The main gods then created less powerful gods who ruled different aspects of the Earth like Utu and Nanna, gods of the sun and moon, respectively. Not knowing much on how the world worked, religion filled in the blanks for people living in Mesopotamia. Their gods had divine ruling and conducted every natural action -- including forces of nature, life and death, good and evil etc. Ziggurat, a local temple, was where everyone met to praise the gods.
Like Mesopotamians, Egyptians perceived that all occurrences were from gods through myths. From the first civilizations, the Greeks were able to interpret the role of the gods not by myths, but by rational thinking. The Greek civilization consisted of many philosophers including Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Through these philosophers, the Greeks understood that laws were created from humans with rationality whereas both Mesopotamians and Egyptians saw laws as god given. In Homer’s
To the ancient Greek civilization before there were men, there were gods. There are twelve major gods and they are The Olympians. The twelve olympians are; Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Dionysus. In this paper i also mention the god Hades, although he is not an olympian he is still one of the most powerful gods and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. It is to important to understand Greek mythology because, it's what the greeks believed, the background of human beings.
They are allowed to interfere with humans in certain ways to certain extents, they have rules, and by punishing/rewarding humans, they create an order of morals/hierarchy so they serve a purpose as well. This presentation of the gods reveals that the Greeks see them as powerful, smarter, and "magically" significant beings. I think that the story shows that they see the Gods to be like us, but with power and authority.
The relationships between the Greek gods and mortals have always been complicated. The gods can be generous and supportive, but also harsh and destructive towards the humans. They claim to be all powerful beings with unlimited power and influence, but in truth, they are far more human than they are perceived. They meddle with human lives, not because they are wise, but because of their own selfish reasons. In Homer’s
1. The Illiad is a classical epic poem in the form of a long narrative poem. 2. Unitarianism is the belief that there is one God who created all things, while expansion is the belief that the world is constantly growing and changing. This is in contrast to the traditional view of the world in which there are many gods and the world is static.
Ancient civilizations were mostly built upon religions and philosophy due to lack of knowledge. For example, ancient Egyptians or Mesopotamians were polytheistic and they had thousands of gods. In a modern world, it may sound absurd to have thousands of gods each of whom has special abilities and functions for the people. Although both the Egyptians and Mesopotamians were polytheistic, one of the most significant difference between the two population was that the Mesopotamians did never believe in after-life. They considered the gods as ones that love and respects their people.
The god and goddess were used as a means to explain the environment in which humankind lived, the natural phenomena they witnessed and the passing of time through the days, months, and seasons. They were highly respected. Temples and coliseums were built in their honor. The Olympics were held in honor of the major god , Zeus. The citizens would have statues in certain places and they go and pray to each different god for their troubles.
They associated each of their gods with a different aspect of life or nature. For example Zeus was the king of the gods, Athena was the goddess of wisdom, Dionysus was the god of wine, and the list goes on. The ancient Greeks erected massive temples to these gods for worship. Each god or goddess had his or her own temple for sacrifices or offerings. They Greeks believed sacrifice was necessary to appease the gods and keep everyday life fruitful and peaceful.
We can also learn about what was viewed as immoral or of little value. In addition, reviewing the Greek myths allows us to determine that the Greek society was generally a patriarchal society and agricultural and war were strong elements that shaped the ancient Greek society. Greek mythology and religion were integral parts of the ancient Greek society. The Greeks followed a polytheist religion in which multiple gods represented various aspects of the nature as well as skills practiced by mankind. From myths we can see that the Greeks worshipped the gods in the myths as they believed that humans were created by gods and the gods still walked amongst them so this would significantly alter mankind’s
They believed that divine powers controlled their life. They believed that destiny was a pre-determined aspect of their life on earth("Greek Religion" 3). People of Ancient Greece often worshipped the gods of Olympus, the gods that Homer wrote about ("Greek Religion" 3). Zeus was the most major of all Olympic gods. He was the god of all gods, minor and major.
The system of government was based on philosophy rather than belief of something higher like gods. The Greeks believed in the ability of men to think rationally and govern based on reason. Greece believed more in what they could see. The Greeks government was run through the citizens, it was voted on who would rule; it was not like India where the rulers were based on patriarchy. Some might argue that Ancient India and Greece were more similar rather than different, however Greece and India were more different than they were similar.
With people not knowing how things naturally occurring, they would blame small things like droughts to over abundance of water on the gods. Also with the reoccurring natural disasters were to the blame of the gods. Incidents that had to do with weather were from Zeus. Weather is what controlled a person’s life according to the books of research. “Zeus was the king of the Olympian gods and the supreme deity in Greek religion.
‘Ancient Greeks’ of all periods have had a vast pantheon of gods for worship. The need to justify their emotions and to follow a moral code for their behaviour lead to anthropomorphism. While polytheism was created to concentrate each sphere of influence with its own deity. The Greeks experienced love, hate, anger, sadness and happiness among other emotions.
Throughout the ages gods have been used as a way to find purpose and reason in life. They also often had ways of teaching those who worship them how to do well at life. I feel the same about my family and that through looking up to them I can see how to live a fair and good life. From this I feel that through comparison of the Greek gods my family can be seen in a way of which I could look up to them and appreciate them more for who they are and the lessons I could learn from them.
