How did the early Greeks spread their culture?

Answer 1

Initially, they did so minimally through trade, especially with Crete. More influential was the expansion of the Greek/Macedonia empire through Alexander the great.

There are a number of reasons as to why Greek culture took so well abroad after being conquered by Alexander.

1) Religion. The conquered people simply adopted Greek gods because these gods were as superior to their own. In their eyes, the gods of Greeks beat their own gods and let the Greeks conquer them. Thus, it stands that the Greek gods are stronger. Once they adopted the religion of the Greeks, the rest of the culture soon followed.

2) Alexander's army was vast and multiethnic. He took in new soldiers as he left old ones behind to rule his conquered cities. The Greeks left behind became the new elite. The conquered elite, finding themselves not on top of the food chain any longer, then adopted the new elite's culture in order to curry favor.

3) It was cool. Alexander's young, hip, and the greatest general around. He's doing something right. Better adopt elements of his culture in order to be one of the cool kids too.

4) Adaptation. In all seriousness, Alexander takes his armies, conquers cities, plants Greek soldiers there, drafts soldiers from newly conquered territories into his Greek armies, rinses and repeats. People were introduced to Greek culture, became used to it, and began to adopt elements of it into their own. Hence, Greek culture was spread everywhere Alexander went.

Answer 2

They believed their culture was superior by birth to foreign ones; they were not very receptive to sharing their culture abroad until Alexander made it almost inevitable.

Answer 3

Began

Answer 4

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