In the history of humanity, each society has had a religion. These religions, on the surface, are different in many ways. They can range from having only one god to several major and minor gods that rule over their creations. If one looks closer, you can see that a multitude of the stories from these religions are similar. This pattern has been noticed by several researchers, causing the creation of the monomyth. To show how this theory comes into play, the religions from ancient Greece and the Shang Dynasty of China will be compared.
In China, the Shang Dynasty was around 2000 BC. This era is the earliest known period of religion in China. The Shang Dynasty had the people praying to several gods. Many of these gods were associated to one to more aspects of nature. To the people of the Shang Dynasty their religion was so important that the government ruled by what they believed was the will of the gods.One of the main gods that they followed is the Jade emperor; the first and king of the gods.
While the Chinese were worshiping their gods, the people of Greece were ahead of the game worshiping the gods of Olympus. This worship is thought to have started in the 5th century BCE. The greeks had many gods, but there were twelve that ruled over the rest. These god were called the Twelve Olympians. Of these gods, Zeus, the god of storms and the sky, ruled as king. Each major and minor god had control over one or more aspect of nature. The people of greece ruled over each city
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
The Anavysos Kouros, created around 530 B.C.E. in the Greek artistic period, depicts the religious aspect of Greece during the Ancient Mediterranean era. Arranged in “polis” (city states), the citizens of Greece followed this pre-dominant method of political organization. Aristocratic rule managed the Greek cities. The extremely urbanized society participated in heavy trade, which allowed the Greek economy to prosper. The religion of Ancient Greece emphasized multiple gods, worship, and afterlife. Thus, the Greeks believed in the existence of many gods and goddesses, which reflected the polytheistic nature of Greece. Zeus served as the king of the gods in the hierarchy of Greek religion and twelve major gods made up the Greek throne, coexisting with many minor gods. Some deities controlled elements of the world such as the sky, or the sea, while others controlled a more abstract aspect such as the hearth. Conclusively, The Greeks believed that the gods took the rituals and sacrifices as a gift as public festivals honored all the gods and hoped it would reap success in their lives. As a result, religion played a large role in the society of Ancient Greece.
In the Dynastic cycle, the Shang and Qin Dynasties of ancient China showed similar periods of dynasty found.
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.
In Greek mythology, there are many different gods and goddesses. There are six main deities, however; Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, and Hermes. Each god controls something, ranging from natural elements to communication.
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
The Shang dynastical reign started in the midst of the Bronze Age in china, and was considered one of the more profound rules, that made spectacular contributions to Modern China, and the civilizations housed in the great Chinese empire prior to the modern era. Although, there are no accurate dates, or details on the earlier dynasties that inhabited the lands of China, the Shang is the first to have left behind archaeological evidence with historical context to graph, and prove its existence through written records, and solidified crafts. It is believed that the Shang is the second dynasty of the Three Dynasties Period, with legends speaking of the earlier Xia dynasty, but nothing of historical value to prove its existence. Even with earlier texts referencing to the Xia reign, there has been nothing to prove that it existed, but if it had, it is
Stephenie Osewe 18 September 2014 There were different Dynasties in china. They had some similarities and differences. Some of the similarities between the Xia and the Shang Dynasties was the yellow river. Bentley et al. tells us that “The dynasty ruler of the Xia Dynasties exercised power throughout the middle yellow river valley by controlling the leader of individual villages” (53).
Religion was an integral part of society that varied between the Shang and Zhou dynasties. During the Shang dynasty the use of human sacrifice and oracle bone divination were widespread; however when the Zhou dynasty took control these religious practices were still done but on a much smaller scale (Ebrey 31). Some new traditions and beliefs would take root; the concept of heaven as well as belief in cosmology would rise. The people of the Zhou dynasty would rely heavily on signs from heaven. Weather would come to play a key role in society, even affecting the king.
Religion played a significant role in each of the city’s foundational views, and surprisingly, Athens and Sparta many similar beliefs. Similar to the rest of ancient Greece, the Athenians worshiped the Olympians, twelve gods reigning over different aspects of everyday life. The most stunning architectural examples in Athens were their temples, intricately etched and dedicated to a god. Athena, the goddess for which the city was named, was the goddess of wisdom and the most popularly worshiped deity. Although Spartans also worshiped the same gods, they held Ares and Zeus, gods of war, in the greatest
Beliefs relating to Gods or spirits - The ancient Greeks believed that after you died, your soul would go to a place called the underworld - Polytheistic: • Many gods • Performed specific functions - The believers would have to pray, visit temples and provide offerings to ensure they were seen by the gods. - Afterlife: • Spirit was joined to the underworld - The ancient Greeks believed that gods and goddesses would take care of them when they died.
Greek religion had a comprehensive mythology. It generally encompassed of stories and of the Gods how they effected the humans on earth. In Greek mythology, the Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheo were the primary deities of the Greek pantheon, residing upon a mythical Mount Olympus. The Olympians achieved their hegemony in a war of gods in which Zeus led his siblings to success over the Titans. The notion of the "Twelve Gods" is older than any existent Greek or Roman sources, and is expected to be of Anatolian origin.
The Greeks had a big religion that was later adapted by the romans. The Romans admired the Greek culture and later made their own gods which had simular powers to the Greek gods. The Greeks had a big religion with 12 main gods and a lot of minor gods. The 12 gods were Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Poseidon, Hermes, Hera, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ares, Artemis, Hades, Hephaistos, and Dionysus. Greeks would sacrifice their tame animals to please a certain god he only goddess
However, the manufacturing process of bronze vessels was complicated. The majority of the bronzes in Shang and Zhou dynasties was cast in piece-mold technology, rather than lost-wax method, that bronze vessels were cast in sectional molds assembled around a solid central and that legs and handles were cast separately and soldered on. The earliest bronzes were produced mostly with a single mold and occasionally with two for production of double-faced objects. In piece-mold casting, a model is made of the object to be cast, and a clay mold taken of the model. The mold is then cut into sections to release the model, and the sections are reassembled after firing to form the mold for casting. If the object to be cast is a vessel, a core has to be placed inside the mold to provide the vessel’s cavity (Fairbank, 1962).
There are a total of 12 olympian gods in the greek culture. Zeus, Poseidon, Aris, Hera, Hades, Hermes, Hestia, Athena, Hephaestus, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Artemis. These were the main gods that were known of throughout all of Greece and all had their own purpose to the people in the cities.