7th SS Chapter 11 Section 1
[Greek] Religious Practices Pages
179-185
Objectives: Students will be able describe
how the Greeks honored their gods and
goddesses.
Terms to Learn
Oracles
Prophecy
Pancratium
Pentathlon
Philosophia
Socratic Method
Hypothesis
Syllogism
I.
I.
Why its important
The “ Classical Age of Greece “ The
main theme here is Greek
accomplishments, growing out of efforts
to honor the gods, it helped shape
world civilization. Examples, include
their art, athletic games, thinking, the
more they tried to honor their more
world felt it.
a. Religious Practices
There was no one single Greek religion.
I.
A. Religious Practices
There was no one single Greek religion.
Each city-state had their own gods that
they honored and made sacrifices.
B. Priest and priestesses often served
as oracles, or persons who it was
believed could speak with these gods.
They would offer advice from the gods
called prophecy, or vague statements of
what might happen in the future. People
would then have to decide to take the
advice.
I.
B. Gods and Goddesses of Mount
Olympus.
During the Golden Age they worshiped 12
gods and goddesses of Olympus and each
had a specific duty to carry out.
a. Most ancient people feared their gods, but
the Greeks believed they were on earth to
serve and obey their gods. Greeks placed
importance on the worth of the individual.
They had a great deal of self worth, so they
could approach their gods with dignity.
b. The Greeks thought the temples were
the home of the gods so they worshiped
outside the temples as a sign of respect.
c. The Greeks showed great respect for
their gods with festivals and developed
two major forms of worship; one was the
Olympic games and the other was the
theater.
Gods and goddesses
Zeus; King of the gods, and weather
Demeter; crops, grain, fruit
Aphrodite; goddesses of love &
beauty
Dionysus; fertility, life, wild things
Hephaestus; fire, artisans
Apollo; god of the sun, truth, archery,
music, medicine prophecy
Hera; marriage children the home
Ares; god of war
Hermes; orators, writers & bad guys
Artemis; god of the moon, cities,
hunter, animals, women
Poseidon; sea earthquakes, horses
Athena; wisdom, Athens, crafts,
I.
a. The Olympic Games.
They would hold a festival in Olympia
every four years to honor Zeus.
b. This was the most important festival
in Greece. Any wars were stopped and
only men athletes came from all over,
like Africa, Asia Minor, Italy, and women
were not even allowed to watch.
c. They had chariot races, and a boxing
and wrestling match was held called a
pancratium; no eye poking or biting
allowed.
d. The pentathlon was a five event
competition to determine the best athlete.
They had to run, jump, throw a discus,
wrestle, and hurl a javelin.
The first Olympics was held in 776 B.C.
I.
d. The Theater.
a. These grew out of festivals given in
honor of the god Dionysus.
b. Way back in Ionia the Greeks told
stories the speaker would give a
soliloquy, or talk in which personal
thought and feelings were expressed to
the audience.
c. A poet names Aeschylus ( es’ kuh
luhs) added a character and told a
longer story, thus developing what we
know as a play.
d. The first plays were tragedies, or stories
about suffering.
e. Some of the writers were Aeschylus ( es’
kuh luhs) ; Sophocles [sahf’ uh klez]
Euripides and they lived in Athens during the
Golden Age.
f. After the tragedy came the comedy, or happy
ending plays.
g. Plays lasted all day with tragedies in the
morning and comedies in the afternoon, actors
were all men (women could only watch.) They
wore a mask to show the gender, age and mood
of the actor. The mask had a funnel to carry their
voices to the audience. They wore heavy clothes
platform shoes to appear larger.
Complete questions page 185 Section 1
Assessment. #1-5