Essay on Religion and Mythology in Ancient Times

Myths and religion were paramount as they played a very crucial in the development and settlement of the people in early times. The aspect of the myth and religion is not the same but in a way we can describe it as being the closer and related. Religion can be defined as beliefs and values of the human being in society. A myth tries to explain how humankind came to existence. Religion and myths are believed to be having supernatural powers in them according to the way various communities viewed them all over the world during the ancient time ( Hose, Martin, 2015).Religion takes myths as its component and consists of aspects like morals, rituals, and theology. A myth may lose its meaning once it is not associated with religion in individual communities. Myths may appear in different ways like the traditional ones; for example Greece, African, and Roman among others. In this easy we are going to explore different characters in classical mythology of the ancient Greek

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Classical mythology in Greek

This is a body that is dealing with myths extracted from ancient Greek and are mostly appreciate different cultures. It was part of religion dealing with gods(Behjati-Ardakani,et al. 2016). Nature of world together with their cults. Classical myths deal with things like visual things, music, poems, painting, dramas popular culture, etc. Period of middle ages and rebirth in Europe when the Latin language was the mainly used fictitious names used to appear in Latin form. In 19th centuries when names of supreme gods of classical myth were mostly employed in Greek. Narratives about Greek myths dealt with gods and goddess who built a strong relationship among people. Myths were sourced from Homeric epics, tragedies as well as other forms of visual art like painting and garners.

Kouras

Monumental sculpture was the dominant form of art that was used to represent beings during the early days. The gods could not be clearly distinguished from people since they had a human structure because it seemed to be sacred and secular. (Hose, Martin, 2015)Kouras was the example of a sculpture of female that used to be clothed since displaying of nudity was a taboo until the 4th century when it was shown.

Statues were built to show the memories of public especially in graves, oracles, and as offerings to the temple(Behjati-Ardakani,et al. 2016). They symbolized beauty, pity, and honorableness. Mostly the young men were the one whose monuments were created, as well as the elderly in the society. Authors did practice visual artistic and sculpture had low status in the society, so they were not made monuments. Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic were some of the components in ancient Greek cultures.

Parthenon

The archaic structure that was in in Greek ceased in the 7th century though it used to be before. During this period is when urban life started by building the public building. Till the Hellenistic times, only public buildings were constructed formally. Houses were round, but temples were established in a rectangular way from limestone(Hose, Martin, 2015). The Classical period had Doric and Ionic were orders in Greek architecture. One of these main buildings is the Parthenon. This was a temple in Athens which was dedicated to the goddess of Athens who was considered as the patron of the people.

It was constructed in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire rule was at the peak (Dafni, 2016). This building of classical Greece had decorated sculptures which are known to mark the highest of Greek ancient art. It is also known as the zenith of the Doric order. The Parthenon is the symbol of Athenian democracy, western civilization, and the ancient Greece. It belongs to the worlds greatest monuments (Behjati-Ardakani,et al. 2016). This monument has been undergoing restoration and reconstruction to ensure its stability. As the sixth century was coming to an end, the Parthenon was changed to a Christian church which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The Parthenon was built to be the focus of the Acropolis. It cost the treasury about 469 silver talents to complete the construction.

Emperor justinian1 coin

In ancient Greek, there was also important artist work of coins. These coins had images of influential people like Emperor. One of them is the coin of Justinian 1 of Byzantine (Dafni, 2016). During the reign of Emperor Justinian, things had changed in Byzantine Empire, and Christianity had become the official religion of the state. The art of the ancient Greek together with buildings and architecture changed too in agreement with the faith. Justinian 1 was the ruler in Greek during the Sixth Century AD had made a great achievement.

He was the emperor who built one among the most famous cathedrals and remnants of the Byzantines called Hagai Sophia. The cathedral now acts as a mosque in Istanbul. Justinian1 had served his uncle Justin 1 who was also an emperor in Byzantine. Justinian 1 ruled for almost four decades. He brought back much of what his empire had lost in the preceding reign.(Behjati-Ardakani,et al. 2016). He was a very ambitious man who strained his countrys resource, but almost all that he gained was lost immediately after his death

These artistic works had some similarities as well as differences. They all had a religious role in that they had a ritualistic aspect of worship. Some represented their gods and others housed the gods (Dafni, 2016). The differences in these characters are that they were made using different material. They were also constructed at various times.

Myths and religion practiced in an ancient period were important since they contributed to the religion of today which is practiced in the world. Greek myth being the unique tale as it is done was similar to many cultures. Till today the Greeks preserve their arts and value them.

Work cited

Behjati-Ardakani, Zohreh, et al. "An evaluation of the historical importance of fertility and its reflection in ancient mythology." Journal of reproduction & infertility 17.1 (2016): 2.

Dafni, Amots. "Myrtle (Myrtus communis) as a Ritual Plant in the Holy Landa Comparative Study in Relation to Ancient Traditions." Economic Botany (2016): 1-13.

Hose, Martin. A Companion to Greek Literature. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.