Egyptian Influence On Human Life

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The Ancient Egyptians were immensely influential, on the culture of later generations and we could say that this colourful and diverse civilisation provided the building blocks that influenced not only the Greeks, and Roman traditions, but also the whole of western world. The Egyptian people were grouped into a hierarchical system, and your life would be governed from whereabouts on the social-class ladder you belonged. The wealthy such as the pharaoh, nobility, priesthood, and military class, were at the top, and the lower class-such as slaves, workers, artisans and peasants at the bottom. The wealthy enjoyed a wide array of leisure activities, such as fishing and water sports, and the masters of the delta liked no better pastime than to…show more content…
Aristotle believed that the main objective of human life is happiness, and pleasure, and that leisure and well-being are of central importance, and interrelated in the pursuit of a happy life. However, Aristotle also believed that people should use their leisure time wisely, by exercising reason and engaging in purposeful, productive activities, such as intellectual reflection, and the study of philosophy or science, or he advises erudite pursuits that enriched the human mind. Furthermore, Aristotle believed that, ‘only a small number of people will be able to do this and live the best kind of life and to make the fullest use of their leisure.’ (Price, 2008, p 16). Aristotle’s philosophy behind this view, derived from his belief that leisure equivalent to freedom belonged to the privileged and those who were exempt from labour, or as he termed ‘excellent people,’ () such as philosophers, and politicians, who could be free to spend their leisure time in pursuit of intellectual activity. Aristotle assumed that the lower classes and slaves, only needed leisure to reenergize their bodies through fatigue, and that any free time they may have was simply necessary as a means to be fit to work again, in order that they may provide services to the excellent more fortunate…show more content…
(Pike, 2008, p. 22) Epicurus believed all not just the wealthy, could achieve this. His philosophy was that by maintaining simple pleasures such as conversation, and living by modest means, helped to attain and maintain this state of mental and physical equilibrium. Nevertheless, whilst Epicurus theory appears easy to achieve, however we could argue that if you cannot find food to feed your family, and have no money, then it is probable that your anxiety levels would be high, and you would most probably not be in a jubilant mood to engage in light activities or
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