Gods And Goddesses Of Greek Religion example essay topic

In Ancient Greece, religion was a civil cult necessary for the well-being of the state. Temples dedicated to a god or goddess were the major buildings of Greek society. Much understanding about the role of Greek religion arises because, unlike Christianity, Greek religion did not require belief in a body of doctrine. There were no sacred books, such as the Bible.

Proper ritual rather than belief formed the crucial part of Greek religion. It had no official of priests enunciating dogma and controlling religious matters. Although there were priests and priestesses to care for certain religious shrines, most religious ceremonies were led by civilians serving as priests, and priesthoods were civic offices. The epic poetry of Homer contained a coherent theogony or genealogy of the gods that served to give a definite structure to Greek religion. Over a period of time, all Greeks accepted a common Olympian religion.

There were twelve chief gods who supposedly lived on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. Among the twelve were Zeus, the chief deity and father of the gods; Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts; Apollo, god of the sun and poetry; Aphrodite, goddess of love; and Poseidon, brother of Zeus and god of the seas and earthquakes. Greek mythology was closely related to the gods and goddesses of Greek religion, although it also included stories of heroes and heroines. Through the works of Homer and Hesiod, gods were seen as human in their activities, but also superhuman in that they were immortal. While the mythic stories were often entertaining, they also served a number of purposes: they could explain phenomena, such as thunderbolts; they cold serve a political function, such as legitimizing control of a particular territory; they could define relationships, such as those between men and women, or between humans and gods; and they could preserve the history of names and great events. They could also be very confusing since the many variants of the stories often conflicted with each other.

The twelve Olympian gods were common to all Greeks, who thus shared a basic polytheistic religion. Each polis usually singled out one of the twelve Olympians as a guardian deity of its community. Athena was the patron goddess of Athens, for example. But each polis also had its own local deities who remained important to the community as a whole, and each family had patron gods as well. Since it was desirable to have the gods look favorably upon ones activities, ritual assumed enormous proportions in Greek religion.

Prayers were often combined with gifts to the gods based on the principle, I give so that you (the gods) will give (in return). Some prayers directly reflected this mutual benefit: Protect our city. I believe that what I say is in our common interest. For a flourishing city honors the gods. Ritual meant sacrifices, whether of animals or agricultural products. Animal victims were burned on an altar in front of a temple or on a small altar in front of a home.

The Greeks maintained religious calendars (lists of sacrifices) specifying what a god or goddess should receive and on what day it should be offered. The father made sacrifices for the family; officials did so for the state. Festivals were also developed as a way to honor the gods and goddesses. Some of these (the Pan-Hellenic celebrations) came to have international significance and were held at special locations, such as those dedicated to the worship of Zeus at Olympia; to Poseidon at the Isthmus of Corinth; and to Apollo at Delphi. The great festivals incorporated numerous events in honor of the gods, including athletic competitions to which all Greeks were invited.

The first such games were held at the Olympic festival in 776 B.C. and then held every four years thereafter to honor Zeus. Initially, the Olympic contests consisted of foot races and wrestling, but later, boxing, javelin throwing, and various other contests were added. Competitions were always between individuals not groups. Individual polis also held religious festivals on a regular basis. At Athens, the most splendid was the Great Panathenaia, begun in the earl sixth century and held every four years in July. Dedicated to the patron goddess Athena, the highlight of the festival was a great procession of the entire community through the city.

But as with all great religious festivals, the Great Panathenaia also included dancing and singing, choruses of men and women, torch races, and athletic and musical contests. At the festival of Dionysus, known as the City Dionysia, tragedies and comedies were presented as part of the festival. As another practical side of Greek religion, Greeks wanted to know the will of the gods. There were seers who obtained omens from dreams, the flight of birds, or the entrails of sacrificial animals. But perhaps the most famous method to divine the will of the gods was the use of the oracle, a sacred shrine dedicated to a god or goddess who revealed the future. The most famous was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, located on the side of Mount Parnassus, overlooking the Gulf of Corinth.

At Delphi, a priestess listened to questions while in a state of ecstasy that was believed to be induced by Apollo. Her responses were interpreted by the priests and given in verse form to the person asking questions. Representatives of states and individuals traveled to Delphi to consult the oracle of Apollo. States might inquire whether they should undertake a military expedition; individuals might raise such questions as, Mr. X asks the god whether he will have offspring from the wife he has now. Responses were often enigmatic and at times even politically motivated. Oracles tended to favor one side against another in the great struggles that wracked Greece.