Religion's Influence on Ancient Greek Research Paper

Religion's Influence on Ancient Greek - Research Paper Example 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 society. 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 powe rful." 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