The ancient Greek society was one of the most advanced societies we have ever had. The Greeks gave tremendous contributions to things such as the Olympic games, democracy, literary classics like the Odyssey and Iliad, Philosophers such as Aristotle, Socrates and Plato, and advancements in math and science. But there is one big part of ancient Greek society that is very popular, which is polytheism; the belief of multiple gods. The greeks had a total of twelve major gods, some notable gods are Zeus, Apollo, Hades, and Poseidon. In this essay I will mainly focus on the gods Zeus and Hades. I will also look at how they called upon the gods, what power the gods possessed and what their roles in society. First of all, the way that Greek gods were created can be a debated topic among historians. One …show more content…
Hades can be described as “The stern and gloomy god of the lower world, and that of the mild and benevolent god” (L.R. Farnell 166). Hades is mentioned in the book Iliad when Hercules fights against Hades. Hades has minions thought to be the souls of the dead. The Romans had a different name for Hades they called him Pluto. Hades is the most feared god out of all the greek gods. It is thought that if you say or mention his name death will come sooner to your life. Hades differs from Zeus in many ways. Zeus is thought to be the king of gods ruler of the sky, while Hades is thought to be the ruler of the underworld. If we look at these two gods they are complete polar opposites. One god is the king of the underworld while the other god is a king of gods. Zeus rules over the other gods. Zeus and Hades roles are similar to the roles of god and satan in christianity. God is thought to be ruler of the earth, satan is thought to be the ruler of the underworld. If you live a bad life you go to the underworld or in this case hell if you live a good life you go to heaven. Next we will look at how the Greeks called upon these ancient