Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks” 2nd ed. and “A Brief History of Ancient Greece; Politics, Society and Culture” 4th edition Author: Sarah B. Pomeroy, et al. (978019092530)7Final Paper

Title Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name Date Introduction The opportunity to study Ancient Greece, with its vast and lasting impact on the Mediterranean and the more fantastic ancient world, speaks to the rich and dynamic role built by the region as a center of culture, politics, and warfare. It is important to remember that Greece was not a stagnant civilization but an active one, interacting with other cultures, including Egypt. Unlike other civilizations that traded but had insignificant interaction at the intellectual, artistic, and ideological levels, this cross-cultural interaction influenced the development paths of these societies (Filonik et al., 2018; Carter, 2023). Furthermore, they have their city-states within the civilization, the most significant being Sparta and Athens, reflecting two different social and political organization systems and their interaction. Sparta represented the regulatory authoritarian society with an oligarchic government and soldiers' supremacy, while Athens stood for the democratic state and exquisite culture interested in philosophy (Rahe, 2016; Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2020). These internal factors are the fundamental dynamics that formed the Greeks' image, as reflected in their interaction with other states, including allies, enemies, and strategies. In this essay, we examine how these interactions, both with the outside world and internally among Mediterranean societies, were not just supplementary to those societies' evolution but central to the emergence of the political systems, cultural practices, and warfare tactics that characterized the ancient Mediterranean. Analyzing the complex system of the contacts of Ancient Greeks with other countries, especially Egypt, as well as with the periods of Sparta and Athens, it is possible to reveal that Ancient Greeks bear significant responsibility for the critical turn during historical development as it is carefully studied and is popular nowadays. In this context, we will also study how and to what extent Greek culture spread, interacted, and was assimilated throughout the ancient world. The Impact of Greek Civilization and Its Extent Greek colonies extended from Asia Minor down to the southern parts of Italy and the island of Sicily, called Magna Graecia, thus becoming a federation of related states in political terms that greatly expanded the area of the Hellenic culture's outreach. These colonies acted as a transmission belt of Greek architectural styles, coins, and civic customs and established local practices in the Hellenistic world. The foundation of such polis as Syracuse in Sicily or Ephesus in Ionia also served the purpose of assimilation of the indigenous peoples to the Greek culture but also created the environment for exchanging ideas and stimuli for artistic activity (Cartwright, 2013, 2018). For example, the Greeks’ adoption of the lower cases of alphabets and the language spread across these regions made it possible not only to create an administrative coherence but also to disseminate the extensive literature and philosophy that were instrumental in creating the toxic environments of these areas (Violatti, 2015). In addition, the impact of Greek philosophy and literature was not limited to the geographical area of ancient Greece (University of Pittsburgh, 2024). It spread widely, affecting other cultures and civilizations, including the Romans and the Byzantines. Cultural heritage developed later like the works of Plato and Aristotle, who wrote works copied and circulated as model works in any philosophical line. In the sphere of arts, the sophisticated classical Greek style that accentuates the use of scale, proportion, and symmetry served as a starting point and later influenced Roman art and architecture heavily. Pottery and artifacts inscribed with Greek alphabets and artworks and coins were traded through the channels mentioned above, meaning that alongside the trade goods, so too were the Greek aesthetics and moralities spread into the host societies of other ancient civilizations. This far-reaching and interconnected distribution underlines how the Greeks influenced many societies across the Mediterranean and beyond through colonization and trade routes (Pomeroy et al., 2014, pp. 4-19). Cross-Cultural Interaction Between Greeks and Egyptians Greek-Egyptian interactions have been intense, covering many areas that interacted and enriched both civilizations and Western cultural history. One example of such an intercultural dialogue is the Greek philosophers' trip to Egypt to learn many different things, including mathematics, astronomy, theology, medicine, and other sciences. Examples include Thales of Miletus, who learned from the Egyptians, and the later Pythagoras, who brought back knowledge that transformed the philosophical and scientific paradigms of Ancient Greeks (Anakwue, 2017; Kingsley, 1994, p.1). Library of Alexandria opened in Egypt as a Hellenistic premise and formally evolved as a combined intellect center for Greek and Egyptian scholars. It must be understood that here, in this exchange, religion and mystics were also part of the education process. For instance, theistic deities like Isis and Osiris, important in Egyptian religion, agreed with Greek religious systems, illustrating theological amalgamation (Mark, 2023; Pomeroy et al., 2014, p. 357). Political Dynamics and Alliances The interaction between the Greek and Egyptian states in the political sphere presented itself as a balance between might and negotiations between Greece and the diplomatic assimilation of Egyptian culture...