Greek Origin of the Romans

Greek Origin of the Romans

Plutarch. Roman causes

Ianos ,an Ellin from Peraivia was the first colonist in Rome , α progenitor teacher & civilizer of the Romans. The Romans honored him as a God with many temples and also gave his name to the first month of the year ,January (Ianouarios in Hellenic).

Virgil .Aeniad tome 8 ,50-55

His oris arcades ,genus profectorum ,
Qui regem euandrum comites qui signa secuti
Delegere locum et posuere in montibus urbem
Pallantis poavi de nomine pallanteum .

On these shores Arcadians a line led by Pallantas and as they were followers of Evandros followed his banners chose an area and found the city of Pallantio from Evander�s grandfather Pallanta.

Later at 138-161 ad the roman emperor Antoninos the respectful out of gratitude to the Pallantian colonizer gave honor to the pallantians with privileges making Pallantio (in Arcadia) from komi(large village) to poli(city). He also rid the inhabitants from any taxes and awarded them their freedom. (Pausanias. 4 XLIII, 1)

Julian hidalgos (emperor) in his work �For the king helios to Soloustion� 153 a. among his other praises to the Hellenes he writes � besides the Romans not only belong in the genus (line) of the Hellenes but their sacred institutions (and those of justice) and their religious beliefs are from the beginning to the end Hellenic �. Also in his work �Symposium or lilies� 324 a he writes �although I know that you too Romans descent from the Hellenes�.

Pausanias Arcadika 3,5

Oinotros a mythic heroe younger son of Arcados king Lycaonos .According to tradition he was the first Hellene organizer of a colony. With his brother Italon (from where the term Italians & Italy come from) and Peuketion lead Arcadians and colonized the shores of lower italy .The ancient name he gave the land was Oinotria and later took the name italy from his brother Italon .

Note that Lykaon was a contemporary of Kekrops that lived a generation before the Deukalion flood .Though the above part is an ancient myth even in antiquity it shows the depth of time that Italy was colonized by the Arcadian Hellenes.

Eusevios (fragm. Chronicles A� CI CIH , tome 20 , pg 170)
� The first Hellenes were the Arcadians and having filled the Ionian gulf colonized Italy led by Oinotros of Lycaon, fifth from Azeiou and Foroneus. After along time another Hellenic fleet led by Pallantios came to these villages in Italy from arcadia and Euandros led these colonies.�

Justinian (Taktika leontos chapter 10)
�The nation of Lycaon is most related to the Romans � Lycaon came from Arcadia in hellas and when he came named this land Lycaonian�\

Thus we can discover the names given to Italy had the following order = LYCAONIA � OINOTRIA � ITALIA .
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Also not that the first Roman historians wrote in Greek and not in Latin
Namely:
Quintus fabius pictor
Lucius Cincius Alimentus
Gaius Acilius
Aulus Postumius Albinus

According to Cicero one of the first Romans who wrote in Latin prose was the Sabine Claudius, Appius Caecus who was consul in 307 and 296 BC. He delivered a speech in Latin to the Senate against making peace with Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus.

The first Roman historians who wrote in Latin were Porcius Cato (234-140 BC) and Lucius Cassius Hemina (circa 146 BC).

The name "Rome" in Greek means "power," "force," "fighting army" and "speed tactics."

The name "Rome" derives from two the Greek verbs: 1) roomai which means "to move with speed or violence, to dart, rush, rush on, esp. of warriors. "

The name "Rome" also derives from of the Greek passive verb: 2) ronnymi which means "to strengthen, make strong and mighty" and "to put forth strength, have strength or might.

The closest Latin equivalent verb is ruo, which is connected to the Greek verb reo meaning "to flow, run, to hasten."

Of all the uses of Latin verbs both active and passive there is none that even comes close to meaning "rome."

Romans, Latins and Sabines were agreed that the name quiris (sing.) quiretes (pl.) would be their common name which dictionaries translate as citizen. But the Romans had a name for citizens, like the Greek, polites, i.e. civitas. But the names quiris-quiretes derive from the Greek name kouros-kouretes which means young men of fighting age and therefore warriors, "young men, esp. young warriors," Iliad 19. 193, 248. So the Romans, Latins and Sabines called themselves first "warriors" and later "citizens."

Because all three groups of Romans, Latins and Sabines came to Italy by sea from Greece and Asia minor they were warrior sailors and sea faring peoples. It is obviously for this reason that at their weddings they shouted the Greek word Thalassios, sailor, at the groom and not the Latin name marinos.
Greeks and Romans in Greek & Latin texts

The rhetorician Quintilian (c. AD 35-95) regards the "Aeolic" Greek dialect as the closest to Latin

The Greek historian of "Roman Antiquities," Dionysius of Halicarnassus (c. 60 or 55 BC-c. 21 AD). He writes the following: "The language spoken by the Romans is neither utterly foreign (βάρβαρον) nor perfectly Greek, but a mixture, as it were, of both, the greater part of which is "Aeolic"; and the only disadvantage they have experienced from their intermingling with these various nations is that they do not pronounce all their sounds correctly. But all other indications of a Greek origin they preserve beyond any other colonists. "
Dionysius summarizes the reports of the Greek origin of the Romans by the Romans themselves as follows: �But the most learned of the Roman historians, among whom is Porcius Cato (who compiled with the greatest care the �origins� of the Italian cities) Gaius Sempronius and a great many others, say that they are Greeks, part of those who once dwelt in Achaia, and that they migrated many generations before the Trojan war.�

Edited by olvios - 20-Apr-2007 at 15:58

The source texts are all from  from mousaios tlg.I havent posted this in allempires before.Anyone with good knowledge of greek and latin can check the texts in mousaios.

Welcome olvios to All Empires .
Who is mousaios tlg?
Could you tell us your modern Greek source that refer to the original texts because i m not so good in latin and in ancient Greeks.

I got it from a friend but you can download it from the net  though not legally.
If you can find it shared somewhere.I thought it was widespread and that everyone had it.

i cross-refrence  with on hand  traslations  and any academic web site i can get.Its perfect .I use my library mostly the musaios is just a fast way to find text then get the proper book.

What are your thoughts on Dittmans handling of the language origins of Rome?

Originally posted by New User What are your thoughts on Dittmans handling of the language origins of Rome?

Iwould also query your handling of what the name Rome means.There are some other thoughts on the matter I thought would be good to through into the discussion. Some say it is from Romulus others say it is from the Estrucan name for hard rhome. Other thoughts are that it is a proto Indo European word meaning river.

Originally posted by olvios About the rome name i am not implying that i am right its just some of the explanations.Remos and Romulus  is  most likely as  genarches(line makers) i dotn know the proper word usually give the names to nations. Hellene was a mythical figure and  Romulus as well.

for my first post i will be brief