Religion's Influence on Ancient Greek - Research Paper Example

? Religion’ Influence on Ancient Greek Religion in the ancient Greek was predominantly early paganism, therefore, imitated significant fundamental perceptions as well as ideas of paganism including Druidism, Wicca, and both contemporary and ancient witchcraft. It consisted praying to many gods as the Greeks had faith that their gods would provide them with protection and steer their state-city. Marveling activities were the greatest significant factors of the Greek religion as much emphasis was laid on pleasing their gods so that they could enjoy their lives devoid of oppression and difficulties. Several rituals were conducted as well as rites, sacrifices, and ceremonies were held all in the name of impressing and pleasing the gods. Erection of temples and statues at selected places, were chosen as their holy grounds where they could provide sacrifices to their gods. This paper, examines the role played by the religion in swaying and influencing the ancient laws, arts, as well as the daily life practices by the ancient Greek people. It examines the significance of religion in this ancient Greek society1. In the Greek society, religion was a significant feature in the cultural practices with the sacrifices and frequent praying to the gods serving as a unifying function of people, with n aim to impressing the gods. They believed in life after death therefore, had faith that after a lifetime, a complete fresh and different life lay ahead of them. Even though the ancient Greek religious practices are practically extinct in their original model, it exists in their culture, religion of the current western practices, as well as their thoughts. In the ancient world, there was not a distinct difference between religion and philosophy entities. Plato 429 - 347 BC "Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods?" 2 "What I say is that 'just' or 'right' means nothing but what is in the interest of the stronger party." 3 The convictions of an average Greek could have been swayed both by the customary faiths and beliefs about their gods as well as the derived thoughts from the philosophers’ teachings. Currently, the teachings by the foremost philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, are often classified as religious presently, which provides the meaning of life, feature of the universe, life after death, and God or gods. Religion provided the structure and regularity for all the features of society and life. Whereas calendars were personal to every city, it was common practice to utilize imitative from the gods’ names to give a name to months. Greek’s religion center of attention was on the consecrated activities as well as customs rather than virtuous convictions and silent praying. The practice of insertion of an individual’s hand on the bible and swearing to it in such places as the courts was an inspiration born in the ancient Greek. In the ancient Greek, all those caught up in a court process, first had to make an appeal to the gods as potential benefactors or punishers, a responsibility then conditional on effectively recognizing the falsehood or truth by the individual who pledged to the oath. Anacharsis - 6th Century BC "Written laws are like a spider's webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful." Connecting with the gods was therefore done in numerous human legal concerns which could vary from basic domestic misunderstandings to interstate agreements. Most prominent portions of Greek literature, The Odyssey and The Iliad included stories about humans’ relations with gods. A number of carvings were created for the purpose of reverence to the gods. Such include the statue of Athena found in Parthenon. Other pieces of hunting pictures, battling views, the portraits of the gods and heroes as well, were commonly represented on the pieces of ceramics. Aristotle 384 - 322 BC; We make war that we may live in peace, Every art and every investigation, and likewise every practical pursuit or undertaking seems to aim at some good: hence it has been well said that the Good is that at which all things aim. So poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history.4 Religion affected the daily lives of the ancient Greeks in various ways. For instance, it defined the women’s role and the religion influenced the manner in which the verdicts were made and the populace who made the verdicts were made. In the Greek daily life, the men were considered to be superior to the women hence the women were not allowed to make key decisions and also had no say in politics. For instance, the women had no voting rights despite the quote made by Plato that; one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.5 They were considered non-citizens and could be married forcefully. Religion provided women in ancient Greek purposes; the mourning duty was their role. Religion also gave women the role of preserving the next life souls by overseeing the purification rituals. This was the only power that religion gave to the women. The oracles teachings were also a way through which religion influenced the Greeks daily lives. The people who had a dilemma during decision-making request help and advice from the gods. At this period finding small shrines in the homes of the Greek people were not something unusual since the Greek usually made minor prayers in these home shrines. In cases where the oracle consultation was done, a word for fear of the Greek gods would follow. This gave the priests with the inclusion of the oracle the chance of considerably swaying with the society. Religion also made the Greeks believe that wisdom was more valuable than wealth. This was even backed up by Sophocles’ quote, which mentioned that; Wisdom outweighs any wealth.6 Religion therefore, dictated the live hood of the Greeks. Moreover, religion also influenced the arts of the Ancient Greek people. For instance, the domination of religion on the arts made the ancient Greek have the most beautiful and biggest temples in the globe. Moreover, the other arts like sculpturing and pottery were also influenced by the ancient Greek religion. For instance, these arts would have images of the ancient Greek gods. The arts were also performed to praise the name of the ancient Greek gods. The arts like religious poetry were made in a form that they depicted the love that the Greek people had for their gods. For instance, Plato made a quote that; at the touch of love everyone becomes a poet7. Plato made this quote because he was trying to relate love with poetry. He, therefore, was trying to tell the Greek people that through having love for their gods the poetry art would arise. The ancient Greek people also made painting for their god because they believed that this painting were like poems, which sent a message and praises to their gods. For instance, Plutarch made a quote that; Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.8 Plutarch made this quote show that via paintings, the ancient Greeks could be connected to their gods. Moreover, some Greek arts were believed that could only be efficient after the gods blessed them. Conclusion In conclusion, it is notable that religion was a key issue in the ancient Greek society. It, therefore, means that the ancient Greeks were a population that was religious. Religion, therefore affected almost every deed and action in ancient Greece. References Batchelor, Stephen. 2008. The Ancient Greeks for Dummies. Chichester: Wiley & Sons. Christide?s, Anastasios-Phoibos. 2007. A history of ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. Coogan, Michael David. 2003. The illustrated guide to world religions. New York: Oxford University Press. Moore, Albert C. 1977. Iconography of religions: an introduction. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. Price, Simon. 2002. Religions of the ancient Greeks. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. Read More