The Role Of Greek Gods In Ancient Greece

The Greek culture and Greek gods and goddesses has always been on my interest list. I find the study of Greek gods to be extremely intriguing and an interesting way to follow a specific practice of religion. I know a little information about Greek gods and who the main gods are, so having the opportunity to learn more about them is the extra push I needed to pick the topic of Greek gods and goddesses. I have also watched the Percy Jackson movies and read the books, which provided me with more insight on Greek gods even though Percy Jackson is a fictional read. Knowing all this information and interest in Greek gods lead me to the question, “How does Greek Gods get started and how does it influence the world today?”
What I Know Greek Gods

Ian Harvey is an author of several books, and he is the head of a biology field in a college in Cambridge. Harvey also wrote the article about the practice of following Greek gods as a religion. Harvey informs people in the article “The Ancient Greek practice of Hellenism lives on as a modern religion” that the religion Hellenism is still being studied and practiced in Greece. The religion Hellenism is defined as the following of many gods that are in fact the main Greek gods that people in Greek mythology tend to focus on (2017, Para. 3,4). With the practice of Hellenism, people thought that the religion died off as time progressed and more religions began to develop, but research suggests that the practice of Hellenism is still around and a huge population actually religiously follows it. Harvey describes Hellenism as the following of Greek mythology including the Gods, underworld, and deities of the Greek mythology world. Following Hellenism is a religion that requests blessings from each and every God by sacrificing something of value to the person (2017, Para. 5). The religious following of Hellenism is not that much different from Christianity. With Christianity people sacrifice money and pray to God all the time, with Hellenism they focus on more than one God, but still give up offerings of significance to these certain Gods. Unlike Christianity, Harvey claims that with the following of Hellenism churches are inexistent and all the religious followings are done in private by oneself (2017, Para. 7). By practicing religion alone it provides the freedom and privacy to pray for whatever the person wants, and it allows the person to give an offering suitable to them without feeling the judgement of others in their society. Hellenism is a multiple God religion that revolves around the