The Greeks created the foundation of our modern society from the democratic form of government to science and medicine to philosophy and art to even our concepts of beauty. It was the Greeks who actually devised a mathematical formula to determine the exact dimensions of the “perfect” human body. That is why most Greek figurative statues look like they may have been modeled after the same guy, or a close relative. They had a culture so rich that when the Romans invaded and conquered Greece in 146 BC, enticed by the art and treasures returned to Rome after the sacking of the Greek colony of Syracuse in 211 BC, they were the ones whose culture was subjugated.
The Romans, who had a policy of allowing the societies it conquered to continue their culture and religion under Roman rule were so seduced by Greek culture that they adapted the Greek art, architecture and even the Greek Gods as their own. It is through the Romans that we today know and appreciate the Greeks and knowing what a huge debt we owe to the ancient Greeks I see no reason to denigrate them now by comparing them, in any way, to us. The Romans, however, are another story.
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