Through religion, civilizations have been able to unify people under a particular religious idea. It was not necessary for everyone to be religious as long as they identified with the same religion as those around them. Religion is subjective and one of the main ways each civilization created an identity is through the concept of new gods and beliefs. Each civilization had some form of religion and throughout history we see an evolutionary change in religious beliefs. The Hebrews and the Middle Age Christians were monotheistic who believed in one true all powerful God. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were extremely polytheistic who believed in many different gods who all played different roles. These differences in religion helped shape …show more content…
Up to this point in history, most civilizations had used religion to explain the unexplainable. The Greeks formed a unique view on religion and belief by looking for answers outside of the gods. Epicurus develops this thought further when he wrote, “principal disturbance in the minds of men arises because they think that these celestial bodies are blessed and immortal” (Epicurus, Self-sufficiency, in SWT, p. 98). Epicurus presents the argument that pleasing the gods is unnecessary and a waste of a person’s time and energy. This Greek thinking was received well in early Roman civilization. Lucretius, a Roman philosopher, agreed Epicurus and considers religion to be a burden to mankind (Lucretius, Denunciation of Religion, in SWT, p. 112). Greek and Roman civilization began to become more secular and religion was considered to be a custom or formality. This development was unique because early civilizations centered their entire beliefs and lives around religion and gods. The Greeks and Romans began to carve out a religious identity that was foreign to many …show more content…
Christianity rejected the Greek and Roman view on religion but instead believed that truth was found only through religion. Christianity developed into many different religious sects but the concepts were all very similar. Christianity was based on moral value, universal love, non-violence, equality, and religion was above the state and worldly affairs (Dr. Agocs, Lecture). This new form of religion went against everything the Greeks and Romans had previously believed and practiced. Christianity began to spread from the Roman civilization and spread throughout the surrounding areas. Those in power in Rome were not pleased with the rise of Christianity. The Christians at Lyons and Vienne in a letter to other Christians in Asia describe the “sufferings heaped upon them by the general populace, clamors, blows, being dragged along, robberies, stonings, imprisonments, and all that an enraged mob loves to inflict” (Christians, Persecutions at Lyons and Vienne, p.
Roman religion is not as easy to identify or describe as one might immediately suppose. Much of the difficulty in defining the religion of the Roman Republic is due to its flexibility and variability, as well as the lack of any clear division between religion, politics, and civil society during this period. It can often be difficult to tell, for example, where Roman religion ends and political ideology begins. Despite these difficulties, it is possible to make certain generalized statements. Religion in the Roman republic was extremely integrated into everyday life, it is variable and individualized, and it played a key role in upholding Roman civil and military power structures. It is also important to remember that Roman religion is not static and underwent a constant process of change over several centuries, often due to political and social concerns.
‘Christians to the lions’ as Trajan would say, an emperor in the early centuries Christianity to them have alienated the favour of their gods which has and would continue to cause disasters in the Roman Empire. The misfortune of Christians did not stop during this period, but it did come to a composed halt as Galerius, gave Christians the right to worship in some sense. Christianity during the early stages was clearly a course of persecution and forced pagan accusations. Constantine dramatically changed the recourse of religions with the battle of Milvian Bridge as Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire.
Within the Roman Empire, Christianity was banned and Christians were punished for many years. Feeding Christians to the lions were seen as entertainment in Ancient Rome. In AD 313, the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal and for the first time, they were allowed to openly worship. Churches were quickly built not just in Rome but throughout the empire, The main beliefs of Christianity The belief of one god, so it was monotheistic and the god that they worshipped was not the emperor so that is why the emperor was upset. The religions started out fairly similar to each other but as I said earlier when there imperial Rome's religion changed there was really no more similarities in the two empires religion.
The cultures of diverse populations united them to form civilizations. The cultures made a unified religion, language, and technology. Most of the early civilizations had tribal beliefs, or other polytheistic religions, as the dominant religions. Monotheistic religion wouldn’t be introduced into the world until later. Languages formed amongst these civilizations in order to effectively communicate to each other.
