Ancient Greek Religion

They held the same religious beliefs

Believing in the same pantheon of

gods

Each polis had several temples, believed to be the

Earthly home of the god it was built for.

A polis would use temples as storehouses

(so did some people) Who would dare steal from the home of a god?

People visited to pray and offer sacrifice to the god

by leaving food or wine at the alter

There was a lot of ceremony involved when

sacrificing an animal to the gods

It was seen not only as a sacred ritual, but a rare opportunity to eat meat

The people would often visit a temple to pray

before they did anything important

asking a specific god for help

To pray, people raised their hands to

the sky

In prayer, if a person touched the ground or knelt, it meant he was praying to Hades

Before battle, who would one pray to?

There is no one religious book for the Greeks. The

religion comes from many stories

Religious ideas were first passed down orally

Many myths included what happened when

one diedIncluding the Odyssey and the Tales of Heracles

As long as the deceased was given a proper

funeral and buried, the soul was released

And Hermes would take the soul to

Hades

Which is both the name of the god of

the dead and and the name of the Greek underworld

There, the soul would come to the River Styx,

and Cerberus

The three-headed dog that protects the entrance to the underworld

The soul would then pay Charon, the ferryman, to

cross the River Styx

Once the river was crossed, the soul was

judged by three judgesIt would either go to:

Tartarus A place of punishment for the truly wicked

The Asphodel Fields Where ordinary people wandered as shades. It was a joyless area, and any life was better than this.

or the Elysian Fields A place for the truly good and heroic

One could return to Earth, but if the Elysian Fields

was reached three times

They went to the Isle of the Blessed...and never had to leave

How do Greek beliefs compare to the beliefs of

the Mesopotamian afterlife?

How does they compare to Egyptian beliefs of the

afterlife?