fandomhigh | Greco-Roman Archaeology

Greco-Roman Archaeology

Daniel smiled at the class. "Good morning," he said. "Following on from Roman religion, let's look at one of it's strongest influences... Greek religion.

The Ancient Greeks were also polytheistic. They believed that these gods and goddesses controlled everything, from the waves in the ocean to the winner of a race. Each god or goddess controlled one or two major aspects of life. Greeks built temples in every town for one god or goddess. Temples were large and beautiful buildings where Greeks went to pray or sacrifice animals. The sacrificed animals were considered gifts to the gods. Greeks were especially likely to sacrifice animals at festivals in honor of the gods. The festivals included plays, music, dancing, and then a parade to the temple where they made their sacrifices and had a feast. One temple still standing today is the Parthenon, built in honor of Athena, who was the goddess of wisdom and war.

What else can anyone tell me about the Ancient Greeks and religion?

"For homework, I'm going to assign you each a god found in either the Greek or Roman pantheon.... sometimes both. I want you to write me at least one hundred words on them for Tuesday, please.

Sonia Belmont - Minerva
Thomasina Coverley - Janus
Phoebe Halliwell - Proserpina
Medusa St Clair - Pan
Kara Thrace - Apollo

Any questions?"

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"The Ancient Greeks shaped their entire life around what they thought the desires of the Gods were and they always worried about angering them."

"Why was that, Phoebe? Why did they worry about angering them? Aren't gods supposed to be benevolent and forgiving?"

"The Ancients believed that not all Gods were benevolent and forgiving. Their belief structure required there to be balance, so there were benevolent Gods and well and angry ones. They wanted to keep all of the Gods pleased so that they only got visits or blessings from the benevolent ones."

Daniel nodded, smiling. "Does anyone know the story of Prometheus?"

"Prometheus was a god long before Zeus took the Throne of Eternity. He fought for Zeus against the devising Kronos (Cronos), but Prometheus never had true respect for Zeus. He feared that the new Olympians had no compassion for each other or the mortals on the earth below. To show his disdain, Prometheus prepared two sacrifices and, in an attempt to belittle father Zeus, he made one sacrifice of fat and bones and the other of the finest meat. The trick was, Prometheus had wrapped the fat in such a way that it looked to be the most sincere tribute of the two. Zeus saw through the trick and magnanimously controlled his anger. He warned Prometheus but did not punish him."

"But what happened later? Zeus no longer controlled his anger, did he?"

"Dispite Zeus’ warning, Prometheus took pity on the primitive mortals and again, he deceived Zeus. Prometheus gave the mortals all sorts of gifts: brickwork, woodworking, telling the seasons by the stars, numbers, the alphabet (for remembering things), yoked oxen, carriages, saddles, ships and sails. He also gave other gifts: healing drugs, seercraft, signs in the sky, the mining of precious metals, animal sacrifice and all art.

To compound his crime, Prometheus had stolen fire from Zeus and given it to the mortals in their dark caves. The gift of divine fire unleashed a flood of inventiveness, productivity and, most of all, respect for the immortal gods in the rapidly developing mortals. Within no time (by Immortal standards), culture, art, and literacy permeated the land around Mount Olympus. When Zeus realized the deception that Prometheus had fostered, he was furious. He had Hephaistos shackle Prometheus to the side of a crag, high in the Caucasus mountains. There Prometheus would hang until the fury of Zeus subsided."

Daniel smiled. "Well done, Phoebe.

Now," he turned to the rest of the class. "Linking on to what Ms Halliwell's just told us, does anyone know the story of Pandora?"

Phoebe bites her lip and starts writing about pandora in her notebook in order to not comment again.

Sonia tentatively raises her hand.

"Er...Pandora vas a creation of Zeus, made to enact his vengeance on men and Prometheus, for stealing the fire. All of the gods endowed Pandora with gifts and charms- from Athena, there vere lovely robes; from the Graces, a golden crown. Last, Zeus gave her a beautiful box as part of her dowry- for he intended her to marry Epimethus, the brother of Prometheus. Zeus had given her strict instructions to never open the box, but she did, and war, disease, hatred, greed...all of the ills of the world- were released from the box. Hope was all that remained in the box."

