Polytheism By: Alexis Collins Meredith Price Zoe Boger Nina Maguire

The Basics Belief and worship of multiple gods –Often anthropomorphic No promise of afterlife Examples: Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology, Hinduism Olympian Gods ruled mankind, living in Mt. Olympus (the highest point in Greece)

Beliefs Free to worship god(s) of choice Had gods to explain culture and nature (love, death, birth, etc.) 12 Main Gods: Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, Hades, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis, Hera, Hephaestus, Demeter, Ares All had human forms and personalities

Practicing Polytheism Temple for each god/goddess Sacrifices at temples If people didn’t practice polytheism, punished (especially Romans) Greek temple- acropolis –At least one in every city-state –Sits on highest point No separation of church and state Parthenon- acropolis in Athens

Rituals Each god/goddess had unique rituals and sacrifices –Would choose god based on what they owed or what they wanted –Depending on problem (famine, drought, etc.) sacrificed to different god –Sacrifices made mainly to appease gods Sacrifices –Each city-state had a separate deity –Animal sacrifices in temples Required to kill domestic, loved animal and offer part of it to god while eating the other part (bigger the sacrifice, larger the group) –Libations everyday –Scheduled a few times every year –Like praying Ceremonies/Festivals –Lycaea: dedicated to pastoral god, Pan –Olympic Games: every 12 years honoring the 12 main gods

Role of Women Better off in polytheistic religions –Because of divine images of women –Had most of the same religious rights as men Some classes of women had significant roles in ceremonies Women’s annual festival: Thesmorphoria –Based on success of farming –Women participate in traditional rituals that predict family’s fruitfulness for the year

Major Texts No one specific text –Each Polytheistic religion had own text(s) The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer (8 th Century B.C.E) –Greeks didn’t consider themselves well educated unless they knew these epic poems. Did not have a formal, unified manuscript –Relied on “bards” (storytellers) to orally pass on all information/myths/etc.

Missionary Work Missionary work- not a part of Polytheistic religions –Due to the fact that there was no competing religious ideas at time –Everyone developed own religious ideas separately in different areas Developed when people searched for answers about natural processes Greece never used missionary work to spread religion –Created and spread through oral-poetic tradition by travelers and trade connections

Diffusion Thought to have begun in 2500 B.C.E –Hinduism= first (Northern India) East-West –Spread gradually by way of travelers and trade Evidence found connecting origins of myths to Middle Eastern cultures (Mesopotamia/ Anatolia) Believed to be heavily influenced by Mycenaean culture –Lived in area of Greece before ( B.C.E)

Major Contacts with Other Religions Eventually died out in most areas of the world –Was slowly over-taken by monotheistic religions Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam 1 st : smaller religions within the state of Greece rebelled –Xenophanes- monotheistic (Well-known philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle were Xenophanes) After conquering Greece in 146 B.C.E, Romans adopted much of Greek religion and added it to their own mythology Greek Imperial Courts mostly Christian ( late 4 th Century C.E.) –Christian emperors closed polytheistic temples and ended Olympic Games –Emperor Theodosius I: made public practice of Greek mythology illegal

Quotations “It is not that we worship many Gods and Goddesses (e.g. money, sex, power, and so on); it is rather that the Gods and Goddesses live through our psychic structures.” - David Miller, The New Polytheism “All strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift though small, is precious.” -Homer, The Odyssey

Sources stories/ stories/ en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheism#Gods_and_divinity Matrixbookstore.biz/polytheism.htm men+in+polytheism&source=bl&ots=dRjQh50pIn&sig=W2oZnVskODzY7fD1F8YzcdS voFM&hl=en&ei=xuydSrzZGoOItgfmn9jhAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnu m=9#v=onepage&q=women%20in%20polytheism&f=false