Romanization faced a lot of resistance. The conquered nations bitterly resisted the emperor and any donations he made. Notable resistors include the Saharan Nomads, the Moors, Gauls, and the Jews (Millett, 2010). In the Sahara region, especially, there were a lot of uprisings, and the Greek could not establish their kingdom successfully. A faction of the Romanized individuals muffled any anger and discontentment that they had against the Romanization (Millett, 2010). However, a majority of the population took every opportunity to protest against the Roman occupation and influence. Even so, Romanization thrived in the western half of its empire as the native civilizations in these regions were weak. However, the East, comprising of nations like Egypt and Judea strongly opposed it. The Latin language played a significant role in spreading Romanization.

Conversely, Hellenization was popular among non-Greeks. Even the Romans, who despised the Greeks readily took up their education practices. A Roman was regarded as cultured if he/she understood Greek (Voustaki, 2017). In fact, even Latin was developed to fit the parallel education system of Hellenization. Eastern civilizations like Egyptians, Jews, adopted the Hellenistic way of life. Matters physical appearance were especially taken up by the Egyptians. Comparatively, the Jews incorporated Greek influence in their religion (Kogan, 1975). The Jews fused their cultural beliefs an Even after the dismantling of the Greek empire following Alexander’s death, Hellenization spread throughout the east.

Hellenization was more successful than Romanization. That even the Romans grudgingly accepted the Greeks attests to the power that Hellenization had (Kogan, 1975). Furthermore, Romanization faced a lot of contempt from the conquered areas. Moreover, Romanization thrived in weaker civilizations. The opposite holds for Hellenization, which remained popular even after the decline of the Greek empire. Again, it flourished in regions that Romanization miserably failed in.

References

Millett, M. (2010). Romanization: historical issues and archaeological interpretation. The early Roman Empire in the West.

Voutsaki, S. (2017). 7 The Hellenization of the prehistoric past. Ancient Monuments and Modern Identities: A Critical History of Archaeology in 19th and 20th Century Greece, 130.

Kogan, M. (1975). Review: Judaism and Hellenism. Cross Currents, 25 (1).