Finally after several months I have completed my draft on Magna Graecia. This chapter while long and descriptive reveals that Rome was greatly influenced by the Greeks who were well-established in living near or in their backyard, so to speak. The main contribution of the Greeks was to provide the Romans with the inclination to develop a Greek-like urban centers based on trade and enterprise --or the desire to become a competitors in the international (global) trading system that was very dynamic within the Mediterranean world at this time. The Greek colonies in Magna Graecia played a keyhole in this system as they provided the Greeks with an import/export market for the exchange of high quality finised products for raw materials including cereals such as wheat and Barley. Many of these colonies grew into cities, some very wealthy as indicated by their ancient temples. While the Greeks in southern Italy lived a separate and insulary life, they had a profound effect on the surrounding Italian tribes. Without the influence of the Greeks the Italians, including the Romans, would have continued as agriculturalists or as Plato and Aristotle would classify them, as semi-barbarians.
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