Constributions of Greek Culture

The ancient Greeks were known for many reasons; developing and creating a democracy, scientific and philosophic thought, and their humanistic point of view. The Greeks had a combination of beliefs and “cults of gods and goddesses.” Although they did not have any prophets or scriptures, many Greeks created a place for their religious emotions in “the sacred ceremonies of mystic cults.” Unlike other civilizations, the Greeks did not have a formal priest that lead religious or political content. In place of a formal priest, their religious rituals were directed by citizens that were selected to perform as priests. As a part of their belief system, they attempted to satisfy the gods and asked oracles to “divine the future” through prayers, offerings, and ritual purification. The view of after death differed from Mesopotamians and Egyptians. Their view of after death was the belief that if the person was ran by their own physical aspirations, “the soul would be liberated after death.”

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.

The world we live in today, especially as Americans, has been influenced greatly by many cultures. Though no civilization have been as influential as the Greeks. Their culture, war tactics, and history changed the world more than any civilization has. From the construction of the first city states to the consumption from Persia the Greeks and their influence can still bee seen today. What makes the Greeks so influential? Did they even have a great empire? These are questions that many thinks about but can never get an answer to. But the Greeks innovated war, before them there were only rag-tag armies of people. The Spartans are known to be some of the greatest warriors in history. The Athenians, or people from Athens which was another Greek

American sport culture has had many influences that impact how they are today. I believe the ancient greek culture, and society accurately reflects on our sports. There are many variables to american sports that were taken from the greek society. Americans have open gyms and mass training sessions like the greeks had. American sports also have big festivals with sports competitions like the greeks has. Americans also use sports to train, and some to train for war just like the greeks did as well. There are many more ways american sports reflect the greeks, but those are just a few examples.

In the ancient Greek world, religion was personal, direct, and present in its citizens’ daily lives. During this time, they participated in animal sacrifices and offerings, created myths to explain the beginning of the human race and gave reverence to their gods by building temples which controlled the urban landscape. They also participated in local festivals and sporting and artistic competitions. Religion was never out of the presence of ancient Greece’s citizens. While they may have made up their own mind on the terms of their religious beliefs, some may have been completely confused if these gods actually existed. There were certain fundamental beliefs that must have been sufficiently widespread, in order for the Greek government to function. In ancient Greece, gods existed, they influenced human concerns, and they welcomed and responded to acts of godliness and worship.

The Vikings had a closely tied relationship between their culture and other cultures. You can see this because some of the stories from different parts of the world were put into their own stories. The story of the creation myth of Ymir is paralleled to the story of the Brahma. The stories of zombies from the African culture can be closely tied to stories of revenants that are in the Viking culture. A reason for some of these resonances may be because of the trade route they had; which was through the Mesopotamian, Byzantium, and the African worlds.

Religion is based off of your time and technology. It is shown by the progression of time and how it influences people’s beliefs over time. As shown in the upper paleolithic revolution people had polytheism in the early 50,000 bc with the advancements of technology and the evolution of the human mind, The belief of many gods began to emerge into the belief of only one god. Then further advancements began to question if there was a higher power of any god at all.

“Greek civilization is alive; it moves in every breath of mind that we breathe; so much of it remains that none of us in one lifetime could absorb it all.” Ancient Greeks are known to be one of the greatest and most advanced people and have left behind a legacy that helped define the Western civilization. Cultural diffusion helped spread Greek culture all over the world, and its effects can still be felt today in almost every aspect. Greek culture has greatly affected different parts of my daily life including architecture, food, government, inventions, music, religion, and education.

There are many different religions within the world. From Judaism, to Hinduism, to even what the Egyptians believed. The greatest one to study though is definitely the Roman religion. From minotaurs to hydras to even the Gods. The Roman religion has so many interesting stories, such as how their nation came to be through Romulus and and Remus. There are many stories about sword fights and God’s intervening into their society. The Romans had many early beliefs such as being an Animistic society, meaning that they believed that spirits dwelled among the world that helped with their farming and harvesting, to the God’s, who they believed controlled their everyday life, but the fall of this fantastic religion was when Judaism and Christianity

Greek Mythology played a monumental role in the structural development of ancient Greece, not only as a society, but as individuals. Surprisingly, their religion was not exactly one of originality. In fact, their religion was loosely based on earlier cultures’ religions. It bears many strikingly similar resemblances to some of the oldest recorded religions in history. Ancient Greek religion is a type of polytheism called “Monarchial Polytheism.” That is, they believe in several different gods and deities but there is a supreme ruler above all of them. In order to fully understand how similar the mythological systems of religions have been throughout the years, you must look back towards the earliest of recorded civilizations. Polytheism

There are many mysteries to life, ancient civilizations created religion to explain these mysteries. Many ancient civilizations believed in religions that worshiped more than one god or goddess, this is called polytheism. Both the Ancient Egyptians and the Ancient Greeks practiced polytheism. For both ancient civilizations religion was an important part of daily life. Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks had similar creation stories and worshipped similar gods and goddesses yet there beliefs were still very different

according to the will of Zeus, the human world is governed by justice and the

Another common element in the mystery-religions was their tendency to worship the divine on what we today would think of as a higher spiritual level than standard Greek and Roman religions did. The idea of a spiritual world as separate from the material world, first promoted by Plato, was fully adopted by the mystery-religions and provided them with a basis for belief in life after death. Conversely, ancient Greco-Roman religion and Judaism contained nothing that addressed this new concept of separate worlds. Traditional public worship in both Jewish and Gentile communities generally emphasized the material world in its requests for good crops, healthy children and success in business. Worship in a closed

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.

In the Greek literature that I read, I have identified the informing symbol for this culture is “finding the meaning of life.” The Atwood theory, discussed in class, is that at the heart of any country or culture is “a single unifying and informing symbol.” Atwood’s theory gives the country or culture its identity and strength. The literature of the country or culture probably is what shows this symbol the best. The stories that I read are “and dreams are dreams”, “stories of taxi drivers”, and “the white bear” from the book “….and dreams are dreams” by Vassilis Vassilikos. I also read Zorba the Greek, a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. They were a useful source for finding the Greek symbol of life.