blend of Hellenistic, Roman, and Greek culture. Pompeii: A city in Rome that was destroyed by the eruption of a volcano. Aqueducts: a long bridge designed to bring water to Roman cities.

Key People: Virgil: A serious writer who wrote the Aenied, the epic of the legendary Aeneas. Tacitus: A Roman prose writer who presented his facts accurately.

The Legacy of Greco-Roman Civilization
 * The Romans were proud of their ability to rule, but they acknowledge their Greek heritage in the arts.
 * Greek, Roman, and Hellenistic culture blended together to form the Greco-Roman culture.
 * Roman philosophers and writers adapted the Greek teachings for their own purposes, and soon, the arts and literature came to communicate the characteristics the Romans valued the most: strength, permanence, and solidity.

Roman Fine Arts
 * While the Greeks were known for creating ideal people in their sculptures, the Romans created realistic sculptures that were meant for public education.
 * At the time of Augustus, the Romans created a type of sculpture called bas-relief, which are images projected from a flat background used to tell stories.
 * Roman artists were skilled in creating mosaics, which were pictures or designs made by setting small pieces of material, such as glass, onto a surface.
 * Romans were also good at painting, and many rich people had murals painted directly on their walls. Some of the best examples are in Pompeii, which in AD 79 got destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted.

Learning and Literature
 * Romans borrowed much of their philosophical ideas from the Greek idea of Stoicism, which emphasized virtue, duty, moderation, and endurance.
 * While writers were greatly influenced by Greek literature, they added their own ideas and themes into their stories.
 * The poet Virgil's writing was serious, the poet Ovid's writing was light and enjoyable.
 * The Romans wrote great prose, and while the writer Livy used legacy freely to create a national myth of Rome, Tacitus presented the facts accurately.

The Legacy of Rome
 * Rome's cultural influences are still present in daily languages, institutions, and the thought of the western world.

The Latin Language
 * Latin remained the official language of the west and the church right up until the 20th century.
 * Latin was later developed into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romainian, which are called Romance languages because of their Roman heritage. Also, more than half the words in English come from Latin.

Master Builders
 * Visitors from all over the empire looked in awe at the architecture of Roman buildings, such as the arch, the dome, and concrete.
 * Arches also were used in aqueducts.
 * Because Roman architecture was so practical, it was popular, and Thomas Jefferson got Americans to incorporate Roman designs into their buildings.