Greek Religion and Mythology

1. Religion

2. The gods

3. The heroes

1. Religion• The Greeks created a religion in which

the gods behaved similarly to humans, with all of their faults and qualities

• But, unlike humans, the gods never grewold. They were immortal

• There were many gods, but the 12 main and most powerful gods were called the Olympians

• Why?

• Because they lived on Mount Olympus

• From time to time, the 12 who made up the Olympians would change

In the beginning…• In the beginning, there was nothing in the

universe• This was called “Chaos”• The mother force, “Gaia,” brought

everything together

• Gaia had a son, Uranus, who thenbecame the father of her children

• Gaia gave birth to several sons, includingthe Titans (giants) Oceanus, Tethys, and Cronus

• According to Hesiod, Uranus wasreplaced by his son, Cronus, beforeCronus was then replaced by his own son Zeus

• One way or another, Zeus and his twobrothers Poseidon and Hades decidedthat Zeus would rule as king of the gods

2. The gods• Accords to the Greeks, each god

influenced at least one aspect of theirlives

• For example, Poseidon was god of the seas, therefore it was important to ensure that Poseidon was happy beforesetting out on a voyage by ship

• The places where the gods wereworshipped were considered sacred sites

• They were called sanctuaries, and theywere everywhere (in each house, in eachcity, in the countryside)

• One could only address the gods afterhaving made an offering

• The offerings (food, animals) were burntupon an altar

• Each city interpreted and practiced theirreligion differently

• For example, the list of 12 Olympianscould be different from one city to the next, and some gods only existed to certain cities

• But in general, a belief in the gods wasone of the main features of Ancient Greek culture

• For the most part, all cities celebrated the same major festivals

• Another common feature was the beliefin oracles

• An oracle was a medium who couldinterpret the will of the gods

• The most famous was the oracle at Delphi

Let’s meet the gods!