Religion and superstition played a large part in the everyday life of a classical Athenian, and there was a heavy emphasis on ritual and reverence to the gods. Athenians believed that certain crimes – e.g. homicide – disrupted the sanctity of their city, causing an imbalance they referred to as “pollution.” Restoring balance was of the utmost importance. Otherwise, they believed that the gods would punish them with losses in battle, bad crops, and an overall miserable existence.
Rituals played a very important role in ancient Greek society. Certain cities, sites, and temples were sacred. The tradition of naming certain spiritual places areas of asylum was Asylia. These asylums were “immune to violence and civil authority” and thus under the jurisdiction of the divine (Rigsby 1997). It was imperative that anyone who entered these areas of asylum be free of pollution. It was equally important that the experts – known as kathartai – performed the rituals in a proper and orderly manner, sometimes following a strict series of guidelines. How many details and provisions required depended on how urgent the necessity was to perform a specific ritual. The Greeks believed that failure to abide to these specific criteria would fail to purify the ritual, and that as a result, the gods would not bring about the desired result (Von Rösch 2012).
Failure to adopt proper cleansing protocol had dire consequences according to classical Greek literature and mythology. One such consequence was the miasma. The miasma was “a contagious power ... that has an independent life of its own. Until purged by the sacrificial death of the wrongdoer, society would be chronically infected by catastrophe” (Armstrong 2007). An example of the miasma in anc...
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...www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_homicide?page=all&greekEncoding= (accessed April 19, 2014).
Harris, Edward M. Law and Drama in Ancient Greece. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
Lennon, Jack J. Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
MacDowell, Douglas Maurice. Athenian Homicide Law in the Age of the Orators . Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1999.
Rhodes, Henry A. "The Athenian Court and the American Court System." Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. 2014. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1984/2/84.02.08.x.html (accessed April 20, 2014).
Rigsby, Kent. Asylia: Territorial Inviolability in the Hellenistic World. Oakland: University of California Press, 1997.
Sophocles. Antigone. New York: HarperCollins, 2012.
Von Rösch, Petra. How Purity is Made. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz-Verlag, 2012.
Religious and Funerary Practices were thought of as extremely important by the citizens of the city-state of Sparta, in fact, their beliefs reached such an extreme that the other city-states mocked the Spartans. The three principal sub-elements that affected religious and funerary practices in Sparta are, the Gods/Goddesses worshipped, the festivals celebrated and solemnized, and the myths and legends passed through the generations.
Abadinsky, Howard. Law and Justice: An Introduction to the American Legal System. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Dillon, Mathew, and Garland, Lynda. Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Socrates. Routledge International Thompson Publishing Company, 1994, pp. 179-215
Two ancient examples of disobedient actions come from different ages revered for standards that hold today and provide a basis for modern law; the Greek and ancient Roman empires. From the Greeks, we have come to know the story of Socrates as memorialized by Plato, and the Roman age was the time of Perpetua, an early Christian woman. The fate of those individuals is the same – a death sentence handed down by the society they lived in. Although the conclusion of their respective lives is the same, the differences that lie in the reasoning of their death run deeper, with several key factors impacting their individual destiny. As we will see, these factors affect their relationship to the states and time periods they existed.
Webster, Michael. “Greek History and the Gods.” Grand Valley State University. Web. 15 Dec. 2009 .
"Unhandled Exception." Ancient Greece - History, Mythology, Art, War, Culture, Society, and Architecture. 2008. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. .
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
There are many traditions and values that the people of Ancient Greece followed very closely. These acts, such as, hospitality and respect for one’s peers are usually overlooked by gods and goddesses. The people are expected follow these traditions or they may feel wrath from a god or goddess.
Hello, Odysseus, Judge Dulaney, attorneys, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I hope that you’re doing well today. Today we have to discuss some grisly business that might be offputting to some of you, but it must be settled in order for justice to be served. You might hear about blood spilling from necks, heads separated from bodies, torn apart chests, and the ordered slaughter of many. All psychotic acts done by one man and one man only. The master of many crafts, the great tactician, the lord of tricks and war, and the murderer of dozens of humans. Odysseus. Let’s go to through the day when a her turned killer.
Athens, Greece has been one of the most influential cities for Western culture the world has ever seen. At the forefront of Athens’ resume lie three names: Sophocles, Plato, and Aristotle. Each of these three great philosophers had different ideas on life, wisdom, and the god’s role in everyday affairs, but each significantly influenced Western thought and culture. Sophocles, the first of these philosophers to have lived, was put to death by the state around 400 BC for charges brought against him of corrupting the youth and impiety. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by a group of his piers (vii). However, Sophocles did not commit the crimes the “plaintiffs” claimed he did, therefore rendering a generally just punishment unjust, causing his execution to be the real crime committed.
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. These aspects of their culture made a significant contribution to their quality of life. Moreover, these topics will be examined in relation to the twelve Olympian gods and their associates.
...ative. The Athenian court system influenced the way the American court system is run today. A dike case would be similar to a modern civil case; both cases involve a dispute between two individuals. Where a graphe case is similar to a modern criminal case were in both cases the state or public is affected. Both the Athenian and American court system entrust a random jury of peers with the responsibility of determining truth.
Because of the under development of science, Ancient Greeks used mythologies and associated to the gods anything that they could not explain or understand, which also have revealed many aspects of their culture and society, including their views toward gods. Through the survived works of ancient Greeks, one can see that the concept of exchange plays a center role in the relationship between human beings and gods; and that the ancient Greeks had absolutely and undeniably respect for their gods, who are human-like and demand to be glorified.
We have now examined Thucydides' strongest arguments for Athenian rule. It is clear that Athens had a stronger claim to rule than the Melians had to remain sovereign. We also know that Athens' claims hold up when we examine them for validity. Thucydides beliefs in Athens' claims were therefore well founded.
Starr, Chester G. The Aristocratic Temper of Greek Civilization. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. Print.