How Did Religious Festivals Fulfill In Greek And Roman Life

What purposes did religious festivals fulfill in Greek and roman life?

In the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, a festival was a day or multitude of days’ fixed by the municipality for the veneration of a specific god or group of deity’s. In the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, festivals were primarily a form of communication between those of the mortal realm, and the gods and other beings outside of the human sphere. Similarly, competitions usually took place in the honor of the gods and other beings with a status higher than that of the average humans. Though they were also human activities with serious significance for most aspects of human life including; identity and memory, political life and society, economy and culture. Although every festival

Dionysia – was a large festival in the city of Athens to celebrate the god Dionysus. The prime events of this festival were the theatrical performances of dramas, and about 487 BC, comedies. It was the second most significant festival following the Panathenaia. The Dionysia consisted of two related festivals which were the Rural Dionysia and the City Dionysia.
4. Panathenaea- This was the single most important festival in Athens, and was meant to honor Athena. The night before the Panathenea festival or, “The Great Panathenaea”, there was a vigil, with lot of dancing by young men and women. On the following day, thought to be Athena’s birthday, there is a torch race. Of which the purpose was to bring the new fire from the grove of Academus, beyond the city walls, and to the altar of Athena in the Acropolis.
5. The Olympic Games were closely tied to the religious festivals of the cult of Zeus, but were not an integral part of any particular rite. They indeed had a secular character and aimed to show the physical abilities and the evolution of the performances accomplished by the youths of greece. They also encouraged good relations between the cities of Greece. Many specialists speculate that the Olympic Games owed their purity and importance to