Religion served as a guideline by which the early Greeks strictly followed. Regardless of the grief, a sacrifice may have imposed upon the mortals, ancient Greeks would have sacrificed anything, including their lives, if required by the deities. During t the wedding of Cassiopeia's lovely daughter, Andromeda, to Perseus, Cassiopeia portrayed her daughter to be more beautiful than Thetis, the goddess of the sea. During the wedding ceremony, a forewarning came that Andromeda was to be sacrificed to the Kraken, the sea monster, in thirty days because of Cassiopeia's boastfulness. Even though Aereceaus loved his daughter, Aereceaus sacrificed his daughter, Danai, and grandson, Perseus to the sea because he wanted to follow the laws of Zeus by not letting any women live with children out of wedlock.
Unlike Penélopê, neither is a companion of equal intelligence and wit with whom Odysseus is able to engage in “harmonious converse” a characteristic of marriage that Odysseus stresses the importance of when speaking to the Phaiákian princess, Nausikaa. Furthermore, neither can represent to Odysseus what Penélopê does, his home and his identity. During Odysseus’ stay with Kirkê and with Kalypso, the relationship between him and either immortal could be described as anything but balanced. Having resisted Kirkê’s spells at her table, Odysseus gains the complete upper hand in the relationship and Kirkê becomes more of a slave than a companion, especially the type of companion that Odysseus values most. Before Odysseus can even finish asking her to, she is already walking out the door to change Odysseus’ men back from swine.
Although the cultural contributions of the Greeks and Romans have many similarities, they also have several differences. Greek culture was idea-filled and based on perfection. Roman culture was more realistic and represented everyday life. On the contrary, many Roman ideas were taken from the Greeks. Regardless, both groups effectively symbolized each of their religions and beliefs.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and was passionate about the virtue ethics, as were a lot of the early philosophers in Greece. He was a student of Plato and wrote on a variety of topics. “Aristotle set the tone of the virtue ethics approach with his observation that in exploring the moral dimension of experience, he said we are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live. A sentiment that echoed Socrates’ commitment to moral action.” (Chaffee, 2013, p. 482). Aristotle believed virtue ethics was the cultivation of a virtuous person to be the goal of ethics.
She is so intent on fulfilling her desires that Medea kills her own brother and manipulates the death of a king during their flight from Colchis. Medea refuses to let anything stand in the way of her selfish aspirations. In contrast, Dido is the loyal Queen of Carthage who never desired to love again after the death of her husband Sychaeus. She is forced to fall in love with the Trojan warrior Aeneas by the divine orchestrations of gods Juno, Venus and Cupid. Though her new found love intoxicates and causes her to forsake the duties of ruling, this is not by her design.
In the Greek culture, their writings often portrayed their values and virtues very well. A few traits that the Greek valued based on literature are: Love, Strength, and Loyalty. Love is valued in the respect that, if someone loves someone of something and follows their heart, they will not lose themselves or their quest. Strength is highly treasured because the culture was highly warriorized, and the strong always seemed to come out victorious. Loyalty is one of the most influential traits within Greek literature.
The Parthenon in Athens and the Pantheon in Rome In 500-323 B.C. Which is the classical age of Greek Civilization? During this time, they gain more strength after being victorious over the Persians (Peace treaty in 449 B.C.). Democracy as a form of government was developed in Athens as a virtue for individual citizens in a society where individuals are treated equal, also they still worship and reference their gods. The Greeks place so much importance to their past because they use it as motivation to reach a greater height in the future, this is based on their culture and as a value for humans.
(Sayre) In a democratic state, the people can be heard, and when the individual has a voice, society can work together as a unit, functioning at its maximum potential. This is what Greek culture showed the rest of the world, that if society will try to understand the world they live in, both philosophically and politically, a nation will thrive to make history. One interaction of the people that was very influential is political satire which is obviously still used today. This concept of entertaining citizens with political views and opinions was very significant in Athenian culture. There wasn’t exactly freedom of speech as we know it in our time and country, and when these Greek “comedians” got on stage with whichever roll they preferred, people listened to what they had to say, seemingly with good consequences for Athens had the strongest democracy of its time.
They were the moral values in which the entire Greek society was built and supported. Despite the fact that violating moral pillars back then could result in serious consequences, the characters did not seem to keep that in mind because they committed their acts so willingly. I think Sophocles was trying to get the point across that looks can be deceiving. I say this because society at that time was supposedly so pure, and the fact that all these characters violated the moral values in which their society was founded shows that there may be more than meets the eye. The characters that disobey pillars in this play are Oedipus, Laos, Jocasta, the party goer, and the shepherd.
By endeavoring to achieve this greatness through grand words and deeds one could also attain Kleos, or glory, something the ancient Greeks valued highly. If Arete and Kleos were what was being sought, it was done so by the acquisition and use of Phronesis and Kratos and through the practice and expression of Oikos and Xenia. Practical intelligence and wit were highly valued by the Greeks and many examples of this can be found