"Roman" Culture?

[john m roberts]

I know of very few cultures anywhere that sprang into existence sui generis with no influences from outside. It's only possible when a culture develops in total isolation and there have been few of those. The Greeks adapted their alphabet from the Phoenicians and their philosophies were heavily influenced by Asia. Their preclassical sculpture has a definitely Egyptian look. They absorbed all these influences and turned them into the culture we call Greek. In this, the Romans were just doing what lmost all cultures do.