Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Religion in ancient greek daily life essay
Ancient greek values
The role of religion in the lives of ancient Greeks
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Religion in ancient greek daily life essay
1. In Hesiod’s Works and Days, he begins by stating “But you, Perses, listen to right and do not foster violence; for violence is bad for a poor man” (Hesiod 1). Hesiod believes that violence is for people of low ethical and economic standing, and that if a man is violent then he will be punished by Zeus. This is where the pessimistic side of Greek religion comes into play: Hesiod warns that Zeus will know if a man is acting in disreputable ways, and will punish not only him but also the place in which he lives by causing famine, plague, and the general perishing of everyone. Hesiod believes that a man should act to uphold justice rather than walk the path of ferocity. Whereas a violent man will bring ruin to his city, a just man will bring prosperity and “all-seeing Zeus never decrees cruel war against them” (Hesiod 2). The land will bear plenty of food, people will be healthy, and civilization will bourgeon. The importance of these two elements in Hesiod’s writing is that he is trying to encourage people to simply act courteous and kind to others. This ideal and these warnings play into how Hesiod believes the basileises should act and how men should treat the people around them. 2. …show more content…
The role of the basileis, according to Hesiod, is to be the shining example of justice and to uphold it in their lands. If they stray from the path, then they will bring down the wrath of Zeus on their subjects. The basileis should not “oppress their fellows with crooked judgments, and wreck not the anger of the gods.” (Hesiod 4). The prince, as Hesiod calls them, should act as a just ruler to ensure that everyone is treated equally and fairly so as to not bring down the wrath of the gods. Akin to the common man, the basileis needs to be a reputable person. This plays back into the pessimistic side of their religion, but also shows that in Greek society it was important for even the powerful to be dependable
In conclusion, the Greeks had many fear, but they had more fear for the gods. The Greeks feared the sea for it ability of taking life. And life turns out to be one of the greatest possessions for the Greeks. Ancient Greeks feared the Gods because they also had the ability to take life away. The gods were frightening powerful immortals that were inconsiderate toward the puny little Greeks. For example, Poseidon a reckless god, he ravaged Odysseus and caused him to wander off at sea. He took no pity on him; he just wanted to torture him for not sacrificing in his name. Calypso as beautiful and charming as she was, her obsession caused her to be a meddlesome goddess. Athena as clever she was in helping Odysseus to find his way home, she was also a meddlesome God.
Prometheus Bound is quite different from other tragedies in that it is peopled entirely by gods. The play focuses on the story of Prometheus, and we have versions of this myth in Hesiod's famous works. There is reason to think that the author of Prometheus Bound was not only acquainted with Hesiod's version but actually drew on Hesiod directly in this play. This essay therefore aims to establish in what ways the author of Prometheus Bound seems to have drawn from Hesiod's version of myth, in what ways he has diverged from it, and what reasons he might have had for making these changes and innovations. This might therefore highlight any particular emphasis or purpose of Prometheus Bound and what its author might have been trying to get across. Though there is not space in this essay to discuss the problems of attributing this play, it must be recognised that this ambiguity of authorship and dating makes it even more difficult than usual to look at views and purposes behind the play.
...the god based upon conflicting traits of fear, deceit, and lust. Zeus' main characteristic is power in both Greek and Roman mythology. However, when Ovid's Metamorphoses is compared to Hesiod's Theogony, Juno's power is limited. Ovid's lack of respect and belief about Jupiter is apparent in his writings, which portray Jupiter as fearful, cunning, deceitful, and lustful. In opposition, Hesiod views Zeus as fearless, intelligent, and certainly not lustful. Zeus' characteristics in the Theogony are reflected from Hesiod's belief about the god to be much more than a worthless myth to the Greeks. Instead of mocking and disrespecting the all-powerful god of Greek and Roman mythology, Hesiod respects Zeus as the most powerful god.
Justice is generally thought to be part of one system; equally affecting all involved. We define justice as being fair or reasonable. The complications fall into the mix when an act of heroism occurs or morals are written or when fear becomes to great a force. These complications lead to the division of justice onto levels. In Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Plato’s Republic and Apology, both Plato and Aeschylus examine the views of justice and the morality of the justice system on two levels: in the city-state and the individual. However, Plato examines the justice system from the perfect society and Aeschylus starts at the curse on the House of Atreus and the blood spilled within the family of Agamemnon.
Euripides’ plays Hippolytus, The Bacchae and Iphigenia at Aulis all revolve around the journey of key characters that fail to show respect to various deities within the Greek Pantheon. This disrespect, in all three plays, is met out with retaliation from the gods themselves, thus effecting those that disrespected them as well as their families. To convey these tales Euripides implements many themes, one such theme being divine retaliation. Euripides’ use of the theme of divine retaliation provides a stark illustration of the Greek Pantheon striving to prove their superiority relentlessly and gives insight into their merciless use of mortals as pawns to achieve this.
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Spock said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” Applying this logic to the social contract between the basileus and the demos, the demos’ needs outweighed the basileus’ needs, because the demos were the many whilst the basileus was only one person. The social contract that existed between the basileus and the demos of the Dark Age consisted of expectations. The basileus was expected to provide for the demos’ needs of protection, generosity, and fair judgment. Thus, if the basileus were unable to provide the demos with their needs, the contract became void and made the basileus’ leadership position vulnerable to dissolution. Therefore, in the social contract, the demos were satisfied because they maintained their ability to rebel if their expectations of protection, generosity, and fair judgment were not met by the basileus.
