Herodotus And Greek Similarities

In Herodotus’ work, Histories, It is evident that there is a certain symmetry in the world, however, the further one travels from Greece the stranger things become. Herodotus shows not only similarities between Greek and Egyptian customs, but respect for Egypt's status as an older civilization. Although similarities are displayed, Herodotus evokes the feeling that the Greeks are still unique and he tags others such as the Egyptians as outsiders. The Greeks distinguish others based on their customs and religious beliefs and tag others as outsiders when those factors do not match theirs accordingly. The Greeks define others as well as themselves by comparing others to these factors. Herodotus begins distinguishing the Egyptians based on their …show more content…
This is shown through the discussion of Heracles. Egypt and Greece both possess different stories about the great god. However, this god draws slight symmetry between both cultures as Greece adopted the name from Egypt. Furthermore, it shows how different their beliefs are overall as they even possess different views about a single god, Heracles. When explaining how Egypt disagreed with the Greek account, Herodotus states that the Greek account of the God is “thoughtless” and when introducing another Greek story about the god he shares, “Here is another silly story of theirs about Heracles” (Histories 113). Herodotus goes on to explain that this does not add up because according to Egyptian customs, the Egyptians would never sacrifice a human therefore, they would never have sacrificed Heracles. Although this shows that the Greeks received the names of gods from Egypt, it also reveals that their religious beliefs about those gods are unique and different. These beliefs are different as they change according to the Greek’s customs and practices and from the stories they have been told. The fact that Herodotus observed and learned the beliefs of Egypt evokes the feeling that the Greeks look at religion when distinguishing …show more content…
The greeks had a anthropocentric view as humans were considered the most important element of existence. However, in Egypt they viewed humans and animals as the same. According to Herodotus, “All the animals in Egypt are regarded as sacred” (Histories 120). In fact, if one of these animals is killed by a human, they will be punished by death. This not only echoes the feeling that Egypt believes an animal's life is just as important as a human's life, but that it sets Egypt apart from Greece. This is another factor in which Greece describes itself as unique from others. At the same time it reveals that Greek defines its own people as superior to all other beings as they are above