Alysandra Bui Hist 010 Professor Chrissanthos TA: David Shanta July 18, 2018 The Lives Gods of Ancient Greece Starting from the Middle Ages to the Archaic Period of Ancient Greece, various aspects of Greek life had changed with the addition of a writing system and the development of the Greek polis as the political backbone of civilization. However, one thing that seemed to be constant and unaltered was the religious attachment they had towards the divine beings who lived on Mount Olympus, whose existence predated the Bronze Age. Through examination and observation of artifacts and fictional works, knowledge accumulated, revealing the function of civilization from its beginning to its end. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The ancient Greek religion of mythological polytheism concerning the nature of society, such as natural events, human thought and interaction, and warfare, pervasively influenced the typical daily lives of Greeks; their beliefs organized and gave authority to ideas, actions, and even material objects in Greek culture and society. The actions of these gods were evident in all parts of Greek life, but the best-known demonstration of this can be found in the literature of the time period. Homer's Odyssey shows this, where Odysseus and his men are hindered by the natural difficulties that arise from the sea voyages of Poseidon, the god of the seas and earthquakes. Through several cunning tricks of Odysseus to escape a horrible fate on the land of the one-eyed cyclops, he hurt and angered one of them, who was the son of Poseidon named Polyphemus. Because of Odysseus' actions, Polyphemus prayed to his father and said, “'Hear me, great Neptune; if I am indeed your true son, grant that Ulysses may never reach his home alive'... So he prayed, and Neptune heard his prayer. Then he picked up a rock much larger than the first, raised it high and hurled it with prodigious force... The sea trembled as the rock fell into it, and the wave it raised pushed us forward towards the sea. shore of the island". A simple prayer from a son for some kind of ill omen upon Odysseus and his crew's journey home automatically got an answer from Poseidon to ravage the waters of the sea. In fact, there is no substantial evidence that Homer's epic is true, but many Greeks regard the works of several writers during that period not only as adventure stories, but also as a lesson not to mess with the gods. This instilled the idea of ​​"getting what's coming to you" based on the actions of humans as well as the will and power wielded by the gods. Another significant example involved the Thesmophoria, which was a ceremonial festival to honor the goddess Demeter in hopes of having fertile crops during the harvest season. The practice of mixing parts of a sacrificial pig together with corn seeds is interpreted as being linked to the blessing of the goddess of agriculture for the corn harvest to be plentiful and sweet. Although such a ritual may seem completely absurd in light of today's knowledge of agricultural practices, the Greeks truly believed that the annual festival would produce what they desired if performed correctly. Separate corn seeds and pork are practically useless in Ancient Greek society on their own. However, once combined, they collectively had some type of authority over the Greeks which resulted in several gatherings throughout the civilization without interruption each year for the Thesmophoria. Furthermore, a noteworthy point regarding the ritual during the festival is the fact that it is always performed in the presence of only adult women, tomen are not even allowed to speculate or listen to it. This may be due to the fact that the festival was dedicated to a goddess and even to Demeter's daughter, Persephone. The most credible reason is also the fact that women were often represented as the gender involved in the topic of fertility as a whole. Some adult women had the sole task of being a priestess in which she performed rituals and communicated with the gods on Mount Olympus, like an ancient version of the modern witch. This indicated a set of principles in which both the gods and the Greeks adhered to their rituals. Things like going hunting, to war, or to the sea seemed to be linked to men and male gods like Zeus and Ares. On the other hand, things regarding motherhood, family and agriculture were related to women and female goddesses. While not absolute, as the exception being the god of death was a male named Hades, this not only shaped how they worshiped them but also set a precedent for social rules that can be seen even in modern times of today. Furthermore, these observations connect the idea that the Greeks' thoughts and interactions with each other were somehow guided by their gods' authority to intrude into their domains. The Greeks honored the gods, not only out of lack of understanding, but out of an inherent fear that divine beings were responsible for every single aspect of their miserable mortal lives. Even though the gods did more harm than good to the ancient Greeks, the power of the gods surpassed all the suffering they went through, proving that “the myths teach us [mortals] that we must struggle to appreciate and understand the advice the gods choose to give . give them to him." Although powerful and seemingly supreme in all matters, the Gods were also imperfect and dealt with many things that humans deal with. One human quality they possessed came from the fact that the Gods had partners who came from mortal world.This clearly stems from the power and nature of attraction, as their human lovers were usually very desirable unlike many. Although there are unlimited options on Olympus for polygamous partners, there have been several additional theories as to why why they mixed with humans was about supervising the mortal world, as their mixed children would not have different loyalties being born to a single devoted parent usually occurred when dealing with pureblood gods they sided with one parent at a time depending on the disagreement, or even other immortals, such as titans and nymphs who slipped when tasked with certain tasks under the orders of certain gods. . When it came to half-mortal, half-immortal children, they were better than the average human, creating an ideally good person from which the myths of the "fourth generation heroes of humanity" would sprout. As these heroes reproduced, the rest of the Greeks would from then on have some sort of belief that they were somehow descendants of the gods. Many of these sexual interactions between the gods and humans themselves have stirred up countless other emotions that can be shown through different stories. In the myth, Zeus speaks to Prometheus after stealing fire and giving it to humans saying "... outsmarting everything, [55] you are glad that you outsmarted me and stole fire: a great plague on you himself and to men who will be. But I will give men as the price of fire an evil thing in which they may all heartily rejoice as they embrace their own destruction. Later, readers will discover that Prometheus was eternally bound to a rock with an eagle that he ate his regrown liver every day..