Question

The Persian Empire (Chapter 2) first brought India and the Mediterranean in contact with one another, and these contacts increased with the conquest of Alexander (Chapter 3 and Chapter 5). What were the major results of these contacts in terms of politics, culture, and economics. (pg. 143). Pay particularly close attention to the interaction between the Greeks and Persians. How and why did a "Greek identity" emerge in response to growing contact with Persia?

Answer 1

Answer:

The sense of identity was born during the Greco-Persian Wars in the IV century BC.

Explanation:

Identity in the period was more of a cultural distinction rather tan a territorial one. Greece at the time was a patchwork of city-states (the poleis) each with its uniqueness. However, the culture was the link binding the Greeks. Thus, the sense of Hellenism was created by the common cultural links (religion, language) although not in a binding way, for each polis managed its political differences as it fit convenient (a reason why Sparta and Athens played diplomatically with the Great King in Persia during the Pelopponisian War).

Identity rose because it was a way to clearly difference between the Greeks and the "barbarians". This could be seen particularly in the works of Aristotle, and during the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.  

https://medium.com/@vathsan32/the-greco-persian-wars-and-the-myth-of-hellenic-unity-fb3608a0f9c1  

https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/persian-influence-on-greek-culture/