Ways of studying religion, greco roman

philosophical

rational thought about religious issues w/o assuming the existence of

GOD

Anthropological

how religion relates to the environment, culture of people, and

their ancestors

sociological

the religious life of modern, developed societies and the consequences

of religious behavior.

literary

Who is the author? When was the text written? Where was it written and to

what audience? What was the author’s purpose in writing?

Historiography

calls on archaeology, geography, demography, or culture to

reconstruct Historical background of the text.

With scholarly objectivity

We have to make a better effort to stand outside our

own bias, but this is easier said than done.

The appearance of lightening

Zeus was hurling lightning bolts

The smoke from a volcano

those were the forges of Hephaestus

The manifestations of the seasons

the vegetation goddess Persephone spent

several months each year in Hades

Greek poet Homer

8th-7th century BCE, the Iliad and the odyssey

• The earliest myths appear in the epic poetry of Homer, which dates back to the eighth

century BCE and is generally considered the beginning of the Archaic Period of ancient

Greece.

• The civilization itself lasted through the wars of Alexander the Great and into Greece’s

annexation by Rome

Roman Poet Virgil

The Aeneid, first century BCE

Virgil retold Homer’s Iliad from the perspective of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, who became

the ancestor of the founders of Rome.

• Virgil connected Roman culture to the Greek culture and “Romanized” the Olympic Games

Zeus

King of the gods, ruler of Olympus, god of thunder and lightning, promiscuous

husband to Hera, Roman Equivalent: Jupiter

Hera

Queen of the gods and jealous wife of Zeus, Roman Equivalent: Juno

Apollo

God of art, music, poetry, light, knowledge, and oracles, twin brother to Artemis,

Roman Equivalent: Thebes

Ares

God of war, Roman Equivalent: Mars

Artemis

Goddess of the hunt, the moon, archery, childbirth, virginity, forests, and hills,

twin sister to Apollo, Roman Equivalent: Diana

Athena

Goddess of wisdom, combat, victory, and the sciences, Parthenon in Athens was

built in her honor, Roman Equivalent: Minerva

Demeter

Goddess of the harvest, fertility, agriculture, and the seasons, represented the

cycle of life and death, Roman Equivalent: Ceres. After Hades kidnapped her daughter

Persephone, Demeter neglected the world’s crops to pursue her. The barren winter

months symbolized her absence from the world and the springtime her return. The

Greeks sacrificed to her the first loaf of bread from every harvest

Dionysus

God of nature, wine, festivals, vegetation, religious ecstasy, and theater,

Roman Equivalent: Bacchus

Hades

God of the dead, ruler of the underworld, Roman Equivalent: Pluto. Gloomy,

bearded man, often appearing with the three-headed dog Cerberus. Feared more than

any other, Hades was associated with death. Hades kidnapped Persephone and dragged

her into the underworld to become his queen

Hephaestus

God of fire, forges, volcanoes, blacksmiths, metalworking, and sculpture,

Roman Equivalent: Vulcan. Hephaestus was known as the most unattractive god in a

family of gorgeous divine beings. Hera, threw him from Mount Olympus. Hera regretted

her behavior and built him a workshop. In this workshop, Hephaestus created beautiful

things, including the girdle of Aphrodite, the armor of the hero Achilles, and the winged

sandals worn by Hermes. This god’s penchant for craftsmanship won him the favor of

Aphrodite, who married him.

Hermes

Messenger of the gods; god of travelers, athletes, merchants, and transitions,

Roman Equivalent: Mercury, Hermes was the emissary between gods and mortals, able

to move quickly between the two realms. He was thought to help guide souls into

Hades, as he was the only god other than Hades and Persephone who could enter and

depart the underworld. He presided over games of chance and was considered the god

of thieves

Hestia

Goddess of the home and hearth, architecture, and domesticity. Roman

Equivalent: Vesta. Every city had a “flame of Hestia” that burned continuously. Roman

Equivalent: Vesta. Because the hearth was the center of Greek family life, she was

worshipped in homes rather than temples

Poseidon

God of the sea, earthquakes, storms, and horses, Roman Equivalent: Neptune.

Like Zeus, Poseidon was promiscuous and fathered hundreds of children and monsters

The Rod of Asclepius (son of Apollo)

A staff, entwined by a single snake, representing the Greek god of medicine and healing.

• The Greeks thought the shedding of a snake’s skin to be a symbol of restoration, and

nonpoisonous snakes were kept at healing centers devoted to Asclepius.

• A similar yet unrelated image is the caduceus, a winged staff entangled by two snakes, a

symbol of commerce associated with Hermes.

• Due to confusion in the nineteenth century, the caduceus—rather than the rod of

Asclepius— was linked with modern medicine. Know the difference between the two

Amalthea and the Horn of Plenty

Amalthea nourished the infant Zeus with her milk.

• Zeus accidentally broke off one of her horns.

• From that point on, he blessed her broken horn to always provide food.

• In later Greek literature, her horn became the cornucopia, associated with Demeter and

the harvest.

Apollo’s Oracle of Delphi

Once given the name of the oracle, be able describe its function

• The Oracle of Delphi was a priestess named the Pythia who gave prophecies and

guidance to people from around the world for centuries.

• The Pythia would enter a basement chamber beneath the Temple of Apollo, sit on a

tripod chair, and inhale fumes from a fissure in the ground.

• The fumes were believed to put the Pythia into a trance-like state, allowing her to

communicate with the god Apollo and receive prophecies in the form of riddles.

• Apollo's priests would then interpret the prophecies for the petitioner.

Socrates

“All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous

are immortal and divine.”

Plato

“Of all the things which a man has, next to the gods his soul is the

most divine and most truly his own.”

Aristotle

“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with

composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but

because he is a man of high and heroic temper.”