Answer:
Or more specifically, the stories and their profound beauty instilled some Greeks with a strong, intrinsic belief in the self, which ultimately led to their transition from monarchical to democratic rule, not to mention a flourishing society that continued to foster humanistic arts and refinement.
Explanation:
Using the context, that her personality is full of sunshine, leads to the assumption that she is happy, cheerful, and optimistic, which would be the connotations.
Foreign occupation gave the nationalists in the country a common cause to unite.
Explanation:
Foreign occupation is a phenomenon that has resulted in many nationalist movements across the world for a long time.
This is because the foreign rule in itself sows the common cause against which the nation can unite itself and then fight back or throw away with diplomacy their own rulers.
This common cause binds the thread of self determination and rule of the nation under one rule is what is requited for nationalism to rise and it happens here rather strongly.
The people of the nation set aside differences against a common enemy of the state.