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I believe that Herodotus had a valid opinion on how influential some of the Egyptian customs have been to the Greeks. For instance, Egyptians had the same type of social hierarchy, with the upper class of land and slave owners and the lower class with limited rights. Some religious similarities include the naming and functional similarities of Egyptian and Greek gods. For example, Herodotus is mentioned to have made an observation on how most of the names for the Greek gods came from Egypt (Thamis). Herodotus also compares the Egyptian god, Amun-Ra, with the Greek Zeus and states that both are considered gods of gods in their respective religions.
Herodotus did not consider all of his observations of Egyptian culture to be similarities between Egypt and Greece. He notes his disagreement with some of Egypt’s customs, such as the sanctity of an animal’s life. Herodotus is speculated to have been a hoplite during his lifetime, and that fact could further explain his position as hoplites had to go on hunts to get food. Another custom noted by Herodotus is how Egyptian men would shave cleanly, especially religious priests. In contrast, we can see from the ancient busts that the Greeks had ample facial hair.
I believe that Herodotus was not an impartial observer and sometimes may have had personal opinions reflected within his observations and considered some Egyptian customs unnatural. However, I also believe that Herodotus tries to describe his observations as accurately as possible and differentiated his opinions from what he actually saw happen. Thus, I think that Herodotus respected Egypt as an older civilization and did not consider Greek culture to be superior.
Work Cited
Thamis. “Herodotus on the Egyptians.” World History Encyclopedia, 2012, Web.
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