This article will provide a history of the ancient Greek religion. This includes the Mycenaean faith, the Orphic religion, and animal sacrifices. The book review is also discussed. It is well worth learning about the ancient Greek religion. It is a fascinating story that will help you understand how the gods came to be and what their role in human history is.
Book review
This Book review of ancient Greek religion looks at the differences between Greek religion and the modern Western concept of religion. Its principal characteristic is that the ancient Greeks failed to recognize distinct religions of particular peoples. Because of this, they saw other gods as just variations of their own. The Egyptian Ptah was compared to the Greek Hephaestus and the Phoenician Melqart to the Greek Heracles. This phenomenon was common in many multitheistic cultures, including those of West Asia and the ancient Mediterranean. This is why antiquity was so sparsely populated by religious warfare.
Mycenaean religion
The Mycenaean religion was a mysterious part of ancient Greek society. The Mycenaean religious element is hard to find from archaeological sites. Because there are so many variables involved, this is why it is difficult to determine the religious aspect of the Mycenaean culture from the archaeological sites.
Orphic Cults
Many references to Orphic religions are found in ancient Greek religion. These cults were connected to the Hades myth about Kore, the girl of Demeter being abducted by Hades. Hades released Kore under the condition that Kore return to his underworld each year. Dionysus, or Zagreus, was the son of Zeus by his wife, Persephone. According to ancient Greek religion, the human race was bound by the original sin. They had to repent before they could be saved. As such, the Orphic cults involved abstinence from meat and woolen clothing.
Sacrifices to animals
Animal sacrifices in ancient Greek religion were highly symbolic religious practices, which often included the burning of animal flesh. It was done by offering sacrifices to a god. To intensify their heat, the animals would often be roasted. Participants then ate their meat.
Images from temple cult
The Greeks worshipped a goddess or god and created images to represent them. These images are known as cult images. Although the earliest images were made from wood, later versions were made from stone or cast bronze. The most beautiful images were created from crystelephantine which is a combination of ivory, gold and other materials. A good example is the Zeus statue made of chryselephantine.
Mycenaeansanctuaries
Mycenaean sanctuary ruins in Greece date back to the 2nd millennium BC. They were an integral part ancient Greek religion. The Greeks highly valued hero worship and sanctuaries played an important role in their lives. These sanctuaries were built near the temples Apollo and Artemis. They were often associated with tree-cults.
Magna Graecia - Orphic cults
Orphics used ritual purification to cleanse their bodies. They believed unclean souls would go to the underworld where they would suffer and be punished. This belief gave rise the expression "he lies under filth." The ritual purification was not the only thing that the Orphics believed. They also believed in the afterlife and that the soul would meet its creator in another dimension.
Magna Graecia: Totemism
Magna Graecia's ancient people practiced totemism. This was a type of superstition in which an individual's totem governed his or her life. Totemism was closely associated with the lives and work of chiefs, medicine men, shamans, and other leaders.
Etthidographic tradition
Both ethnography and anthropology have interrelated fields that share different origins. Ethnography is the study or investigation of peoples, places and cultures. It is often used for understanding human behavior. While the modern field of Anthropology was born in the nineteenth-century, its roots can still be found in Herodotus who is considered the father and founder of history. He traveled to faraway lands and wrote about the customs and traditions of the people. Later, European explorers and Persian traders followed suit with their observations of the peoples and places they encountered.
Mycena
Some similarities exist between the religion of Mycenaean civilization and classical Greek religion. It required sacrifices and offerings to gods. Some scholars speculate that it may have included human sacrifice. Homeric poetry refers to King Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia being sacrificed by him. Other Trojan stories include human sacrifice.