Throughout history religion has played an important role influencing various societies. Religious beliefs have been embedded in legal systems, social status, economics, sexuality and politics in ancient and modern societies. This concept is applicable to Ancient Athens. The Greek religion consisted of various Gods and Goddesses that represented different elements of Greek life. The practice of various gods or polytheism is ta partria. The religion of Greeks differs drastically from Western forms. In modern Western communities religion and culture exists in separate spheres; however, Athens did not acknowledge a difference between the two concepts. The deities explained various phenomena in the Greek culture. Not only did Athenians rely upon religious entities to explain everyday occurrences, superstitious remedies and beliefs affected opinions of Athens’s citizens. In Athenian culture religion was promoted in multiple spheres. Religion has many aspects, in Athens religion included customs, burials and superstitions. Religion affected Athenians lives through the laws created, the social order of society, and the political realm.
In Ancient Athens there was no concept of separation between church and state. The religious beliefs of Athenians directly affected the aspects of the legal system. Many Athenian laws stem from religious facets. Laws prevented individuals from disrespecting or defiling the deities. In the case of the defense of a farmer, the law charged the defendant with “destruction of a sacred olive tree” The olive tree represents the Goddess Athena and destruction of this tree is seen as sacrilegious. The preservation of the tree reflects how religion influenced Athenian laws. The tree represents the importance of reli...
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...h and the state. Athenians did not enforce the concept of separation of church and state because the two were not different. Religion had a large role in the policies and the actions of the Greek government. The social classes of the Athenian culture had religious influences. Not only did religion affect the government, the government shaped religious practices. The interaction between religion and the government displays the firm control each concept had over Athenians. The social order from Zeus placed power in the hands of few that required of certain number of individuals to remain obedient in order to keep social order. The creation of this mythical social order allows for a few individuals to have control over society. The aristocratic class uses religion to dominate society and retain social order. The belief permitted a small group of men to have economic and
The religion of this culture group involved many gods. Unlike the present-day United States of America where the running of the country depends on the separation of church and state, religion, including the pleasing of the gods, heavily influenced the government of the ancient Greeks. Of all the gods they had, the most important gods of this religion emerged
The Ancient Greeks held their religion to be a personal experience, to be practiced by the common man on a daily basis. Thus, it comes as no surprise to read in the historical works of the period that the people also relied on religion to aid them in military matters. This paper will give historical examples of the people's reliance on
How the Greeks revered their gods. In ancient times, the Greeks had absolute and undeniable respect for their gods. They demonstrated their admiration by putting in place many rituals and celebrations to reverence the gods that they loved and feared in order to ensure harmony with them. In particular, the focus will be on the religious beliefs of the Greeks, including prayer and sacrifice, as well as on festivals and the arts, such as the ancient Olympic games and theatre.
Religion penetrated nearly every sect of Athens, with both public and private ceremonies, performed regularly. Athens was even named after the goddess of wisdom, Athena, and has her home, the Parthenon, as the iconic symbol of the Greek Golden Age. (5) Athenians believed that honoring the gods was crucial to their success both in war and at home, thus upholding correct behaviors and honoring the gods with sacrifices were crucial. (6) Failing to honor the gods or sacrilege their glory was a serious crime for Athenians- and also one commonly associated with the Sophists- who were accused of spreading moral relativism and angering the gods with their "atheism." In fact, many of the charges brought against Socrates accused him of "searching for things unto earth and heaven" and "teaching the aforesaid doctrines unto others." (7) However, Socrates defends himself with his own claims of piety, from the claim that the Oracle of Delphi proclaiming "no man was wiser than he," (8) to telling the jury and accusers that the gods want him to spread his wisdom. He even concludes his speech by saying to the Athenians "I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you." (9) From the sacrificial offerings, to the serious duties towards the gods, any citizen would need to uphold a respectable amount of devoutness in order to fully participate in
Ancient Greek Religion There are many topics to be explored in Ancient Greek mythology. This unique polytheistic religion was based upon myths about anthropomorphic gods and goddesses. It impacted every facet of Grecian life, from law and ritual to culture and art. The individual as well as society both influenced the characteristics of the religion and were influenced by the religion itself. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece explains a variety of ways in which the Greeks were influenced by their religion.
According to Athenians, Socrates, a Greek philosopher, was corrupting the younger generations with his ideas. In a society where worshipping anything besides the Olympian Gods was considered illegal, Socrates was a threat. Socrates’ ideas were beyond what the Athenians already knew or thought they knew, and this led them to become defensive against Socrates. Through Plato’s Apology, readers are able to understand how Athenians lived back then, and what the popular ideas and beliefs were. The importance of religion in Athenian society is highlighted by the accusations of the Athenian council against Socrates, the laws are thoroughly laid out when Socrates is sentenced, and the significance of one’s place in the society’s social structure is
Mythology is critical to Greek people’s everyday life, just like how religion is in our modern day age. Everyday events, such as a thunderstorm, can be linked to a god or goddess. For example, when an earthquake would happen, it would be Poseidon crashing his tritan on the ground. People’s lives revolved around the whole ideology and it served as a way to explain the unexplained and to help them in times of need. All of the stories of these great gods and goddesses were passed down generation through generation, each time becoming more extreme and distorted.
