Every major religion or belief plays an important role in the operations of that society’s culture. This remains true in the ancient greek empire when the worship of multiple gods were popular. The way the ancient greeks interpreted the world around them and inspired their value in education, arts, and politics. . Even when the empire fell in 146 BC they left a permanent mark on the world with their advanced art techniques and famous philosophers. There were countless variations and ways of interpreting their mythology much like popular religions today. The traditions and beliefs varied greatly from place to place. When analyzing greek mythology, one must consider what exactly did their deities represent, the relationship between …show more content…
The judeo-christian god is seen as all-seeing an knowing and most prominent features is forgiveness/ love/ worship. This contrast heavily with the ancient greeks who saw the olympians as more of a force of power. They were not necessarily considered pure benevolent beings an in facts shared many qualities similar to that of humans: greed, jealously, desire, etc. In more than one story a Greek god, often Zeus, would fall to petty desire and commit scandalous acts adultery rape. Which is a very human trait. The similarity in the traits between gods and people made it easier for people to associate actual people such as Alexander the Great as a god of sorts. This created tighter more intimate relationship amongst people and their beliefs. Rituals played a major role in maintaining a connection not only to the gods but also their community. Some of the epics by Homer were known to have many rituals that were often also reenacted in greek plays. This maintained the tradition of keeping these ceremonies throughout generations. Priest were the main keepers of ritualistic knowledge and were thought to have deeper ties to greek deities. Many greek communities were centered around priest led ceremonies that unite the community. Common rituals involved prayer, cleansing, food, and sometimes a sacrifice to their patron …show more content…
Each developed their own unique set of laws and patron gods and became known as a polis or city-state. The most popular patron gods were Poseidon, Athena, and Apollo. Each patron not only acted as a mirror to that polis belief but also the goals that the civilization strove for. Many of these poleis possessed intricate astounding buildings. If you search the most impressive greek temples you would notice a pattern between the polis with nicer architecture and the olympian Athena adopted as their patron. Athena being the goddess of architecture, sculpture, and battle strategy was a popular Goddess and thus influenced the ancient greeks to mirror her aspects. A famous polish that had Athena as their patron would be Athens. Which is also known for its democracy and prominent thinkers.
In conclusion the ancient greek empire inspired many of our modern ideas, politics, and art. Everything to the iconic symbol of the mask of tragedy and comedy that are associated with today's theatre as well as the amazing structural balance of their sculptures. It is understandable why the ancient romans were influenced so heavily by the greeks and their religion. In fact if were not for the greeks the renaissance would not be nearly as impressive. The ancient greek religion due to it various and iconic symbols created such an influential