Lucretius Beliefs

The Ancient Greeks believed in many gods and heroes during their time. Each one had a sole purpose in a mortal’s lifetime. Greek mythology had a huge impact on religion in Ancient Greece. The Greeks performed rituals in order to honor their gods. Mythology affected the Ancient Greeks in many ways. The origins of mythology, the influences of mythology through a human’s lifetime and lessons taught in the ancient myths will be examined.

Epicurus was a hedonist, a materialist and a consequentialist who strongly believed that in order to attain the good life one must live a pleasant existence free of worry and pain. Through reflection of the concepts in Epicurus’s Letter to Menoeceus this paper will

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.

Growing up as a citizen of ancient Greek and Rome being raised to follow Greek and Roman mythology caused the ancient people to believe that they must act and behave like the gods. In creating this ideology, the people developed same personality and behavior habits as the gods in various myths. But even as the myths were written, the personalities of the gods and goddesses reflected the average human in that time period. The gods were so much like humans that it was normal to behave like them. Ancient Greek Philosophy stated “the gods depicted by Homer acted selfishly and were driven by emotions such as favoritism and jealousy. They behaved like ordinary people except they were immortal and had supernatural powers.” Unlike other religions were the gods have never sinned and are very different from humans, the gods in ancient Greek mythology make mistakes and commit horrific crimes that in today’s society would be highly unacceptable. For the people, it is a lot easier to be human and make mistakes rather than try to be perfect and sinless.

Greeks thought about their gods more often than most people do nowadays. Over the course of the day the Greeks would think about the gods often. if they wanted something such as death of an enemy or a good harvest he would give a offering to a temple of the of the gods domain in which he wanted help in.

The first four Principal Doctrines, deal with anxiety in people’s lives, and how they should think. Epicurus, is telling people not to fear death, God, nor pains in one’s life because they do not last long and they are for the week. The problem with this way of thinking, is that it removes the true God from the person’s life. But, that is not what he is saying. He, “believed that the true life of pleasure consisted in an attitude of imperturbable emotional calm which needed only simple pleasures, a healthy diet, a prudent moral life, and good friends” (pg. 342). This is quit opposite of what people say of Epicureanism in today’s time.

In ancient times, gods were a holy image in people’s mind. Each god had its own role in the universe. Such as the role of creation, the controller of the nature, and the role of the destiny control. The gods had extreme powers, and controlled everything in the world. Worshiped gods became a daily routine for ancient people. In the minds of people in ancient times, worshiped their gods were to prevent these gods became furious, and punished them with their extreme power. Even though the gods were extremely powerful, in many epic texts we could see they also had emotions and characteristics that were just like humans. However, there were still some major differences between the gods and humans.

Firstly, the gods are distinguished from the humans strictly by their immortality, which is made clear throughout the epic. The gods often punish the humans when they do not act in the way that the gods wish, though the gods act in the same way (and sometimes even worse still.) It is apparent that Ovid his little respect for the gods because of this, which is why he does not agree with the deification of Julius Caesar. When Jupiter brings together a council of the gods to discuss the removal of the human race, he speaks of Lycaon, a man who was meant to kill Jove, but instead murdered another and ate his flesh (I.216-251). Lycaon was turned into a wolf, though Jupiter describes the man as maintaining the same beast-like spirit and tendencies, of which Jupiter states, ‘“Let them all/ Pay quickly the price they deserve- this is my edict”’ (I.250-251). This description compares to Jove’s own beast-like nature when he chased down Io who refuted his advances. When Io refused to lay with him, Jove took advantage of her and then transformed her into a cow to avoid ridicule from his wife Juno. This sort of hypocrisy makes it understandable why Ovid had little respect for the gods, and why he disapproved of Julius Caesar’s deification. There is no purpose for another god if the gods themselves contain the same human-like traits that they so very often condemn.

At his death augustus was indeed declared a god. if you believed your teachings were right and epicurean teachings were wrong you would never have expelled early teachers of philosophy from Rome during when the ideas of Epicurus reached Rome but you thought these teachings would undermine your own false teachings which are based on authority. Yes indeed, we do believe there is no point whatsoever in worshipping the gods. You see, the gods are made of atoms just like everything else. The gods are too far away from the earth to have any interest in what man is doing; so it does no good to pray or to sacrifice to them.

Back in the days of ancient Greece, the gods were all powerful beings who controlled everybody’s fate. If they wanted to, they could raze cities and strike a person down with a bolt of lightning, or they could be saviors. Divine beings this powerful would definitely elicit respect. Those who didn't respect the gods wouldn’t be in their good graces and would have a higher probability of a life with bad luck. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles emphasizes the people's reverence towards the almighty, fate-controlling gods through the depiction of their faith in them and through the presentation of prayer.

The personalities of the gods are as broad as there are stars in the heavens, and as such the ways that these gods interact with mortals vary. The purpose of gods intervening with the days of man comes down to two things, good or bad; there are gods who are caring and loving towards mortals while others view man as pawns which they can use for their own personal agenda. A few gods that capture and exemplify the various personalities of the gods can be found in Ovid: The Metamorphoses of Ovid and Homer: The essential Homer: Selections from the Iliad and the Odyssey. Although the ways man and the gods communicate and get each other’s attention are different, there are reoccurring and overarching themes such as desire, and loyalty that make each intervention between gods and mortals similar.

Epicurus’ argument takes a logical and deductive analytical route with the existence of evil. This argument is not capable of being used to debate whether any God exists in general, instead it narrowly defines what a God is expected to do as an omnibenevolent being. This argument does allow for a God to exist that differs from traditional Christianity and does not care about or meddles in our personal lives. In western Christianity it is widely believed that god is in control of literally everything and it all happens as a part of his perfect plan, that we probably wouldn 't understand. Even if that plan includes the suffering of innocent children. Epicurus is not trying to show that the existence of gods are impossible, but improbable. The goal of his statement is not to get the reader to reject the existence of gods, but to consider that the existence of gods are unlikely and probably not worth worrying about.

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher who wrote, The Enchiridion, a manual which instructed people on how to live their life ethically and honorably on a social level. His belief was that regardless of personal conditions, people could live with pride and discipline. Epictetus tells us differentiating between what is in our own power to control and what is not is the key to a noble life (281).

These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.3 The Greek philosopher Epicurus is most likely the first recognized philosopher to ask how the existence of evil could be compatible with the nature of God (The Wrath of God 13).4 According to Epicurean philosophy, the notions of good and evil are identified with pleasure and pain respectively. The Epicurean claim is that only pleasure is good. Accordingly, this translates into “pursue pleasure (good) and avoid pain (evil).”5 David Hume in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion says of Epicurus: “Epicurus’ old questions are yet unanswered. Is he (God) willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”6 Even if Epicurus is regarded as the first to raise

Throughout the Odyssey, the presence of divine intervention overwhelmingly shapes the story as a whole. The relationship between humans and gods within the book can be characterized as one that provides humans options, commonly in the form of an omen and according to their choices, will result in a set punishment or appraisal. From an individual’s choices in life and the aforementioned trials, a god or goddess will positively or negatively impact the person’s life. This divine intervention drives people to practice holy acts out of self-interest and fear which reveals that all humans at their base are not altruistic but, selfish and only care for events that will promote their lives. Their faith in or fear of the gods also provide insight on humans’ tendencies to divert blame, and be scared of the unknown. Throughout the Odyssey each and every character serves as a median to demonstrate how the gods intervene in humans’ lives that they either favor or despise and according to their subjective views on these people, they will construct their fate.