What do historians mean when they refer to Greco-Roman culture?

Answer 1

The term Greco-Roman is today used as a term for western ancient history and culture. The words are combined because the Romans borrowed much from the Greeks and spread their culture combined with the Greek all over their empire.

Answer 2

The Romans were deeply influenced by the Greeks. The adopted some Greek gods and many Greek myths and later they linked their gods to Greek ones. Roman architecture adopted Greek styles for temples and porticoes. From the late 1st century BC they copied Greek statues and modelled their own on Greek ones. They adopted Greek sports and the Greek gymnasium. Today we still have Greco-Roman Wrestling. They adopted Greek siege machines, and greatly improved on the Greek cranes and the ballista (a catapult). Early Latin tragedy was based on or copied Greek tragedy and early Latin poetry was based on Greek verse.

The Roman elites looked up to the Greeks. The received an education in both Latin and Greek and the pinnacle of their education was a stay in Greece to study Greek philosophy. There were Greek libraries in Rome.

Answer 3

The Greco-Roman period refers to the culture of the peoples who were incorporated into the Roman Republic & Roman Empire.