Just as the goddess Venus was the Morning/Evening Star, might not the fact that we call them stars suggest deification. In general, though, the Greeks left the Jews alone; adopting Cyrus’s policy, they allowed the Jews to run their own country, declared that the law of Judah was the Torah, and attempted to preserve Jewish religion. If you were born in Israel, and you moved to Tyre, or Babylon, or Egypt, you were always an Israelite. They were, instead, amalgams of religious influences … While the Bible and Koran might refer to old or even ancient religions—certainly Judaism is ancient by any count—they are religions of a different sort. Not only did each city have its protector deity, but its ancestral hero(es). Athena's temple on the Acropolis was called the Parthenon, which means "maiden" because the temple was the place to honor the virgin goddess aspect, Athena. The names of performances in the Middle Ages tell it all: miracle, mystery, and morality plays. This Greek version made the Hebrew scriptures available to the Mediterranean world and to early Christians who were otherwise fain to regard Christianity as a religion unrelated to Judaism. Once more, Judah would be conquered first by one, and then by the other, as it shifted from being a Seleucid vassal state to a Ptolemaic vassal state. The sons of Shem, brother to Yaphet, are the Semitic (named after Shem) nations, including the Hebrews. Praying to the virgin goddess for help with childlessness would probably not make as much sense or be as propitious as praying to the maternal aspect. The religion of Ancient Greece was classified as polytheistic, which means that they believed in multiple deities. Gods became patrons of cities, for example, Aphrodite for Corinth and Helios for Rhodes, and were called upon for help in particular situations, for example, Ares during war and Hera for weddings. Ancient Greek religious practice, essentially conservative in nature, was based on time-honored observances, many rooted in the Bronze Age (3000–1050 B.C. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, © 1998 - 2020 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. In many foreign cities throughout the Hellenistic world, the Jews formed unified and solid communities; Jewish women enjoyed more rights and autonomy in these communities rather than at home. People did not take breaks each day or once a week to pray to the gods. ), or even earlier. The Greek and Italian peoples, like the Aryans who lived farther east, were descended from Noah’s son Japheth. Some cities built more than one temple to honor the … The Greek religion influenced heavily the religious beliefs of … These heroes were the half-mortal offspring of one of the gods, usually Zeus. How odd and unmeasurably strange it must have been, then, when after an infinite multitude of generations and millennia of separation, the descendants of Yavan moved among the descendants of Shem! They believed that natural phenomena like the sun, the air, and the sea had been created by superior beings dwelling in Mount Olympus, who they called gods. … They came unexpectedly. In a compact phrase, the answer to the basic question is Greek religion was (literally) "the tie that binds." For instance, the the Hebrew scriptures available to the Mediterranean world and to early Christians who were otherwise fain to regard Christianity as a religion unrelated to Judaism. It was polytheistic as they worshiped many gods. Religion was not a separate sphere. However, Greek … During the Exile, the Exiles began to purify their religion and practices and turned to the Mosaic books as their model. One might pray to a virgin goddess for the safety of one's children when one's city was under siege or, more likely, to help in a boar hunt since the virginal goddess Artemis was associated with the hunt. On the other hand, there are words they can’t translate into Greek, such as “brit,” which they translate “diatheke,” or “promise” rather than “covenant.”. The most important event of the Hellenistic period, though, is the translation of the Torah into Greek in Ptolemaic Egypt. Your legal status in the country you’re living in would be “foreigner” or “sojourner.” The Greeks, however, would allow foreigners to become citizens in the polis; it became possible all throughout the Middle East for Hebrews and others to become citizens of states other than Judah. To be in favor of the gods, they had to make sacrifices.The Greeks believed in life after death with Hades in the underworld. Temples: The ancient Greeks worshiped their gods every day, and they believed in a great many gods! A detailed introduction to ancient Greek religion. 2. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Their sons and grandsons all knew one another, spoke the same language, ate the same mails, worshipped the same god. For most of the world belonged to Persia; in a blink of an eye, it now fell to the Greeks. The Greeks used the many different gods to explain problems in life. An unanticipated problem was encountered, check back soon and try … One general, Antigonus and then later Ptolemy, inherited Egypt; another, Seleucus, inherited the Middle East and Mesopotamia. From this Greek translation, the Hebrew view of God, of history, of law, and of the human condition, in all its magnificence would spread around the world. In the Table of Nations in Genesis 10.1-32, which lists the descendants of Noah and the nations they founded, the Greeks appear under the name “Yavan,” who is a son of Yaphet. There are cautionary tales of gods offended that their cults were neglected. To understand this, take a look at something similar in modern life: When we sing the national anthem of a country before a sporting event, we honor the national spirit. The most important religious act in ancient Greece was animal sacrifice, most commonly of sheep and goats. Contradictions Were Not Considered a Problem, Greek Meaning Behind Kalo Mena or Kalimena, Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty, Greek Temples - Residences for the Ancient Greek Gods, The Story of Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory, 10 Fast Facts on Athena and Her Parthenon, M.A., Linguistics, University of Minnesota. Some gods were imported from abroad, for example, Adonis, and incorporated into the Greek pantheon whilst rivers and springs could take on a very localised personified form such as the nymphs. 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