Panhellenic Development In Ancient Greece

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From the Athenian acropolis to the temples of Thebes, Panhellenism has been prevalent throughout Greece, from the age of heroes to the Ottoman conquest of Greece. Developed naturally, the enduring virtues and ideas acted as a vessel for the ideal western civilization that modern powers accordingly look up to as a template for enlightenment. The basis of Panhellenic development grew from Greek cities’ independence its values derived from it, which can be seen in Homer’s Iliad.

A major unifying idea throughout the Greek city-states was their independent nature. Herodotus wrote that the Greeks believed they had to unify in order to stop the Persians.
They also resolved to send some messengers to Argos to attempt to establish a military alliance …show more content…

One of the defining Greek institutions that came out of this system was the rule of law, which most of the major cities followed their own version of it. “Aristotle and his students apparently documented the constitutions of of some 170 different city-states.”. The rule of law helped establish a unifying order among the polis’ and sense conformity that created a national understanding of civil order. Although not a law, a critical component of greek values was Xenia, their hospitality. Xenia was a concept known throughout the Aegean according to Homer, as it can be seen throughout the Odyssey, from Alcinous promising Odyssey that since “you have reached my house I doubt not you will get home without further misadventure no matter how much you have suffered in the past. To you others, however, who come here night after night to drink my choicest wine and listen to my bard, I would insist as follows” to Philoetius slaying the suitor Ctesippus “for the foot which you gave Ulysses when he was begging in his own house.”. Greek hospitality allowed the building of friendship between cities, leading to the merge or assimilation of values that would help form the national identity. The Greek values that formed over its years acted as its primary …show more content…

The trials of Ancient Greece and its Panhellenic ideals are cast in marble, as they’ve survived through antiquity into modern times, from the their revolution for independence against the Ottoman empire, to their modern entertainment which still contains Homeric