Did the Ancient Greeks really believe in the Greek gods?

Answer 1

The principal Greek gods were said to reside on the heights of Mount Olympus (2,920 m [9,570 ft] high), located S of the town of Beroea. (Paul was quite near Olympus’ slopes when ministering to the Beroeans on his second missionary tour; Ac 17:10.) Among these Olympic gods were Zeus (called Jupiter by the Romans; Ac 28:11), the god of the sky; Hera (Roman Juno), Zeus’ wife; Ge or Gaea, the goddess of the earth, also called the Great Mother; Apollo, a solar god, a god of sudden death, shooting his deadly arrows from afar; Artemis (Roman Diana), the goddess of the hunt; the worship of another Artemis as a fertility goddess was prominent at Ephesus (Ac 19:23-28, 34, 35); Ares (Roman Mars), the god of war; Hermes (Roman Mercury), the god of travelers, of commerce, and of eloquence, the messenger of the gods (in Lystra, Asia Minor, the people called Barnabas “Zeus, but Paul Hermes, since he was the one taking the lead in speaking”; Ac 14:12); Aphrodite (Roman Venus), the goddess of fertility and love, considered to be the “sister of the Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar and the Syro-Phoenician Astarte” (Greek Mythology, by P. Hamlyn, London, 1963, p. 63); and numerous other gods and goddesses. Actually, each city-state seems to have had its own minor gods, worshiped according to local custom.

Answer 2

the Greeks were skeptical toward the end of their greatness. They still believed in the gods, but didn't think it really mattered. They became less religious and became more philosophical and pragmatic until the time when Christianity made it's way there..the institutions of their gods were well established, but many were looking elsewhere for ultimate truth (hence the sophists and other philosophies)....if not for the common Greeks reasoning out scripture and redefining themselves, Christianity would have been a small cult that could have fizzled along with other foreign religions after the Romans gained control (The Romans loved everything Greek and were much influenced by Greek thought). I believe that the Greeks were in need of believing in something to revitalize their culture and Christianity supplied them with a new bone to chew on

Answer 3

What are you talking about? They're ancient greeks. Of course they believed in the ancient greek gods. Where do you think the name came from?

Answer 4

I know he was a Roman, rather than a Greek, but Seneca the Younger said,

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful."

I think the Greeks had a similar take. Having said that, I think even Greek believers had a much better sense of allegory and metaphor than your average 21st Century fundamentalist.

Answer 5

wow ruth is an fool. Presa C- i might want to quite worship the ascertain of a guy, then worship that fetid little image you carry round your neck. that ill worship of an threat free guy being murdered earlier a cheering crowd. i might want to spit on you if i might want to. The previous gods are certainly alive and nicely. The previous techniques are engraved in our blood, our historic previous, who we are. The hellenic's, the egyptian revivialism (sorry adult men I dont understand your call), and the Asatru are the former techniques coming lower back. Polytheism has a sparkling bag. those 3 communities are outdoors accepted Paganism. We base each little thing on what change into and we attempt to piece mutually what we are able to now not locate. i understand in my own faith, Asatru, we are a touch present day aimed faith. regrettably we've not all started to unifty lower than one banner for worry of the christian debauchery it truly is the catholic church. (no offense you adult men, its merely we dont desire a similar rep.) those faiths are literally not a count number of idea, they're a existence-style. They survived the christian extermination of the former techniques favourite because the medival cases, and they are going to consistently live to tell the tale. even if you erase all strains of them away, The northmen and maximum europeans are nevertheless the little ones of Odin, and Tyr, and Thor, and Frey. contained in the U. S. authorities itself you locate the mark of the extreme one. Womens rights. A council of loose adult men to go back to a decision upon the truth. sources rights. Judgment in accordance to benefit. None of those concepts are new. besides the actual incontrovertible truth that they the position erased from historic previous yet for a small contingent of records. They live to tell the tale. the actual incontrovertible truth that those concepts the position developed earlier the arriving of christ is clear. the actual incontrovertible truth that one thousand years earlier the U. S. change into formed, women human beings had rights. remains real to on the present time. the yankee improve in this idea is largely going a similar way it would want to have taken anyhow.

Answer 6

Greeks had many Gods that were later Adopted by Rome. They even had "God." How you say? 331 B.C. Alexander the Great's conquering of Palestine, which he embraced the Jews and their God, allowing them to build synagogs and live among them as far as Alexandria. Pretty strange, eh?

Answer 7

i think they just believed the main ones. believing all of them is too much no matter how ancient a greek is

Answer 8

They sure did. Those ancient Greeks were hard core. They knew their stuff.

Answer 9

Yes.

They had "household" gods, both before and after the Homeric Pantheon, and those gods were appealed to on a daily basis to help run the household smoothly.

They were an intrinsic part of their everyday life.

.

Answer 10

Yes they did, they were also some of the most technologically- advanced people in the world at that time.