To this day the Greeks and Italians often point out the similarities between their cultures. Roman architecture and Greek architecture are strikingly similar. The mythology is nearly the same, though the names are different, both sets of Gods exist on Mount Olympus.
The biggest question on this subject is: "Why have the Greeks and Romans have commons similarities" Could it be that they were in communication? If they have the same gods to worship, were they real? Did they visit both colonies?
These questions cannot really be answered, however, we know that Cleopatra and Caesar spoke Greek together -- it was her native language and most educated Romans learned it as part of their educations. Like today most language learning was situational: if you're a Phoenician trader trying to sell things to Greeks, you pick up some Greek; if you're a Thracian slave toiling away for the Romans, you learn some Latin or you get beaten a lot.