Lauryn Klopf

Pd. 1 April 27, 2011

Final

Macedonia vs. Rome

Macedonia was once a part of the Great Roman Empire which means they are similar,

but they are also different. Both civilizations had great influences on each other, since they

were major empires. Some things they have in common were religion, art and architecture.

Macedonians and Romans were both polytheistic which means they believed in more

than one god or goddess. They worshiped the same gods, but the names of them were

different. Zeus was the main god for Macedonians while the Roman name for him was Jupiter.

The Romans did not build great mythologies like the Macedonians and Greeks, instead they

believed everything had a spirit. The Romans believed if they preformed the rituals correctly,

then the gods would be happy with them. Both Romans and Macedonians thought that each

god or goddess had special traits. For example Ares was also known as Mars was the god of

war. Juno or Hera was responsible for childbirth and known as the goddess or wisdom. So, even

though the names of the gods were different, they were still very similar.

Romans and Macedonian art was very similar. Macedonians however; were more

interested in making sculptures with “ideal” men or women. When they made sculptures, they

made sure to make everything equivalent to each other. The Macedonians wanted to show

their people as perfect beings. They did not make their art with imperfections, as the Romans

did. The Romans did not mind having a long nose on sculptures. Both civilizations art forms

were usually of gods, emperors, heroes and goddesses. The Macedonians used stone, marble

and limestone to carve these sculptures. Even though the Romans were influenced by the

Greeks and Macedonians they put their own twists on art.

The Romans were some of the first people to use cement and baked bricks to build

buildings. While both civilizations built structures with columns the Romans were the first to

create the arch. Temples made to worship the gods and goddess were common items in both

places. Some Macedonian and Greeks built temples that had three distinct columns holding

them up. The first one was the Doric, which was very sturdy. The next one was the Ionic which

was more elegant looking and the last one was the Corinthian which was not seen very much in

Greece but seen more in Rome.

The great Roman Empire may have been formed well before the Macedonian and

influenced it before and after its founding. But as the Macedonian Empire grew and became

stronger the influence shifted and the Roman’s began copying the using techniques that had

only been used by the Macedonians previously. Religion, art and architecture are just a few of

the similarities shared by these two great civilizations. Sharing ideas and reshaping others ideas

and beliefs are great tools still used by today’s societies.