Similarities Between Ancient Hebrew And Ancient Greek

The ancient Hebrews and ancient Greeks are vastly different, yet somehow similar in a way. The ancient Hebrews had a monotheistic religion and believed in one God, whom has dominion over all of creation and beyond. The ancient Greeks believed in a polytheistic religion, which had a pantheon consisting of many deities and spirits such as the twelve Olympian gods, titans, and primordial gods. Having such differences in religion, it is hard to see where these two societies align, but they find similarities in how their politics were run. Both civilizations ran their politics based on their respective theologies. They governed according to the rules laid down by their religious beliefs. Looking at the trial of Socrates and the trial of Jesus, we

(Petrovic, 2020) We must remember that they did not have answers to weird occurrences like the weather or night and day. The Greeks reasoned that these events had to have been the result of some supernatural force and creating deities to be the cause of these unexplainable events. The religion does not have any sacred books, nor a clergy. (Petrovic, 2020) They believed in a multitude of anthropomorphic gods, which served under one supreme God, looking upon myths to answer questions about who these gods were, connections of the gods, personalities, and rituals to please said gods. Greek religion was embedded into Greek society, but all the Greeks had to do was to accept the existence of the gods and partake in rituals and sacrifices. (Pollard et al., 2023) Socrates did not explicitly deny any belief in the Greek religion, but also did not outright agree with it. (McPharren, 2010) He was a nonconformist who believed in a higher power. He claims to be in contact with a higher power and follows a divine voice in his head. The questioning of Greek religion as Socrates had done was a common characteristic in many Greek philosophers. Some of the ideas of these philosophers directly opposed Greek tradition, which included Greek religion, hence why Socrates was sentenced to death as he was also seen as a threat to the current Athenian way of living. Recalling the fact that the religion was deeply embedded

The reason was because of his actions and words against the Sanhedrin right before and during his trial. The Sadducees, who if you recall lived their lives for the temple, were enraged with his actions at the temple. He had ransacked the place during the time of one of the biggest festivals of the Jewish calendar, Passover. Remembering the fact that the Sanhedrin were composed of men from the Pharisees and Sadducees, it is easy to see why the Sanhedrin would so aggressively push for the trial of Jesus and eventual crucifixion. His words of claiming to be the Messiah and son of God, broke Mosaic Law which enraged the Sanhedrin even more. According to the Sanhedrin, Jesus was a rebel through and through, and the Jews agreed because of the social standing of the Sanhedrin, and more importantly the