Because they thought it was full of greasy bastards?
Edit: more realistically the Graecians were one of the first to colonize Italy, so the Romans likely ran into the Graecians first, then when they ran into the rest of the Hellenes, figured hey, they guys are just more Graecians.
Edit two: it would be like a US American running into a Louisiana-ian as a first impression for French, then calling the rest of the Francophonie “Louisians” and the country of France “Louisburg”
Interestingly, the Romans called the Greeks Grekili , a degrading term, signifying they were fallen, decadent and servile. This is thought to be because allegedly the Greeks were not fans of straightforward battle, but preferred other tactics like ambushes and night-attacks.
Because they thought it was full of greasy bastards?
Edit: more realistically the Graecians were one of the first to colonize Italy, so the Romans likely ran into the Graecians first, then when they ran into the rest of the Hellenes, figured hey, they guys are just more Graecians.
Edit two: it would be like a US American running into a Louisiana-ian as a first impression for French, then calling the rest of the Francophonie “Louisians” and the country of France “Louisburg”
Interestingly, the Romans called the Greeks Grekili , a degrading term, signifying they were fallen, decadent and servile. This is thought to be because allegedly the Greeks were not fans of straightforward battle, but preferred other tactics like ambushes and night-attacks.