Ancient Greek Polytheistic And Anthropomorphic Pantheon Of Gods

Ancient Greeks worshiped a polytheistic and anthropomorphic pantheon of gods making those two characteristics of myths. First, they worshiped this kind of pantheon because of an early belief of spirits. Secondly, it is in order to explain natural phenomenon in Greek’s culture and finally, in order to explain things in life that are not familiar to them. Firstly, the early beliefs of Greeks revealed that they believed in magic and in spirits (Lecture 1). Effectively, they believed in spirits of their ancestor, spirits of nature etc. and that they could make contact with them through rituals. This lead to the belief that there are many spirits and that this new “family” would later lead to a pantheon of many gods. Moreover, because spirits were sometimes their own family, they would picture them as human, explaining why gods could have human appearance (anthropomorphism). In conclusion, the early belief in spirits is one reason why Greeks, worshiped a polytheistic pantheon of gods. …show more content…
Indeed, each natural phenomenon was attributed a god like for example Zeus explained the thunder, Poseidon explained the earthquakes and Persephone (daughter of Demeter) explained the season. Also, gods represented unknown areas like Hades and the underworld. Moreover, they didn’t believe in one powerful god but in many gods that would each represent something meaningful in their culture. Consequently, they were respectful of one another because they could worship any gods they wanted. In conclusion, explaining each natural phenomenon is a reason why Greeks believed in many