Religion In Ancient Greece

In ancient Greece, the society was based on religion. There are many Greek gods and you may know many of them without even realizing it. Most of the planets in our solar system are named after Greek gods. For example, Uranus is named after one of two founding gods of the world and was revered by the ancient Greeks.

Religion in ancient Greece was based on belief. And, each even had a god associated with it. That is how there were gods of love, war, sea, farming and so on and so forth. The ancient Greeks believed that the gods were physically and intellectually similar to the mortals. The ancient Greek gods were presumed to have emotions and that is why Greek mythology is filled with tales of revenge, greed, jealousy and wars among gods.

Zeus was the King of Gods and the gods fought and planned for dominance either under Zeus or against him. The ancient Greeks believed that their gods resided on Mount Olympus and the gods came into power after defeating the Titans, who were gods before the Olympian gods.

The relationship between the ancient Greeks and their gods was rather complicated. The relationship was personal, geographical or general. In personal relationship with gods, a person interacted directly with the god. In geographical relationship, a god favored a city or state over another city or state. The ancient Greeks believed that the gods decided their fate so with was futile to have freewill or try and outwit the gods. This would explain the sacrifices and gifts the people of ancient Greece would offer to gods if they sought some form of assistance from them. For instance, a sea voyage was never undertaken before making offering to Poseidon, god of sea and ocean.

As ancient Greece started interacting with other cultures through wars, religion started evolving. Religion in ancient Greece was impacted by Islam, Christianity and early Roman belief system which is evident even today in Greece.

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