Did the Ancient Greek Gods Exist?

The ancient Greeks thought the gods affected everything. They believed that Mount Olympus was where the gods lived, earthquakes were a message from the gods, and their first olive tree was a gift from Athena. Mount Olympus was assumed to be home to the gods because the mountain rises 9,570 feet in the air. The entrance to Olympus was a “...great gate of clouds, kept by the Seasons.” (Document 2) Another important geographic feature the Greeks made into a religious belief was the landscape and environment. Greece is “...smack-dab in the middle of a very active volcanic zone,” (Document 3) so the Greeks formed a religion called oracles, and the belief was “Oracles are the gods speaking to people, often in the form of minor earthquakes,” (Document

Sir Arthur Evans discovered the Palace of Knossos (Fig. 1) when looking for the legendary labyrinth of King Minos on the Island of Crete. According to the myth, King Minos had a complex labyrinth built to house the Minotaur, a monstrous creature his wife gave birth to. The palace’s construction was a maze of rooms with no logical set up and led Evans to think the palace itself was most likely the labyrinth. The myth states, every year seven girls and seven boys of a young age were chosen as tribute to enter the labyrinth.1 The myth of the labyrinth in connection with the Palace of Knossos can be linked to a right of passage or a coming of age ritual in Ancient Greece. The tributes entered, wrestled with their thoughts and finally emerged as adults ready to take their places in society.

As Hephaestus is notified of Thetis’ arrival, he explores what their relationship has meant to him. Hephaestus recalls that “Thetis saved my life when the mortal pain came on me after my great fall…” (P. 480) After Hephaestus falls out of Zeus’ good graces, Thetis is able to lend her helping hand, displaying the hierarchical dynamic between the gods. The gods are indebted to each other, the likely reason that Hephaestus felt as though he needed to make Thetis the ornate shield. The duty and obligation to each other fuels the mutualistic relationships between the gods. Thetis’ motivation to help Hephaestus was not solely out of kindness; rather Thetis saw the opportunity to make a strategic move and put Hephaestus in her debt, knowing that she very well could use his services in her future. Hephaestus describes the pain that he felt as “mortal pain” signifying a distinction between the discomforts and vulnerability of mortals and gods.

Greek mythology was created to explain the creation of the Earth and how life on Earth came to be, these could be called creation myths. Gaia the goddess of the Earth gave birth to Uranus, the sky. The both of them became husband and wife. Gaia gave

The Greek Society believes in many Gods. The first one that I will talk about is Zeus. Zeus is The God of The Sky, Thunder, Lightning, and Justice. Zeus made sure that justice was always served. So he made sure that there was justice everywhere. And if someone was doing wrong he would punish them deeply.

Both Kojiki and Greek mythologies describe common belief in the creation of the world, in which gods give birth to another to form the world. In Kojiki, two of the seven gods who came into existence, Izanagi and Izanami give birth to many nature deities, creating the world. But because Izanami gives birth to too many deities, she dies while giving birth to the fire deity. In result of her death, enraged Izanagi kills the fire deity. In contrast, Greek myth describes the creation of the world with the four gods who came to existences, Gaea (earth) Chaos, Tartarus (Hell), and then Eros. Gaea asexually gives birth to Uranus (Sky) and marries her son. She then bears three types of gods; the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Hecathonchires. However, Uranus repels at the monstrous creatures and sends Cyclopes and Hecatonchires down to Tartarus (Hell). Frustrated by Uranus’s action, Gaea forges the first sickle, gives it to her youngest son Cronos, and have him punish his father, Uranus. Once Uranus returns to make love to Gaea, Cronos emasculates him. Here we see the similarities in the creation of the world by birth and death of God by the hands of another god with fury.

Out of Chaos, came Earth and Sky, and the very first gods. In this story, life came from nothingness-a void. From the Void there then came Darkness and Night. From Night came the Light and then Day. Earth, named Gaia, brought about Sky, known as Uranus, and then after lying with Sky, she birthed Ocean, along with the giants and Cyclopes, and immortals. Hesiod's story is similar to the Bible in that it describes children falling from grace and having to deal with the consequences and fallout. Also like the Bible, where Eve is the cause of the fall, it is a female-the "mother" who causes the same problem in the Theogeny. This mother gets together with Chornus, her son, who cut his father Sky's insides out of his own body. In the Bible, the Father has great love for his creation, but in Hesiod's story, the father hates his children, who he called the Titans. The Titans were the parents of the Greek gods of Mount Olympus, thus beginning the line of gods that rose from chaos. There is a similarity, though, in the hatred of the father of the Theogeny and the rebellion of the children that stemmed from this feeling, and the great flood of the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the children were punished for their disobedience by an angry Father or

The Greek gods were starting to get believed in by the Greeks between 1700 and 1100 B.C. in Greece. The first gods were Uranus (Father Sky) and Gaia (Mother earth). The first Olympian was Hestia. There are twelve major Olympians including Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus and ECT. A lot of things are named after a god. For example Athens, the capital of Greece. Athens was named after Athena. Every god has a power for a different aspect of life. There is a god of storms, a god of death, god of love and ECT. The Gods were honored in many different ways like temples and gifts. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were the three gods that ruled the universe.

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 this paragraph will be information on Greek Gods and Goddesses. There was a governing body for the Grecians. This mythological group was very important. They were usually the reason for war and many believed that they were so superior that they would bring disease and death upon others that they dislike or the people that would try to out shine them. They were called The Olympians. There were twelve Olympians, however before I name them there actually were 13, but Hestia gave up her position for Dionysus. There was Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, Hephatus, Hera, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artimes, Dionysus, Aries (Ares or Aris), and Apollo.” (Greek Gods and Goddesses) There was one other God that is also very important to the Olympians. His name was Hades and he was the God of the Dead. He was not considered an Olympian though because he was always to be in the Underworld. Hades had one day decided that he wanted a partner however

One reason the people of Ancient Greece worshiped the gods is that they believed they were powerful controllers of the world. For example, in the video about women, the gods

Unlike religious gods today, the Greek gods resembled human being in their form and their emotions, and suffered from the same dilemmas humans throughout time have faced. The Greeks believe in many gods and think they are very much like people. They have both supernatural powers and human weaknesses. The gods would fight, play on each other, gets angry or jealous, and steal from each other. The Olympian Gods live atop Mt. Olympus in Greece behind a gate of clouds. They watch the mortals down on earth which they can visit any time, and are responsible for the success or failure of human life. The Greeks worship their gods, pray, give offerings, and build temples to please the gods so they will not give any punishments.

Greek gods good, bad, or both? Well, they are bad and good for the Ancient Greek Civilization. I'll explain two positive and negative effects it had on Ancient Greeks. "These effects affect virtually every aspect of their society.' As stated in Historical.

In Greek Mythology, perhaps one of the most rudimental yet one of the most important elements are the Greek Gods and Goddesses. The ancient Greeks created the stories about the lives and journeys of the Greek Gods, known as myths, simply as an endeavor to elucidate nature and all phenomena which were difficult to explain using modern science and logic. These myths about the Gods were spread around the world by explorers and storytellers, and later merged with Greek religion. To this day, numerous myths survived through many writings and through much art. Each of these myths is very unique, and moreover, tells us much about the Greek Gods. The Greek myths in particular convey to us that Greek Gods and Goddesses looked and acted like humans,

The creation of the gods starts with chaos and from the chaos came the endless gods: Eros, Tartarus, and Gaea (Love, hell, and the earth). Gaea created Uranus, the first ruler of the sky and Eros