7/28/2019 A 5 PAragraph Essay Comparing the Religions of the
Modern to
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How does the Ancient Greek beliefs of religion and death differ
with the
view of other cultural groups? Death, the way it is represented
in Homer's book, The Odyssey, is always caused by human error.
Whether their death was causedby greed, selfishness, or just being
curious, many people died in The Odyssey.Still, the question of
what happens after we die remains. Many religions havedifferent
beliefs of religious ideas from the Ancient Greeks. Afterlife, is a
belief where the comparisons among religions become extremely
close. The Greek beliefs of gods and death are different from the
modern day beliefs of other religions such as Judaism and Ancient
Egyptian beliefs.
For example, The Odyssey begins with a scene containing a
conversationamong the gods. The goddess Athena, goddess of war and
wisdom, is discussing the matter of Odysseus with Zeus, the head
god and god of sky (Homer 10). Of course these are not the only
Greek gods and goddesses. Other examples of Greek gods and
goddesses are Apollo, god of music, poetry, medicine, archery, and
young unmarried men and Hestes, goddess of the home. As you can
see, the Greeks believed in many gods unlike the people of the
Jewish fate who believed in one god. The Jewish god does not have
an emblem that which it is represented by. The belief is that the
god is represented by everything. For example, members of the
Jewish religion believe god is everywhere, in everything, and
represented by everything they do. Another example of the religious
differences is how Ancient Egyp
tians believed in idol gods which are gods represented in
statues. Ancient Greek beliefs are different from those of other
societies because of differences between how gods are represented
in Judaism and Ancient Egyptian beliefs.
Equally important are the Ancient Greek views of death. Death
caused byhuman error is widespread throughout the book. Human error
is encountered in each one of Odysseus's adventures on his return
home. The Kyklopes represented the greediness, selfishness, and
uncilvilization of Odysseus's men. Odysseus fell asleep and his men
unleashed a bag of bad winds, throwing them off path (Homer315).
Skylla and Kharybdis was a representation of death from nature when
Odysseus's men stopped rowing and six of the men were killed. The
Seirenes, with their beautiful singing voices represent suicide
death. Hades, probably the mostdown to Earth adventure, represents
time and fate. Many religions use time and
fate as representations of why people die. Ancient Egyptians
believed that whena person died, they were hand picked by god and
therefore sacrificed. Modern day occurrences make this seem more
and more untrue. Time and fate do not demonstrate the reasons of
death. For example, the act of random violence is becomingmore of a
regular practice of unjustified death, unlike the Ancient Greek
ways which always had a reason for death. Therefore, this is
another difference between Ancient Greek beliefs and current
religions and beliefs.
Next, what happens after death is a question that is yet to be
answered.The people of Ancient Greece believe of the Underworld.
Hades is the god of t
he Underworld and has a special throne and place on the council
chamber. It isbelieved that Hades leads those through the
Underworld and will guide them to their designated place (Evslin
276). It is believed that each of the ways that a
person could be guided is similar to the Christian beliefs of
heaven and hell and the beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians of
weighing the soul for good and bad karma (McDonald 356). The Jewish
religion believes that the destined messiah willappear in Israel.
This is why many people wish to be buried in Israel, the holyland
of the Jewish people. It is believed the messiah will guide the
Jewish people through the afterlife and the closer you are buried
to the messiah, the closer you are "to the front of the line." The
Jewish religion teaches that when the messiah appears, it will
guide the souls to a heaven like or hell like surroundings to live
forever (Yedwab).