Christianity was frowned upon by the Romans. The Roman Emperor wanted the people to worship him and the Roman Gods. Christians were blamed for many of the misfortunes that happened in Rome. Due to the belief that Christians were to blame they were ostracized, tortured and even killed.
From the third to the fourth century, the Roman Empire witnessed a widespread attempt to stop the spread of Christianity. Initially, leaders of the church were predominately targeted, but later anyone admitting to Christianity became a target. The persecutions hit a climax during Diocletian’s reign. These persecutions actually helped the spread of Christianity by glorifying Christians and beginning a tradition of martyrdom that shaped the Church, and the strength that Christians displayed shows that the persecutions could not have possible stopped the spread of Christianity.
In the past, many great civilizations were heavily influenced by religion. Their religious beliefs inspired and shaped their art, culture, architecture, and technology, and helped drive their progress forward.
Religion has played a very important role in society and the history of mankind for over thousands of years. Originally created by ancient peoples as a way to explain the unknown, religion has greatly evolved and spread across the globe. As new religions have formed and spread, the diversity and similarities between these new religions have also increased, especially due to their geographic locations. Two civilizations in particular with both similar and distinct religions are ancient China, and ancient Egypt. Ancient Chinese religion and ancient Egyptian religion share many things in common with each other, yet at the same time they are
Religion can invade, conquer, and rule masses of people far more effectively and efficiently than any empire or conqueror. This is not to spark a heated discussion about religions. Its purpose is, to say that, even though it is highly debatable whether religions are false or true, most of them serve a very basic purpose of establishing morals and values. Early religions were used as a source of power and economic growth. Even if one doesn’t believe in or agree with the teachings of any religion, history shows proof that it creates a sense of order. There are many religions in the past that have brought order and civilized conduct to large numbers of people, not through military conquest, but through the promise of reward or the fear of punishment. Religion is the glue that binds local communities into nationhood and creates common understandings and shared values that are essential to the growth of a civilization. No religion is fully formed at its start, so why did some religion play such a big role in growth of the Ancient Civilizations.
From the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the Muslim world, antiquity has always been filled with religions of all sorts. These religions helped guide how ancient peoples lived life and came about doing even the most common tasks that people like us do today. Religion impacted the civilizations of the ancient world by greatly influencing how peoples of ancient civilizations acted, how they thought about the world around them, how civilizations were organized and maintained, and how they interacted with civilizations of another religion.
Religion has been a major factor for the growth and development of societies since the establishment of even the very first ancient civilizations. Though each of the ancient societies—the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Indians, and the Mesopotamians—had different spiritual beliefs, they each shared the common belief that the presence of religion within a civilization would have positive results upon the entire civilization.
Religion in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia played a significant role in developing and organizing the society. Based on the common belief of the world’s divine creation, both civilizations had regular rituals and ceremonies to honor the supernatural beings. In rituals and ceremonies, the cult was expressed as the manifestation of components that symbolized the divine such as the cult images, temples, and shrines. Since religion was an important aspect in the people’s daily lives, it also had an impact on the ruling system in the two civilizations. Even though Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have similar foundational beliefs about the cult, different cultic practices imply the difference in the structure and the scope of
As civilization has expanded and improved it has gone through many different religions. Some of the most interesting and different have been the Mesopotamian religion, the religion of the Greeks and finally Christianity. These three religions were practiced in different areas and different time periods and therefore they will be excellent for a comparison. Religion is a key part of every society and civilization. No matter how it is organized or what type of God they worship, a society would be nothing without some kind of deity to organize it. Through the units of study the amount that people rely on Gods has been evident and that is why this makes a very good essay topic. Three areas of religion will be
Through history, religion has shaped civilizations in several aspects. In ancient Indian and Egyptian civilizations it was very strong shaping force in political structures, but both the religious beliefs and the resulting political system were different, just like pharaohs were different from rajas.
– “The years as they come bring many agreeable things with them; as they go, they take many away” – Horace (65BC – 8BC)