Roman And The Athenian Civilization Essay, Research Paper

Both the Roman and the Athenian civilization enjoyed recreation and cherished it dearly. Recreation was and is one of the most important things in a person?s life. If a person has a total lack of recreation there are chances of melancholy that can later on lead to death. Having recreation in our lives gives us a sense of happiness thatwe all need.

The Romans were alike with the Greeks in a few ways. The Romans watched chariot races to entertain them just like the Greeks did, what was so fascinating About the Romans is that they had the biggest arena in the Mediterranean called the Circus Maximus. The arena held about two hundred fifty thousand people, that was five times as much as the collosseum.

The Athenians didn?t like the barbaric fighting as much as the Romans did; the Athenians were more aristocratic. The Romans loved watching gladiator?s fight in the collosseum, which seated fifty thousand spectators. The colloseum was used for fights, two people which were either slaves condemned criminals or Christians fought until someone?s life was taken away. The collosseum was also used for condemned criminals, or Christians to fight wild animals, or starving beasts. This is one of the biggest difference?s that the Greeks had from the Romans.

Another difference between the Greek and the roman empire was, the fact that the Romans had festivals that represented something for the king or ruler at that time, but in Greece it was mostly sport festivals and festivals that honored the gods. Something that the Romans didn?t have but the Greeks did and could brag about was the Olympic games. The Olympic games took session every four years and had five events (the pentathlon), wrestling, running, chariot races, jumping, and the javelin. Today more than twenty events take place that is one way that the ancient Greek life affected ours today.

The Romans and Greek Empire had similarities and differences in their way of recreation. Mostly the differences overruled the similarities and this is perfectly normal because they were and are two different cultures. Recreation though played a very important role in both cultures and in any other culture in the world.