Religion in Ancient Greece

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RELIGION IN ANCIENT GREECE In Ancient Greece, they worshiped many Gods including Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Demeter, Hestia and Hera There religion was based on a thing called "polytheism", which is the assumption that there were many gods and goddesses. The Gods had a ranking with Zeus, being the king of all the Gods. There were many myths during this time revolving around Zeus and the Trojan war between Greece and Troy. Different religious groups believed that the world had been created in different ways. Various religious festivals were held in ancient Greece. Many were specific only to a particular deity or city-state. For example, the festival of Lycaea was celebrated in Arcadia in Greece, which was dedicated to the pastoral god Pan. There were also the Games held each year in different locations, culminating in the Olympic Games, which were held every 4 years. These celebrated Zeus. One of the most important religious moral concepts to the Greeks was a fear of committing hubris, which constituted many things, from rape to desecration of a corpse. It was a crime in the city-state of Athens. Although pride and vanity were not considered sins themselves, the Greeks emphasized moderation. Pride only became hubris when it went to extremes, like any other Anything done to excess was not considered proper. Ancient Greeks placed, for example, importance on athletics and intellect equally. In fact many of their competitions included both. Pride was not evil until it became all-consuming or hurtful to others. Sacred Texts Worship in Greece typically consisted of sacrificing domestic animals at the altar with hymn and prayer. Parts of the animal were then burned for the gods; the worshippers would eat the rest. The evidence of the existence of such practices is clear in some

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