Whereas the Greek had a balanced view of the values inherent in both the physical and the intellectual, the Romans were more practical, and valued war above intellectual abilities. As mentioned, Rome freely adopted parts of other cultures and religions, including Greece. The Romans hoped for a better afterlife than the Greeks did, which explains the appeal of Christianity to the nation.
While a good afterlife was a prospect for the common people, those in power had the option of becoming gods themselves, like the Egyptian pharaohs. The emperors were then worshiped as gods. As such, Rome had three types of religions that existed side by side: the state religion, with the emperor as god; the mystery religions with their promises of life after death, and many foreign religions, including those of the Greeks (Mullen). It was therefore by no means a simple system.
Roman and Greek Gods
According to Charlotte Kuchinsky, the gods and goddesses most commonly associated with Rome and Greece today were probably the closest to both the human form and personality of all the religions of the time. This includes the less desirable traits of humanity, such as dishonesty and bad parenting. They also were very much part of the human world, while those of most other religions were not. The Roman and Greek ideal of being kind to all strangers was inspired by the belief that any person may be a god or goddess in disguise. Being unkind would then be to offend the divine. Hence also the idea of the emperor as god. Some gods, taking human form, even had affairs with human beings, resulting in a race of half-human, half-god creatures, known as heroes.
When comparing the Greek and Roman gods, it becomes clear that, during the process of assimilation, the Romans used the Greek gods and goddesses as a template for creating their own. In many cases, they used the same god or goddess and simply gave the deity a Roman name. The most prominent of these is the Greek god of war,...
The Greek god which was considered to rule over all the other gods was Zeus. Along with several other gods, he lived on Mount Olympus. Greeks believed that each god was assigned to hold a certain position on one of the three existing places: heaven, earth, and sea. In contrast, Romans believed that their gods were everywhere, executing the tasks that they had to do. The Roman counterpart of Zeus
Aeneas was also supposed to take with him some cattle for sacrifice, but they were to be sacrificed to the underworld gods. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is supposed to seek out Teiresias, seer of the dead, who could instruct him on how to find his way home. He was supposed to sacrifice the sheep and make a drink offering to the dead, but was not to allow them to partake
Achilles himself is a warrior, and ultimately he decides himself to join the battle, regardless of his love for Briseis and regardless of the fact that he knows he will die. It is this in him that he cannot deny Patroclus. Achilles nonetheless does all that he can to ensure Patroclus' safety. He warns Patroclus not to pursue the Trojans, because he knows this will lead to death. Furthermore he
18). In fact, while it incorporated Greek mythology, ancient Rome had a very permissive attitude towards other forms of religion. Even when the state attempted to restrict various religious practices, the atmosphere still provided a very fertile ground for early cult worship. "The beliefs espoused by many of these cults- moral conduct on earth and eternal life after death- made the inroads of the cult of Christianity possible" (What life was
myth in some detail, and give your evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses. The word 'myth' comes from the Greek word 'mythos' that means, "spoken or written story." A myth is essentially a story with a purpose that is usually to explain why the world is the way it is, or the relationship between the gods and human beings. Though the events within myths may sometimes appear to be far-fetched
Mythology The classical myths of Greece and Rome have much in common with medieval myths, because ultimately, all myths have elements in common. The Greek and Roman myths dwell most often on heroes, Gods, and Goddesses. Their characters are larger than life - someone the reader can look up to. Medieval myths also heavily rely on heroes who commit heroic deeds, such as Charlemagne and King Arthur. One difference is many
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