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Ancient Greek Religion Essay

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Sacrificing something you love for lent, or fasting during Ramadan can be quite difficult, but it shows your loyalty and love towards your religion. However, imagine sacrificing many things or even killing an animal for your “Gods.” Even though Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions, and sacrificing or killing an animal would not be pleasant, it was a ritual in Ancient Greece. In the Ancient Greek world, religion was present in all areas, and it played an important role in their everyday lives. Ancient Greeks worshipped many Gods that had superhuman strengths or ageless beauty but appeared in the human form. Surprisingly, the Greeks had no name for their religion, and the closest thing to it was “threskeia” and “eusebeia”, …show more content…

Many would ask the priests questions and they played a huge impact on the Greek society. The priests would speak directly from the Gods, and provide advice for citizens. Piper Thunderstorm states that the role of priests was specifically to lead rituals and deliver the Gifts for the Gods. The most important Gods were the one 's lead by Zeus. Marc Cartwright explains, “These Gods were believed to reside on Mt.Olympos and would have recognized across Greece, albeit, with some local variations and perhaps particular attributes and associations” (Cartwright). In art, the Gods were given human bodies and characters just like ordinary people. Some Gods were good, while others were bad. Zeus, the king of the Gods, controlled weather. The thunderbolt was his most powerful weapon. The British Museum states that the ancient Greeks believed that when lightning struck the earth, it was a sign on Zeus being present. The story behind Zeus was where his father started getting paranoid about his children killing him, that he started eating his own children. However, when Zeus, the sixth child was born, his wife did not let him eat him. As Zeus got older, he put a potion in his father’s wine which made him throw up the children. Then Zeus led his siblings in the battle against Kronos and Titans. They won the battle, and Zeus became King of the gods. The Olympic Games served as a

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