Good Essay About Religious Makeup Of The Ancient Prehistoric Aegean And The Greeks

The Aegean Bronze Age saw the appearance, growth and collapse of the two complex societies, Minoan and Mycenaean. There are parallels and differences between Aegean and other societies. The complexity of religion at any state level is a result of the needs and beliefs of a large and diverse population. The simpler societies lack a complex structure for the religious practices. The different societies of the ancient Aegean evolved into many facets of religious behavior (Wright).
Ancient Prehistoric Aegean and the Greeks prayed to many gods and each of those gods carried a distinct domain. The different Greek myths explained the ancestries of these gods and how they were related to mankind. The ancient art of Greece illustrates several mythological episodes to identify each god. In the Greek pantheon, there were 12 major deities that were a mix of male and female. Youthful Apollo was one of the most important gods for the Greece and Hera, Zeus's sister was the queen of the gods. Zeus, the sky god was the foremost and the father of the gods. The ancient Greeks held the view that Mount Olympos was the home of the gods.
The religious practice of the Ancient Greeks was conservative in nature as they had no single scripture such as Muslim Quran and Christian Bible to guide them. The relations between deities and human beings was based on the concept of exchange. The gods and goddesses were expected to give gifts. The goddesses embodied perfect beauty. According to a certain deity and its characteristics, the Greeks worshipped in sanctuaries placed either in the countryside or within the city. Many temples were aided because of their natural surroundings, for example, the temple of Poseidon, god of the sea, had a spectacular view of the water on three sides (Greek Gods and Religious Practices).
Greeks began their history as multi-ethnic population that was made of the indigenous population and the newcomers that spoke the Greek language. The heterogeneity of Greek Genealogy suggests that they were a heterogeneous group. It was due to the large scale migrations at the end of the Bronze Age that transformed Greece into an irrational mosaic. However, later, by promoting the idea of the common past, the New Greek civilization established a continuity with the historic Greece and developed a sense of common identity. As for the Aegean prehistory, there is little textual evidence available (Finkelberg). Greeks were deeply religious and worshipped many gods who were endowed with superhuman strength and carried ageless beauty.
The priests serving a specific God were not essentially religious experts. People could also visit a temple anytime they wanted. Greek society did not have women playing a public role, but they could be priests, which comes as a surprise. Often the gender of the priest was the same sex as the god they represented. The added restriction for the priestesses was that they had to be virgins or had reached menopause (Cartwright).
The men enjoyed more equal rights as compared to women, and power was held by a few privileged men and there were greater restrictions on women, who traditionally fulfilled the duties of wives and mothers. A woman throughout her life could not engage in any business or hold a public place. Women faced legal and moral consequences if they failure to perform their responsibilities and roles. The polytheistic Greek religion incorporated innumerable gods, and each of those represented a certain human condition, and certain abstract ideas.

Works Cited

Cartwright, Mark. "Greek Religion." The Ancient History Encyclopedia (2013). Print.
Finkelberg ,M. “"Greeks and Pre-Greeks” Aegean Prehistory and Greek Heroic Tradition. Cambridge University Press ( 2007). Print
"Greek Gods and Religious Practices." Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History (2015). Print.
Wright, James C. "THE Archaeological Correlates Of Religion: Case Studies In The Aegean." Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History 1.1 (2005): 341-48. Print.