Eric Morla
Professor Johnson
Humanities 1
27, April 2015
Christianity
When I was in high school I can honestly say I did not care about religion. It is not that I did not believe in it, I just did not give it any attention. All I cared about was hanging out with my friends and going to parties. I was not living my life how I should have been. I would do stupid things trying to make myself look cool, and it was working I was getting the attention I wanted. I was so blind from stupidity I was not giving the Lord the attention he wanted. I was giving men and women more attention than God Now in a way I was living with a mindset that the more popular I was I would look like a god to others and it does not work like that. Now if we go back to Ancient Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia we can see similarities to my own life in the 21st century. They were all living by a religion known as polytheistic. Polytheistic religions believe in multiple gods not just one. Each of these civilization viewed religion and supernatural deities in a different way. Ancient Greece believed in preforming rituals and cult practice. They believed in multiple gods and goddesses like Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo. Zeus or Poseidon would intrude on the human’s lives. Ancient Egyptian was also a polytheistic religion. The Egyptians had interaction with the deities and they thought they were in control and forces of the elements of nature. They would do anything to make the gods happy. They performed
Despite all their similarities, The Greeks and Romans engaged in substantive culture differences. Their religions derived from a complex set of gods and goddesses, called deities, who were seen as regulating human life. Since the Romans embraced culture from the Greeks, many traditions were the same. However, the Greek and Roman culture, although similar, are very different and appealing. For instance, the Greeks did not acknowledge an all-powerful god; they believe that deities controlled everything that transpired on earth. In other words, the Greeks sought religious cults to explain the forces that shape the world (Bentley et al, 2008 p.143).
Polytheism was practiced in ancient Greece. Apollo, the god of music, light, and order, was the son of Zeus. "The gods were considered all powerful, all controlling and all knowing" (Scott 9). The Oracle of Apollo was the most steadfast and consistent prognosticator in all of Greece. People would traverse over long distances and in some cases wait for months on end just to seek advice from the sibyl (Scott 9). The questions
Religion was not a monolithic institution, it consisted of a large variety of different beliefs and practices, all of which were linked by the common focus on the interaction between the Egyptian people and the divine realm, as the gods of this realm linked the Egyptian understanding of the world. As the Ancient Egyptian Religion was an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. Polytheism the belief of multiple deities usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses along with their own mythologies and rituals was an essential aspect of ancient Egyptian religion. As the Ancient Egyptian religion included a large and diverse pantheon of gods and goddesses, and around these deities arose a rich mythology that helped explain the
The cultures of Rome and Greece celebrated philosophical and religious thinking in various forms. The Greek and Roman religions were polytheistic and included Gods that created natural phenomena. Both religions had a God of Gods who possessed ultimate power and ruled over various capricious Gods. They both included Gods of the hunt, metalworking, war, nature, the ocean and many other human activities and forces of nature. Many Greco-Roman aristocrats searched for meaning outside of religion with philosophy. Thinkers such as Aristotle and Cicero believed strongly in balance and modesty. The Stoics stressed discipline and bravery while Socrates encouraged thinking independently.
The Greeks and Romans were accepting of other gods from different cultures, but had contrasting approaches for ensuring a place in their religion. The Romans took religion very seriously and performed everything precisely. They adopted different gods and made them a part of the Roman religion. This would soon change as the Christian religion began to rise in popularity. In
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.
Along with different languages, customs and traditions, ancient Hebrews, Middle-easterners and Romans had very different beliefs about the divine. For example, Hebrews are monotheistic, while Middle-easterners and Greco-Romans of early time periods believe in many gods. Writings from the ancient time period sketch these differences, as well as the many similarities between religious beliefs. The Old Testament is an excellent reference depicting Hebrew beliefs, while Gilgamesh outlines many Middle-eastern beliefs, and The Metamorphoses shows readers many ancient Greco-Roman beliefs about the divine.
Both the Greeks and Romans were accepting of other gods from different cultures. Romans adopted different gods and made them a part of the Roman religion. This would soon change as the Christian religion began to rise in popularity. In Roman society Christianity was not accepted they “believed it was anti-Roman and considered it atheist, it was outlawed, and people were executed”
When you look back on history there were many defining religions, beliefs and values among different cultures and societies. The beliefs varied from believing in one single God to multiple gods, from being patriarchal to matriarchal. When discussing difference you can see numerous among the Ancient Hebrew culture and the Archaic Greeks. Greeks believed in multiple gods, the Olympians and the Chthonian whereas Ancient Hebrew’s believed in one God whose name shouldn’t even be pronounced it was so sacred. These two cultures perceived the world and their surrounds in a completely different way.
Ancient Egypt (3000 BCE – 30 BCE) and Ancient Greece (1200 BCE – 146 BCE) based their entire lives around their religious beliefs. These beliefs led to their religious practices which were included in every aspect of their lives. Since ancient Greece’s and ancient Egypt’s beliefs differ greatly, endless differences can be shown between their religious practices. However, between the two cultures, many surprising similarities can be seen in these religious practices despite the tremendous differences. Through learning about where their religious beliefs and practices started, the bigger picture of history in general can be learned. As well, the similarities between ancient Greece’s and ancient Egypt’s religious practices can be seen as not
Ancient China and ancient Egypt were both two sophisticated civilizations that created a religion as a way to explain the natural phenomena they encountered and the unknown. Although different in many ways, their religions do share many similarities with each other. One of these similarities is that both of the religions are polytheistic. In both Chinese and Egyptian religion, there are many different gods, and each god rules in their own domain. However, not only do both religions have more than one god in them, but also many of the gods from both religions are very similar to each other in the sense that they rule over the exact same thing. For example in ancient Chinese religion there is a sky god, just like the sky god in ancient Egyptian religion. Another similarity that both religions have in common with each other is that each religion has it’s own “high god” that rules above all of the other gods. For the Chinese it is Shang-Ti, the supreme god who rules above
In the ancient world, there were many different civilizations. In these civilizations, the peoples’ humanity, interaction with one another, and the belief in the supernatural were viewed differently. Ancient Greece was between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C. Ancient Egypt was between 3100 B.C. and 332 B.C. Both of these civilizations have many things in common, but were also very different when referring to the people. In Ancient Greece, the people had different roles in society depending primarily on their gender and class. On the other hand, in Ancient Egypt the people were given equality. Both civilizations believed in gods and goddesses, but their gods were different and had different purposes in their world. In many ways these parts of their civilization are different, but they are also similar.
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
Architecture reflects the mythology of any civilization in the world. In another word, it the relationship between needs and means. Greek believes in Polytheism. Polytheism is known as the belief and worship of multiple Gods and Goddesses, throughout history polytheism had been evident particularly in ancient cultures such as the Egyptian, Greek, Persian and Roman cultures and it was remarkably evident in their buildings, temples, tombs and overall architecture.however, Every god of the goddess played a master role in the certian period. that combined in harmony together to introduce all the success factor for such great civilizations like ancient greek.
Polytheism was an integral part of the culture of ancient Greece. Polytheism is the belief of multiple gods.This allowed for a very diverse society in terms of belief and kept the conflicts between people of different beliefs to a minimum, although not entirely. In ancient Greece, many of the people followed one of the fourteen major gods, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera. These fourteen gods were the cornerstones of Greek society, as each one had it’s own group of devoted followers. Each group of followers had their own unique way of following their own god.