Greece and Egypt

FYI: Orient = (everything except Europe)

This will be an attempt at summarising a piece by Wim van den Dungen [1]
on the Impact of Ancient Egypt on Greece and an analysis of The Greek Miracle. The last few decades a lot of revision of History has been taking place. Orientalism [*] was a book that radically changed perspectives and philosophies of the Orient, cutting down stereotypes and a book that made "Oriental" scholars look introspectively and critically in their Epistemology (the nature of knowledge) in treating the Orient. From the Greek perspective "Greece" by some scholars not seen as an isolated independent "Miracle" much to annoyance the Eurocentric's who would want that to be the case and is often propagated for much of modern history.

Since the rise of Greece correlated with the downward spiral of Egypt, Similar to the rise of Modern Europe with the downward spiral of the Islamic civilization giving birth to its successor. Little is known, and is somewhat hard to calculate quantitively, how much the Greeks
benefited from Egypt. Since the Greeks reached scribal and priest classes within Egypt and much of ancient history is from Herodotus a perspective that is sometimes biased and confusing.


Quoting Dungen "
Because of the Greek miracle of abstraction, rationality and ante-rationality were distinguished, equating the latter with the "barbaric" (i.e. coming from "outside" Greece and its colonies) or seeking the inner meaning of Egyptian religion (i.e. the wise men who studied in Egypt and later the infiltration of Greeks in the administrative, scribal class). Although the inner sanctum of the temples of Ptah, Re and Amun must have remained closed (excepts perhaps for exceptional Greeks like Pythagoras), the Greeks adapted to and rapidly assimilated Egyptian culture and its environment."

Ancient Egyptian civilization was so grand, imposing and strong, that its impact on the Greeks was tremendous. In order to try to understand what happened when these two cultures met, we must first sketch the situation of both parties. This will allow us to make sound correspondences.

"Herodotus and other Greeks of the fifth century BC recognized that Egypt was different from other 'barbarian' countries. All people who did not speak Greek were considered barbarians, with features that the Greeks despised. They were either loathsome tyrants, devious magicians, or dull and effeminate pleasure-seeking individuals. But Egypt had more to offer ; like India, it was full of old and venerable wisdom."
Matthews & Roemer, 2003, pp.11-12.

"In the first place we find the survival of Egyptian religion both within Christianity and outside it in heretical sects like those of the Gnostics, and in the Hermetic tradition that was frankly pagan. Far more widespread than these direct continuations, however, was the general admiration for Ancient Egypt among the educated elites. Egypt, though subordinated to the Christian and biblical traditions on issues of religion and morality, was clearly placed as the source of all 'Gentile' or secular wisdom. Thus no one before 1600 seriously questioned either the belief that Greek civilization and philosophy derived from Egypt, or that the chief ways in which they had been transmitted were through Egyptian colonizations of Greece and later Greek study in Egypt."
Bernal, 1987, p.121,

For those who advocate a revised Greek "Ancient Model"

"Thus, I argue for the establishment of a 'Revised Ancient Model'. According to this, Greece has received repeated outside influence both from the east Mediterranean and from the Balkans. It is this extravagant mixture that has produced this attractive and fruitful culture and the glory that is Greece."
Bernal, in O'Connor & Reid, 2003, p.29.

Ending with Dungen :

"This complex interaction between Greeks and Egyptians before and under the Ptolemies, allowed Alexandria to become a major intellectual centre, home of native Egyptians, Greek priests & scientists, Jewish scholars, Essenes and Hermetics alike."

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[1] http://www.sofiatopia.org/maat/hermes1.htm

[*] Said, Edward. - Orientalism

[3] The Greek people themselves have a very different generic makeup to the Western Europeans, and share much affinities with West Asian (Missle eastern) genetics. Since Greece in much of its period interacted in the
Hellenic world where again the Mixture of East and Greece is formed devoid of Western Europe.