The Afterlife Of Ancient Greece - 1955 Words

The Afterlife of the Ancient Greeks A Classical-Styled Argument Katie Vokes ENGL17889GD Jennifer Chambers December 12, 2015 The Afterlife of Ancient Greece Where do we go when we die? This is a question that most people—spiritual or not—ask themselves at least once within their lifetime. In reality, this question is likely to never be answered, but is nevertheless an exciting area for study. Every culture, every religion and every individual person has some type of theory or belief on what happens to us after our bodies meet their final rest, and the ancient Greeks were no exception to this. The ancient Greek view on life after death is the most interesting to study, and belongs to perhaps one of the most influential belief systems to emerge within the ancient world. Rife with mythology and magic, the beliefs of the afterlife that were held by the ancient Greek people included the idea of a heaven vs. hell, reincarnation and the notion of ‘katabasis’, and were so powerful they paved the way for future religions’ ideologies. The ancient Greeks were a highly superstitious and spiritual people. As the Gree ks had no written book or scripture of their faith, it can be assumed that the ancient peoples lived their lives based on the stories told within their mythology. Mythology was used for various reasons, the three major ones being as a cosmogony, as etiological stories to explain otherwise unexplainable phenomena, and as a means to deter mortals fromShow MoreRelatedSimilarities Between Ancient Egypt And Ancient Greece1103 Words   |  5 PagesAncient Egypt (3000 BCE – 30 BCE) and Ancient Greece (1200 BCE – 146 BCE) based their entire lives around their religious beliefs. These beliefs led to their religious practices which were included in every aspect of their lives. Since ancient Greece’s and ancient Egypt’s beliefs differ greatly, endless differences can be shown between their religious practices. However, between the two cultures, many surprising similarities can be seen in these religious practices despite the tremendous differencesRead MoreEssay abo ut Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece903 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece† According to history there existed two of many important ancient civilizations that left a significant mark in the history of human development that even today leaves modern society in awe of its greatness. In spite of being distant civilizations, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece share similarities and difference in terms of how they practiced religion,political structure, everyday life style, and how they built the monumental architectures that continued to amazeRead MoreThe Superstitious And Mythical Figure Of The Vampire988 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom the dead and lives of the living, by draining humans of their blood, until a it is impaled by a wooden stick or burned. In ancient history we see the myth of the vampire appearing in burial traditions, showing vast similarities to the modern day definition of the vampire. We see this appear in various cultures and regions like the Tibetans, ancient Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome (Wotherspoon, 6-8). In The Tibetan Book of the Dead, it is explained by Lama Kazi Dawa that, they believe if a spiritRead MoreThe Eleusinian Mysteries Of Ancient Greece1690 Words   |  7 PagesThe Eleusinian Mysteries Religion is interwoven in the social, cultural and economic life of all civilisations and Ancient Greece was no exception. Typically, most religion in Ancient Greece was civic in nature, however, in the fifth century B.C., mystery religions began to gain popularity. Shrouded in secrecy, the mystery religions provided a more personal approach to religion, fascinating initiates and capturing the imagination of the Greek populace. The most popular of these mystery cults wasRead MoreThe Greek And Greek Culture1674 Words   |  7 Pagesfocused in on the Persian Wars. Greece defeated the persians, but Egypt did not which is a pretty interesting fact. In my essay I am going to try and find out how much different the Greek Culture is from the Egyptian. Values were important to people in both countries, just in a different form. In greece Gods play a huge role in the religious aspect of life, it is almost similar in Egypt considering they both share Gods in a way, Egypt has some of the same Gods as Greece. The majority of the Gods namesRead MoreThe City Of Ancient Greece1223 Words   |  5 PagesThe city-states of ancient Greece were at constant strife with each other. They utterly detested each other and were solely independent. However, many factors unified the Greeks, loosely, at all times, and they even brought the Greeks together at times. These factors came to be because of their similarities of traditions and beliefs. Language, religion, and athletics were all results of these factors. Language unified because everyone would understand what was being said by anyone, and athleticsRead MoreGreek Material Culture1348 Words   |  6 Pagessay, and prove, that Greek material culture reveals an immense amount about ancient Greek society. From vast studies and examinations of the great ancient Greek architecture, the immaculate fine art and literature and even the personal possessions and crafts of the societies own inhabitants, one can reason that these materials reflect much about ancient Greece and its people. From studying the architecture of this ancient society, one can assume various things about its inhabitants such as beliefsRead More Exploring The Four Ancient Civilizations- Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Israel1009 Words   |  5 PagesBefore the beginning of history, people from across the land gradually developed numerous cultures, each unique in some ways while the same time having features in common. Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Israel are all important to the history of the world because of religious, social, political and economic development. In the first civilization, both Mesopotamia and Egypt relied on a hunter-gatherer economic system, during that time, every country in the world strived on it. MesopotamiaRead MoreGrave stele of a little girl1605 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿ Grave stele of a little girl Stephanie Sjaastad Nancy Catandella HWA 160L 112 18 November 2013 Ancient Greek art is something to be admired; the accuracy of the figures, compared to Egyptian art is commendable. The art works show great depths of emotion and detail. The â€Å"Grave stele of a little girl† is a beautiful relief of what appears to be a small child holding two birds. The forearm resembles a young child’s arm because it seems that the â€Å"baby fat†Read MoreWhy people choose religion882 Words   |  4 Pageswith that, then there is no point to the war. It is difficult to say when and what the first religion ever was especially without the technology we have today. That being said, one of the brightest civilizations, Ancient Greece, had types of religious behavior. In Ancient Greece, things happened in nature and no one knew what was happening. Then there was the birth of Greek Mythology. They had a God or Goddess for everything in nature and stories to go along with everything that happened in nature