Ancient Greece started flourishing in the third millennium and thrived towards the midst of the first century B.C. In the cultural sense, the phrase ‘ancient Greece’ refers to the way of life of the ancient Greek people as depicted in their mode of worship, language, governance, entertainment and their understanding of the physical world around them in relation to the other non-Greek people. In ancient Greece, religion was strongly grounded on polytheism. Education featured as a very significant cultural phenomenon and the social structure of the society was based on citizenship or slavery.
In ancient Greek society, religion was fundamental to all other aspects of life. This religion echoed several concepts and ideas of the prior forms of Paganism which included Druidism, Wicca and Witchcraft (Michelson, 32). As such, Greek religion was polytheistic in nature. The Greeks believed in the existence of many gods. They further believed that these gods existed everywhere in their surroundings, watching each of their activities such as planting, harvesting and waging warfare. They consulted their gods and goddesses for guidance before they tackled any activity no matter how simple it seemed to be. They thought that showing respect to their gods would enable them to gain their support and therefore become fortunate in life.
Consequently, the key aspect of the Greek religion was divinity (Burkett, 17). Greeks believed that they had to please their gods so as to escape hardships and oppression. Therefore, they took part in several ceremonial practices and sacrifices which they thought would appease their gods. They built memorial places and temples where they presented their sacrifices to their gods. They worshipped their gods regularly and offered sacrifices more often as a sign of their unification in their common goal of appeasing their gods. In addition, they developed deep faith on the idea of life after death. This notion about death contrasted the ideology of other Pagan religions which upheld the belief of reincarnation.
In Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion (2nd ed.), it is stated that “the Greeks completely based their religious beliefs on myths” (Bernard, 46). These myths informed them about the origins, relationships and interactions of their deities. Most of these myths exemplified the heroic deeds of these gods and goddesses. Others exemplified life after death as an underworld where souls that belonged to the dead people subsisted. The ancient Greeks believed that a person’s body was supposed to be buried together with the wealth that he had acquired throughout his lifetime so that it could sustain him in the next life. Therefore, they buried their people with goods such as food, jewels and clothes. On some occasions, the wives and the slaves of the dead person were killed and buried alongside him. The bodies of the dead people were mummified and preserved so as to prevent them from being ruined in the next life.
Other myths also portrayed the notion that the numerous Greek gods and goddesses had dissimilar roles in the activities of human beings. For instance, ‘Demeter’ was believed to be the goddess of grain while ‘Ares’ was believed to be the god of war among many others (Michelson, 40). The ancient Greek religion was mainly based on belief and each belief had a god linked to it. Therefore, there existed gods of war, farming, love, sea and many more. People in ancient Greece believed that their gods had mental and physical similarity to human beings and therefore possessed emotions. This is the reason why Greek mythology is full of stories that depict greed, revenge, jealousy and battles involving different gods.
From a different outlook, the affiliation between the antique Greeks and their gods could be said to be somewhat intricate (Burkett, 26). This is because this affiliation was to some extent general, geographical or personal. In geographical affiliation, a certain god gave preference to one city or state over the others. In personal affiliation, individuals interacted straight with their gods. The antique Greeks held the notion that their gods decided their destiny and any effort to outwit the gods only turned out to be futile. Therefore, they sought to appease their gods through offering gifts and sacrifices in order to gain their favor (Bernard, 52).
Even though the Greeks relied so much on their gods to uplift their society, they also depended on other deities. For instance, they had very strong faith in deities which they referred to as the Oracles. The principal role of the Oracles was to offer advice and guidance in matters of politics and religion. In addition, Oracles guided most of their decisions in matters related to health, war, migration and punishment among others (Litchfield, 22).
In conclusion, religion was much more incorporated into the culture of the people of ancient Greece as compared to present-day Greece. People from the same culture upheld a similar religion which was well defined with their gods and deities. The practice of converting people to a different religion never existed. Religion in ancient Greece started evolving when Greeks began intermingling with people from other cultures through warfare. This evolution was influenced heavily by other religions such as Christianity and Islam and the belief systems of the early Romans. This is highly exemplified even in contemporary Greek society.
Works Cited
Bernard, Cook. Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion. 2nd Ed. New York: Bibilo and Tannen, 1964.
Burkett, Walter. Greek Religion. 1st Ed. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Litchfield, Martin. The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic elements in Greek poetry and myth. 6th Ed. New York: Clarendon Press, 1997.
Michelson, Jon. Athenian Popular Religion. 2nd Ed. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983.