are able to differentiate themselves from outsiders who are otherwise considered barbarians. Politics professes a fundamental belief that without the laws and justice synoecism provides, mankind is just another animal. Prevalent in Aristotle's Politics is the concept of communal strength. Greeks on their own are considered to be weaker than if they were to act as a whole. They are vulnerable to floods and famines as well as diseases to wiping out their singular contributions to the Greek world. As a state, Greeks are instead able to produce and create above their individual ceilings. Culture Prior to synoecism, the people in the Greek mainland consistently shared similar ideologies and cultural beliefs. It is notable that the Greeks possessed a shared system of writing both archaically and classically which aided separate and distinguishable villages in forming larger cohesive polities. Works like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey describe a historically united Greek front against foreigners in Anatolia and were likewise admired and celebrated universally by the Greeks. Homer's Iliad even provides a historical precedent for the unity of certain Greek polities.Clan after clan poured out from the ships and huts onto the plain... innumerable as the leaves and blossoms in their season... the Athenians from their splendid citadel,... the citizens of Argos and Tiryns of the Great Walls... troops... from the great stronghold of Mycenae, from wealthy Corinth,... from Knossos,... Phaistos,... and other troops that had their homes in Crete of the Hundred Towns.There is a historical literary precedent for Greek synoecism before many of the developments in democracy or oligarchy take place in the 5th thought the 3rd century delineating the Kyklos of archaic Greece. Festivals Among the ancient Greeks, festivals represented opportunities to continue synoecism as well as reform or reinforce it. Festivals provided central locations to the numerous and scattered Greek city states at which information could be exchanged and social relationships maintained. The Olympics, being perhaps the largest example of synoecismatic festivals, were a pan-Hellenistic contest under which attracted Greeks at an international scale. At the games, Greeks would recognize basic similarities between themselves and other city-states through their shared enjoyment of the competitions which contributed to broader notions of synoecism through athletic representation of city-states. Individual athletes would gain notoriety and recognition for winning events for their cities. Theoretically, higher levels of visibility for city-states would grant increasing opportunities to expand sovereignty and establish themselves as real political