Unpopular? One of Italy's most popular historians likes to joke that, back in ancient Rome, any budding politician would have taken a post in Syria or Lybia over one in Gaul or (shudders) Britannia any day of the week. And every time, the audience just laughs and nods. The Mediterranean was a highway, not a frontier.
More like Greece, I think.
I've heard and read Greece being compared to the Middle East as well, more than one time.
Most of it used to be Greek colonies before Roman expansion, so yes.