Byzantine Empire Imperium Graecorum or Imperium Romanum??

[abou]

Highly debatable, indeed =)
But:
There was no theoretical science in Rome. 10:0
Literature: greek win 10:2
Theater@drama: greek win 10:1
Historians: er, well, romans had one good historian. the funny thing is: he wasn't roman =)
Philosophy&religion_innovations: 10:1 (1 goes for stoicism)
Athletics&sport: Olympiad versus Circus Maximus. MiniMe votes for Olympiad, Greek win. Again.

Now the back side of the coin =)
1. Law system. 5:10 (lawyers are roman invention )

2. And finally, the one and only explanation of roman supremacy:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Military recruitment system. 10:200
Romans winwinwin

Obviously you completely ignored the spirit of my post. I suggest you go back and read it. Also, quoting arbitrary numbers doesn't help your argument and doesn't do anything to point out the differences in Roman culture compared to Greeks - ie. concern for the here & now compared to a concern for the metaphysical.

[alatar]

Obviously you completely ignored the spirit of my post. I suggest you go back and read it. Also, quoting arbitrary numbers doesn't help your argument and doesn't do anything to point out the differences in Roman culture compared to Greeks - ie. concern for the here & now compared to a concern for the metaphysical.

Abou has a point.

[Boyar Son]

But we both can agree that the Hellens (their true name) and Romans has possibly the most glorious history. Hands down in my opinion.

[Intranetusa]

But we both can agree that the Hellens (their true name) and Romans has possibly the most glorious history. Hands down in my opinion.

Yup, the Romans is the best in the western world/world while the Hellens is
2nd best in the "western world" only.

[hellenes]

Yup, the Romans is the best in the western world/world while the Hellens is
2nd best in the "western world" only.

Its strange how the Hellenes took the illeterate farmers of Latio and taught them practically everything that would even remotely be called civilised...
So strange how the Romans dissapeared as a culture/language/tradition under the heel of the germanic tribes whilst Hellenes continued...

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Its strange how the Hellenes took the illeterate farmers of Latio and taught them practically everything that would even remotely be called civilised...
So strange how the Romans dissapeared as a culture/language/tradition under the heel of the germanic tribes whilst Hellenes continued...

Greeks didn't civilize the Italians. They were already civilized via the Etruscans. I don't think Greeks had any influence over Roman society until they started 'allying' with other cities, some of which being Greek colonies.

Also Roman civilization didn't disappear with the Germanic invasion. Remember that the 'barbarian invaders' didn't want to destroy Rome, they wanted to be part of Rome. All of western civilization could be said to be Roman. Systems of government, law, religion, and much of the morality of the west is mixture of Roman and Christian systems. France has always been a very Roman nation. And Latin didn't disappear, it just changed. Spanish, French, Romanian, and Italian are all bastardized versions of Latin. I would say that Spanish is about as close to Latin as modern Greek is to ancient Greek.

[antisocialmunky]

The Romans had more obscene graffiti. That has to count for something. :)

[abou]

Its strange how the Hellenes took the illeterate farmers of Latio and taught them practically everything that would even remotely be called civilised...
So strange how the Romans dissapeared as a culture/language/tradition under the heel of the germanic tribes whilst Hellenes continued...

To add to what Marcus wrote, the Hellenic culture didn't continue any more than any other culture. In fact, a governor of Athens wrote to the emperor in Constantinople complaining that no one in his city could read. Also, when Greece converted to Christianity they converted hard and either abandoned or altered their religious and cultural traditions to match. Therefore no more Elysian Mysteries, no more festivals to Dionysus.

And where do you think ancient Greece went? Lime-kilns of course, because when you burn marble it turns into lime for farming.

[Wolfman]

But were did the Greeks get their knowledge? As history shows people with great ideas are usually influenced by the works of another. At one time the Greeks had have been what they considered 'barbaric'. Every nation on the face of the earth at one or another was or is primitive. So again. Who were the greeks influenced by?