One of the most well-known pieces of Greek tragedy is Euripides’s The Bacchae, a tale which chronicles the life and ultimate revenge that the Greek god Dionysus would take out upon his mortal family. Through this tale Dionysus can be viewed in multiple lights. He varied his appearance from that of a great leader, to that of a master of the great art of manipulation. With that said, no image was grander than how he showed that the great Greek gods are not known for being forgiving creatures. Dionysus proved this by being utterly brutal and relentless. With these actions, he showed that the gods should, in most cases, be well and truly feared for their potential retaliation and retribution.
...y saying that, “isn’t to produce justice to establish the parts of the soul in a relation of mastering, and being mastered by, one another that is according to nature, while to produce injustice is to establish a relation of ruling, and being ruled by, one another that is contrary to nature?” (444d). Isn’t it better to lead a just life if doing so prevents internal chaos and maintains order in the soul? It seems that answer is yes, but the question rests on a fallacy. The connection between injustice in a city as chaos among the classes, and injustice in a man as chaos in the soul has never been sufficiently shown. Socrates has failed his demonstration.
Hesiod tells the story of how the curse of Pandora came to be in his writing. In his two works Hesiod, Works and Days and Hesiod, Theogony that contain the story of Pandora are both writing in a slightly different perspective. However, at the end both have the same meaning to them. That Zeus created women as a punishment for men. In developing this meaning in both poems Hesiod uses a few different things in each story as oppose to telling the same story for both. Hesiod, Works and Days and Hesiod Theogony have the same meaning and most of the same plot but different in some aspects.
The role of women in Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days is outstandingly subordinate. There are a number of times in Hesiod's text that despises women, being mortal, immortal, or flesh-eating monsters. The overall impression of women from Theogony and Works and Days, leads one to believe that Hesiod is a misogynist.
At one point, when in conversation with his aquatances, Zeus, the king of the gods, groans how mortals seem aware of this instability in regards to their gods and goddesses when he says, “Ah how shameless—the way these mortals blame the gods. / From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, / but they themselves with their own reckless ways, / compound their pains beyond their proper share” (Homer I.37-40). What he is suggesting is that the gods are not acting in aggressive (or for that matter benevolent) ways out of random desire—they are either provoked or evoked and react accordingly. Nonetheless, this means that for a character like Odysseus who invokes strong feeling among the gods, he is subject to the utmost goodness and at the same time, the most powerful
Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ The Bacchae are indubitably plays of antitheses and conflicts, and this condition is personified in the manifestation of their characters, each completely opposed to the other. Both tragedians reveal tensions between two permanent and irreconcilable moral codes; divine law represented by Antigone and Dionysus and human law represented by Creon and Pentheus. The central purpose is evidently the association of law which has its consent in political authority and the law which has its consent in the private conscience, the association of obligations imposed on human beings as citizens and members of state, and the obligations imposed on them in the home as members of families. Both these laws presenting themselves in their most crucial form are in direct collision. Sophocles and Euripides include a great deal of controversial material, once the reader realizes the inquiries behind their work. Inquiries that pertain to the very fabric of life, that still make up the garments of society today.
Hera despises the Trojans, and in order to bring suffering and pain upon the Trojans she offers Zeus the destruction of her most beloved cities. Hera states, “the three cities that I love best of all are Argos and Sparta, Mycenae with streets as broad as Troy’s. Raze them, whenever they stir the hatred in your heart” (4.60-62). This goddess offers the destruction of these cities along with their people in order to obtain Zeus’ permission to bring misery to the city of Troy, saying that “I will never rise in their defense” (4.63). Such an action demonstrates the cruelty of the gods, not caring about the harm they are bringing to the mortals as long as they are satisfying their desires. Hera’s hatred for the Trojans leads her to bring more suffering not only to the Trojans, but also to her beloved Greeks forcing the Trojans to break their oath results in the continuation of the Trojan War. Therefore, the interference of the gods is an important aspect of The Iliad, demonstrating to the reader the personality of the gods as well as showing that the meddling of the gods conducts the course of the Trojan
By the ethical standards proposed in the modern day society (Hume and Schopenhaeur believe that it is a fundamental mistake to conceive ethics and morality as forms of law) through human rights groups and even, idealistically, human nature, the treatment of mortals by the immortal gods and goddesses in the Iliad is unethical and wrong despite the “helping” of Achilles by Athene or Hector by Apollo. The gods are perpetrators in the waging of war against their male/female counterpart deities- their mortal counterparts merely fighting for them by proxy. The behaviour of the gods cannot be condoned as ethical even in context of the Homeric ages- their behaviour is depicted by Homer as amoral and uncaring. Plato developed religion in the true sense of the word, as a consequence of behaviour not in accordance with the human soul. As mentioned, the gods do not perform a perfunctory role of “gods” with religious hindsight. However, religion is “morality touched by emotion” (Matthew Arnold) and with no standards set for behaviour by the immortal beings the characters within the Iliad, mortal or immortal cannot be expected to indulge in ethical behaviour.
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of Thebes with a dreadful plague. Fundamentally, by utilizing fate, prophecies, the oracle of Apollo, and the plague, the gods played a significant role in the destruction of Oedipus and his family.