Comparing Ancient Greek Religion And Architecture

Knightly Dugger
4-10-18
Roman and Greek Religion and Architecture Rough Draft The ancient Greek and Roman empires are two legendary empires with different religions and styles of architecture, but they also have many similarities. Religion and architecture can seem like two very different topics to compare between two civilizations. While this is true, the fact remains that religion has an important influence on architecture in both cultures. The common traditions and cultures are greatly affected by religion. The tradition and culture of the time had a huge part in shaping the styles of architecture. Architecture is greatly affected and limited by the science and engineering capabilities of the time. That being said the ancient civilizations

The ancient Greeks believed in a family of gods. These gods were very different from our view of a single omniscient god. The Greek gods were believed to frequently meddle in human affairs. The family of gods were not all powerful, they only had power over their niche, like Zeus the god of thunder or Poseidon the god of the sea. The Greeks recognized 12 major gods which resided on Mount Olympus. Ancient Greek religion was a major party of life. The people performed many rituals like animal sacrifice in order to please the Gods. Religion was the beginning of many myths and creation stories, like stories of Hercules. The gods were called upon in different situations where the people would need their help. For example, in times of war the people would make sacrifices to Ares the god of war. Many Gods had their own temples and priests that were designated to their worship. Much of the written history of the Greek gods comes from the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. The Roman Gods are very similar but with different names and they come from the epic poem Aeneid. The Aeneid reflects many of the themes, plots and ideas of the Iliad, but it is centered around Roman culture and current events of it’s time. The Roman religion was basically the same as the Greek’s beliefs because the origin of the Roman religion came from the Greeks. Some key differences between Roman Gods and Greek were that the Greek gods had physical form

Greek architecture was extremely precise. They very much liked columns and liked to use them to depict mythological creatures or heroes. The Greek tradition in architecture was continued on by the Romans, their interest is evident in many of their buildings. The Romans were known as great innovators because of the way they adopted new techniques and new materials and the way they adapted on existing techniques. The Romans introduced the use of domes and arches to create a new architectural style. The Romans also created aqueducts, although not very artistic the aqueducts are a great example of extremely practical use of innovation and architecture. The Roman architecture is relatively similar to Greek architecture, they were inspired by the Greeks existing work and changed their own styles around it. Most Greek architecture was made to honor the gods. The Roman architecture carried the important theme of the pursuit of pleasure, an important part of Roman culture. Greek architecture was mostly extravagant only on the outside with bland interior. Whereas the Romans had much more advances in material technology, allowing them to have extravagant interior and exterior. An example of this would be the Vatican which has both an impressive inside and outside. The Parthenon and the Pantheon are both ancient temples. The Parthenon was built in Greece for the goddess Athena and the Pantheon was