why is greek mythology not considered a religion?

Question

other reliogions are religions but other religions has no evidence too.....liek greek mythology

Answer 1

What we think of today as Greek mythology did, in fact, form the background stories to account for the many gods and goddesses of the Greek world. These gods and goddesses were the basis of a powerful religion that extended over many, many centuries in ancient Greece. The Romans adopted them into their Pantheon, as well, and the early Christians adopted many elements of these gods and goddesses in the development of Christianity. You can make a whole study of Greek influence in early Christianity.

So, the belief in the gods and goddesses was a religion. The stories about them were widely believed. The ancient Greeks would not have considered these stories to be 'myths' the way we do today.

By way example, the many stories in the Jewish Torah and the Christian New Testament, are widely believed to be true by very conservative religious people even today. But some of these stories, like the Flood and Noah's Ark, for example, come directly from the much older Gilgamesh Epic of ancient Babylon. Yet, many people today would also consider these stories to be myths.

So, we have to look at the reason behind the formation of myths in order to understand them better. A myth is a story, a teaching-device, that teaches a lesson about the god or the goddess, or about God, that people could apply to their daily lives.

The Greek gods and goddesses developed and changed across many centuries of Greek culture. Many of the gods are combinations of one or more older stories. The ancient Greek religion did not suddenly appear at one moment. It evolved slowly over a very long period of time, and began so far back that it pre-existed the development of writing in the Greek world.

When a religion develops before writing is learned, that religion can only be handed-down by stories that evoke strong images to show people how (and how not to) live their lives. The stories about these gods and goddesses grew and changed as they were passed down from generation to generation, until the development of writing in the Greek world, and then the stories more or less stabilized.

Finally, since Christianity spread all over the Greek and Roman world, the temples to the gods were closed, converted into churches, or torn down, and the Jesus of the New Testament replaced them all. But in the first three hundred years of Christianity, the Christians were actively threatened by the power of the Roman/Greek combination of gods.

In the New Testament, for example, Paul the Evangelist went to Ephesus, home of the great temple of Artemis, and he tried to preach the Christian faith, but he was shouted down by the Ephesians who wanted nothing of it.

When the Roman Emperor, Constantine, legalized Christianity in the early Fifth Century, the tables were turned against the power of the Greek/Roman gods and goddesses, and, as every politician knows, the best way to destroy the power of an enemy, is to attack the character of the enemy. The Christians belittled the ancient gods and replaced them, often forcibly, with the new religion.

In the end, what had once been a religion with a very long history, just disintegrated, and what we have left today are broken temples, statues, and the wonderful stories that we call the Greek myths.

Answer 2

Religions are made up of two components, the last of which has a name that is commonly misused: 1) The theology, which is the religions idea about its god and how he relates to man and the world; and 2) the cult, which tells the person how to serve that god through his own behavior. Sacrifices, songs, prayer, behaviors, etc.

SO if you wanted to have the religion of the Greeks, their mythology would be the basis of your Theology. Your Religiosity, based on their cult practices, would have to come from another source that told you how to worship and honor them.

When people study the old Greek religions, they rarely learn about the cult practices, so it's a study of the mythology, not religion.

hope that helps.

Answer 3

Mythologies are legendary stories based on human imagination.
Religions are Revelations of the Holy Spirit through the Divine Prophets to raise men to various stages of civilization.
Religions are divine; Mythologies are human. Mythologies decline to oblivion; Religions eternally advance with higher and higher knowledge.
To become a believer, a man learns great things in the Holy Books, becomes more knowledgeable, more virtuous and more active in the service to the One True God. No Mythologies can have such glorious and enduring influence.

Answer 4

To most they see it as a dead religion, something belived before "Modern Civilization" in short they believe that it is a myth, or some interesting stories, but not of true worship.

To some it is a religion, there are many modern pagans who ascribe to the old greek and roman gods.

Answer 5

Because the Greek myths faded out because they were not personal relations, they were mere cultural traditions, not personal experience. However in Greece now there is a growing movement that is bringing back the Greek gods and goddesses, and some people are starting to worship them at the Acropolis again.

Answer 6

On dictionary.com, it states religion as: the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices. I am guessing since not many, if any, people follow Greek Mythology, it isn't a entitled a religion.

Answer 7

Who says it's not? There was quite a bit of wrangling recently in order to legalize the worship of the ancient Greek deities.

http://www.greekgodslegal.co.uk/
http://www.ysee.gr/index-eng.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Council_of_Ethnikoi_Hellenes

It is estimated that over 100,000 Greeks practise in the ethnic Hellenic tradition (some reports even say 300,000-400,000). These Ethnikoi Hellenes face varying degrees of discrimination in Greece, which is overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian.


One man's "mythology" is another man's "religion".

Answer 8

A myth is something you dont believe. To many people Christ is a myth too. If there is anyone around who worships the greek gods, its not mythology to them, it is their religion.

Answer 9

Hi,

I, and others like me, use the Greek Mythos to represent certain spiritual, and life lessons. Some use the names to describe ideals, while others are trying to reconstruct the rites. The common denominator is that both groups believe the tales are psychological archetypes that appeal.

That is how people like me view all religious works, past, and present.

Answer 10

I guess that the real reason is because the Greeks don't believe it. The fault of your logic seems to be that a religion needs evidence for it to be a real religion. It really just needs people that REALLY do believe it, then it is a REAL religion.