Ancient Greek Mythology

on our history and mythology helped shed light to it’s culture, religion, and government of ancient Greece. The Mediterranean has served as a vessel for the early civilizations., Greek mythology has influenced the life style and religion of the Greeks, especially because Greek mythology served as the primary basis of Greek belief, it became the nearest thing the Greeks had to a holy bible.1 These mythologies served as the center of Greek life and these mythologies served as their basis for their life and in turn the mythologies shaped the foundation of the Greek life style, culture, religion that we know today.

In both Greek and Roman civilizations, mythology played an important part in their empire’s success. Both of these civilizations were polytheistic religions. Likewise, they had major and minor gods and goddesses as part of their religion as well. However, since the Roman Empire conquered many cultures including the Greeks, their gods blended with many similarities with the gods that the Ancient Greeks worshipped.

When people wonder about Ancient Greece the first thing that comes to their minds is Greek mythology; gods and goddesses that have helped shape many historical events. “In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life.” (“Greek Mythology.”) The civilization showed that numerous characters and stories helped shape Greeks. The beliefs the Greeks had with mythologies was they understood the meaning behind all the characters that are known today. However, to the Greeks, they were not just characters, these were their gods and goddesses who gave them meaning and understanding of the world around them. Worshiping the gods and goddesses helped them with their religious rituals and the temperament of the weather. A famous wine-jar that was made during this time period was “Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea, 540-530 BCE, black-figured amphora”. (Khan Academy) The civilization that they lived in grew around their worship and achievements.

In Roman religion it was crucial “to serve the gods and ensure goodwill” (The Roman Republic). The English word “Religion” comes from the Latin word “Religio” (Overview of Religion). Latin was the ancient language of Rome, but for the Roman’s the translation meant something very different from what we understand it as today. To the Romans, “Religio” translated to “ the fear of gods” (Overview of Religion). Romans invested much of their time serving the gods, performing rituals and sacrifices in honor of them. On the contrary Greek religion did not prefer to execute rituals as much as the Romans. Greeks were more lenient when honoring the gods. They did not have a theological dogma: a part of theology dealing with truths of faith concerning God and God's work. Their many gods had different purposes and works they performed. The Greeks relied more on the verbal spread of the religion rather than having a written form. Although different, both religions had forms of praising and honoring their gods. Greek and Roman religion have many differences and similarities that impacted each group of people.

Ancient Greek and Rome started out as small city-states they both grew into large empires. From the similar roles they agree on religion, both ancient civilizations approach quite successful. Ancient Greek and Roman admit being polytheistic, adoration of many gods and goddesses. Devotions to all the gods increase importance of recognition of their honorable deeds when they were alive. Donald L. Wasson said, “At the end of the day were concerned with the relationship between the gods and humans, differing in this regard from fairytales and folktales.” They thought that performing sacrifices and rituals would satisfy their gods they would gain protection from the bad vibes.

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The Greek and Roman creation stories reflect much about the beliefs of their citizens and the expectation they had of each other from the way these tales were revered. The Romans were a society that valued duty above all, and a unified version of their tales. The ultimate goal of the Roman citizens was to create one massive, unified empire. The Greeks however, valued agon, or conflict. They felt it kept the best work at the forefront, and constant competition would force the best results. Their tales varied from city-state to city-state, so there are several versions of the Hesiod myth, for example.

Despite being fierce rivals on the battlefield, Greece had a great impact on many of the aspects that made Rome such a strong and beautiful empire. “Conflict between the two powers [Greece and Rome] arose in the 3rd century as Roman expansion in South Italy and Sicily encroached on Greek colonies located there” (“Greece and Rome”). “Agelaos of Naupaktos… spoke of the urgent need for peace, stating that ‘for if the cloud rising in the west should reach Greece, we shall be praying heaven to give us back the chance to call our very quarrels our own”’ (“Greece, History of” 2: 111-128). Peace was never reached; Greece and Rome continued to fight over territory until the official end of Greek civilization in 146 B.C. with their defeat at Corinth (“Greece, History of” 2: 111-128). Despite this defeat, their constant contact with Roman civilization over hundreds of years ensured their civilization would never truly die. As the Greeks and Romans exchanged land, goods, and ideas with each other, many of the most important parts of Greek civilization become a part of Rome’s identity as well. The aesthetics of Greece, specifically the art, architecture, and literature, may have had the most significant influence of all on Roman culture. Ancient Greece greatly impacted the aesthetics of the Roman Empire.

I think the plot is gripping and electrifying. It has humor and touches serious themes such as a relationship in a family. And I guess that half-bloods, like Percy, have the hardest job. They live in two worlds, mortals with human and immortal. They are expected to understand how their actions may be explained by humans and immortals. That might make crazy any one. Also thanks to this book, I know the basic terms of Greek and Roman Mythology.

Religion and government played an important role in lives of Grecians and Romans during ancient times. Both nations were polytheistic and militaristic, however only Rome switched to Christianity, broke up, (rather than collapsed), after national conflict and was centralized. Both Grecians and Romans were polytheistic. Because Greece and Rome were two of the earliest civilizations, the ignorance of this earlier time prevailed. People were unsure of why certain events could occur, (like the rising and setting of a sun), and set out to delegate a position and meaning for all of the Gods they dreamed up.

Mythology is the beliefs and thoughts of the early humans. It shows how the first men thought about the world itself and how it was created. The myths show how much man has accomplished in society, such as; evolving from wild men into sophisticated beings. The Greeks made their gods in their image and mostly as human. They thought if they did, this would make the gods seem more friendly and peaceful. At first, the Greeks had feared the gods, but as time went by different stories changed their aspects of the gods. Such as Zeus, he used to be a scary powerful god if angered shot his thunderous light bolt at one. Then stories about Zeus changed him into an irresponsible god who fell in love with many women. Humans, now we're not scared of

What is your impression of the ancient Greeks who composed these stories? What generalizations might you make about their culture?

The expansion of the Roman Empire throughout the Mediterranean provided our civilization with amazing discoveries and contributions. The huge ambition of the Romans allowed leaders and its citizens to evolve and innovate. Among the cultures that influenced Romans the most is the Greek culture. As we have previously seen, the Greeks played an important role in the ancient civilizations contributions of democracy, philosophy and mathematics are some of the key elements that highlight their culture. However, the Romans gathered specific elements of all their conquests, among them art. An element of art important to discuss today is concrete and the public architecture.

Throughout the course of time, different civilizations across the world hold one thing in common by which a society or culture can be based upon or help influence the structure. The one common thing that has help a civilization grow throughout the period of time would be the formation of a religion. Religion is a center point for many societies throughout history. As the center for the different civilizations, it helped form their different traditions and customs. The same could be said about the people of ancient Greece, where religion or mythology played an important role in their lives as it was the pedestal of their culture and how they base their lives upon. The formation of a religion across the large number of regions of Greece, help the different locations mold themselves by the customs that were created from the adaptation. During what was known as Ancient Greece, the people would hear tales of the twelve Olympians and how their actions influence the world around them. Within this period of time for the people of Greece was that of growth, as they sought to bring new ideas into light as they exited from a dark period within their own history.

Ancient Greece is a land of many city states, called poleis. Each polis had its own government, laws, rulers, and customs, although they did have certain things in common such as their