Daniel turns to look at Sonia, nodding as she talks. "Thank you, Sonia. Do you have anything else to add about Greek religion?"

She thinks for a moment. "Anything in particular, do you mean, or general observation?"

"Let's start with a general observation."

Duce shudders slightly at Phoebe's opening discussion statement, adding very quietly, "They had every reason to worry about angering the gods. Our gods were not the most reasonable or sane of beings." She gestures to her head, "Evidence A."

"I'm sorry, Duce, I didn't mean to upset you."

Duce offers Phoebe a small smile, "It's ok, Phoebe. Your statements were absolutely right. This class is interesting.. to see how people view .. all of that.. now."

"I tend to think of the Gods as cruel at times. I know they did a lot of good things for their people, but on the other hand I hear a lot of stories about their cruelty."

"Would you mind explaining to the class for those who are unfamiliar with the story?"

Duce looks at her hands, troubled slightly. She answers in a quiet, subdued voice.

"We're Medusa, a gorgon. Our original parents were Ceto and Phorcys, sea gods, and we had two sisters, Stheno and Eluryah. They, our sisters, looked like we do now only..fiercer. They were immortal. We weren't, and looked like any mortal girl," Duce smiles bitterly, "Only much prettier. We were vain, and boasted about it. We caught the attention of the god Neptune, who loved us for our beauty and charm. Athena had wanted Neptune's backing on something, and was annoyed that his attention was given to a lesser, mortal being. Neptune made it a challenge between us. He'd grant his favour to whichever of the two of us could .. entertain him best. We won, and in winning.. lost. We got Neptune's favor, at the cost of Athena's wrath. Athena cursed us, turning the hair we'd been so vain of into vipers, making it so we could never look upon another human being without killing them by turning them to stone. She removed our mortality as well, forever altering our physiology. She made us fully gorgo, like our sisters, but left us human enough that we'd always know what we had once been."

"We were anathema, cursed by a goddess, driven out - our own family turned against us and reviled us so the greater gods wouldn't turn their anger toward them. In those days, you didn't argue with the A-list gods; you did your best to please them or at the very least tried to stay below their radar, because their attention wasn't something you ever really wanted to have. Athena was particularly known for her smackdowns. Look up the 'myth' of Arachne (http://www.loggia.com/myth/arachne.html), if you want Example B.

Every human turned against us, lest they risk the anger of the gods. So we left, wandering as far away as we could get. We had no skill with building, so we found a cave deep in the hills and made it home. We lived there for hundreds of years, alone. The only humans that trespassed our domain were accidental wayfarers that we hid from, or the heros," she nearly spat that word, "who'd heard of the horrible monster in the hills and come to kill us." She considers whether to add the next, and sighs.. it's not like they wouldn't be able to read about it in the library, "We killed a lot of people, after that. Our yard became littered with statues of the men.. boys, really.. that had been sent to slay us."

"Hundreds of years after she'd originally cursed us, Athena became annoyed that we seemed to be living a relatively normal life. That wasn't what she meant us to do, when she cursed us. We weren't - in her opinion - suffering. She shanghai'd Perseus, who was sent by the current king to slay the monster -us-, and gave him the tools of the gods to do it with." She smiled, bitterly, "The big hero Perseus crept up on us, who had a body then very much like the one we have now, while we were sleeping, and cut off our head. He then took it and used it in battle, turning his enemies to stone, before Athena affixed it to the front of the Aegis shield. From our blood sprang Pegasus and Chrysoar, and Athena took more blood with her as gifts to a king - one vial to heal and resurrect, the other deadly poison. She knew what the blood did - she was the one who caused it to be that way. She didn't tell the king which vial was which."

Duce is silent for a long minute, before adding the rest. "We were dead, and the torment of the curse was over. We don't remember that part, being dead, just a sense of relief that it had finally ended. Hundreds of years after our death, Athena changed her mind again, deciding we hadn't been punished enough. She and Hera decided to punish a couple who desecrated a temple by cursing them with us. They birthed a monster, instead of a normal human child. Our curse continues, because we remember our entire life.. before. We're a monster again. We're immortal again. Until Athena changes her mind and sets someone to murder us - again."

Phoebe has been listening to Duce with growing horror. How could someone be so cruel?

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Greco-Roman Archaeology

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