Many people would blatantly state that the importance of the gods in Greek society derives from the fact that Gods in any society are usually used to explain phenomenon that people cannot logically comprehend, but in ancient Greece gods were actually entities that took part in the workings of society itself. Even simple aspects of day-to-day life such as sex and disputes between mortals were supposedly influenced by godly workings. Unlike modern religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, where an omnipotent force supposedly controls the workings of the world, a hierarchy of Gods characterized religion in ancient Greece. Working as one big family, which they actually were, each one of the Greek gods governed a certain aspect of the world in a way that usually reflected their own humanlike personalities. These unique personalities also contained many human flaws such as envy and greed, and were where the Greek God’s importance lay. Greek religion was more concentrated on the way an individual dealt with situations that popped up in the world around him than on understanding the world itself. In other words the Greeks were more interested in the workings of the mind than in the workings of the environment around them.
Ancient Greek religion was a polytheistic religion that believed in many gods and goddesses. To Greeks, these gods and goddesses would be able to control everything. Each god or goddess had his or her own distinct personality and territory. “Greek myths explained the origins of the gods and their individual relations with mankind” (Hemingway). Unlike current religions, like Christianity and Judaism, Greek gods were not known for being moral or being truly good or evil. Many of the Greek gods and goddesses were disorganized and self-contradicting. Although this was apparent to the Greeks, the Greeks believed that their religion was to brighten their own lives, rather than give them godlike guidance. The best example of a self-contradicting Greek god is Zeus – father of all gods and humans (Cunningham and Reich 32-33).
Ancient Rome and ancient Greece both grew successful through the similarity between the roles of religion. Both civilizations were polytheistic and believed in multiple gods and goddesses. Both civilizations also believed that the gods and goddesses appeared in human form and were just like them, except for their status. There were such gods such as the god of the sea, god of the underworld, goddess of harvest, god of wine, goddess of love, and many more. These individual gods specialized in his/her own field and they were the explanations for the many events that occurred around ancient Greece. This was important to the ancient civilizations; in fact, the ancient Greeks even built individual temples for the more important gods and goddesses. In these temples, the specified god or goddess was worshipped and treated like loyalty. But, the Greeks were not the only ones who observed this religion. Ancient Romans also followed in Greek’s footsteps, believing in multiple, similar gods and goddesses. The names of the gods and goddesses were converted into Roman terms, but otherwise, the ancient Romans believed in the same gods and goddesses. With the ancient Romans following the ancient Greek’s religious beliefs, the ancient Greeks prove to...
Civil religion has an entirely different characterization in the generations of the ancient Greeks than what it is considered in modern America. For the ancient Greeks civil religion was a control of religion through the use of imperialistic practices to afford better spiritual health of the state by subjecting its people to orthopraxy specified by the religious authority. The practice of civic religion in ancient Greece comes in many forms that range from law imposing a consequence to transgression, electing priesthoods to the most common of citizens and even religion personal to each household. Many aspects of ancient Greece reflect the integration of state and religion this aspect is even displayed in the layout of the state’s buildings.
Greece, originally ruled by an oligarchy ("rule of the few"), operated under the premise that those selected to rule were selected based not upon birth but instead upon wealth. Eventually, however, Greek government became democratic. Rome, on the other hand, was a republic that elected its officials, and common citizens were not allowed as many opportunities as Athenians to participate in matters of the state. While Greece had branches of government to represent citizens, Rome implemented branches of government to represent different components of society. For example, Rome had authorities to supervise public works projects, administer justice, supervise recreational activities and conduct a census (text). Rome, who, like Greece, was a polytheistic society, also appointed a priest for life who was in charge of the entire state's religion.
... to believe in the Gods/Goddesses and that they had complete control over every part of their lives. The stories that the children grew up with made them fearful of the divinities and going against them was very scary. The stories were guides on how live for instance don’t be greedy, stand by your family, respect the gods and lots more. In the Greek culture it was very important to live by these moral codes. From a very early time the people were almost “brainwashed” by their own religion to follow the “rules” or else terrible things would happen. Even though their city was so progressive and prosperous they were held back because of their religion. Instead of learning about science it was easier to just assume a mightier power was controlling the weather or harvest. They could never think for themselves because they constantly relied on the Gods to think for them.
Greek religion influenced greatly on the people’s daily lives.
The ancient Greeks did not contribute in religion so much as the Hebrews did, their contributions were more towards writings and art, great epic poems, and democracy. Some of the greatest philosophers came from Greece, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Homer, also Greek, wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, two of the greatest works of all time, and also some of the more accurate records we have of life in that period of time. The government of Athens became the basis for many of the governments of society today. Their idea of a government run by the people was revolutionary and quite effective; their democracy was unique in its time. The Greeks also gave us the Phoenician writing system; they also had a polytheistic religion, sacrificing things to different Gods to gain the favor, respect or merely to please that particular God. The main contribution of the Greeks was their writings, and their philosophy to modern times. The Greeks also were responsible for building a library to hold some of their greatest works in Egypt, one of the first of its kind.