Ancient Religions By: MLB

As civilization has progressed through the ages, many religions have arisen and taken hold around the world, two if the most interesting, being the religious beliefs of the ancient Mesopotamian and the Greeks. These two religions were practiced in different areas and at different times and, therefore, show that religion has played a critical role in every society and civilization. No matter how it is organized or what type of god is worshiped, a society would be nothing without some kind of deity to organize it. In comparing the religious beliefs of the Mesopotamian and the Ancient Greeks religious components highlighted including the style of worship, the temples …show more content…

Outside this group there were also two other important gods, Hades, god of the underworld and Dionysus, the god of wine. All of these gods were anthropomorphic, meaning they possess both good and bad human characteristics. They had most of the same needs that we have and this is why there were often offerings of food left for a god or goddess. While having human characteristics, these gods were still all powerful and controlled everything from the stars and planets to the harvest of grain brought in that year. Of all the ancient gods, however, the Greek gods are most widely known, probably because of the amazing myths involving them. Almost every single event or item on the earth has a Greek myth explaining its origin. For example, in the myth of Pandora's Box, the curious Pandora releases all evil emotions that plague the world. This helped people take the blame off themselves when they give into some of these emotions. Many Greek myths are like this, to make people feel better and lay the blame on someone or something else (Walker, p131). These two very different views of deities may be the reasons for all other differences in these ancient religions. From the dawn of civilization, man has looked to the heaven for answers and explanations and, thus, religion is found in every culture. However, the manner in which people have worshipped over time is as different and unique as each individual culture. The Mesopotamians and the