Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
Well some Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God. Some think that maybe all of them believed in one since they couldn’t all be as stupid.
Well this fact was around but not popular to say since I guess some find 12 Gods more appealing. about the snake Goddess, mother Goddess, or however they called it.
The Ancient Greeks treated the 12 gods like we do with saints. They have a saint for a particular thing just like back then how they have Gods for a particular thing.
So when someone thinks of saying that worshiping 12 Gods was the right thing to do like some silly Greek I met say, then they should freshen up on the facts.
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
Beg to disagree.
They actually believed in more that twelve deities. It was the lesser ones who had a sort of "sainthood" position. By the logic that one God or Goddess was more powerful or revered than the others, there was no polytheistic religion anywhere in the world. The fact that they had "specilisation" in a field each, is because of polytheism.
It's kinda stupid to have many many gods of the same thing. In fact, in cases of new gods where there was an overlapping of "responsibilities" the two either became a new and improved one, or the new one, with a handy myth, ousted the older one (e.g. Kronos vs Dias a.k.a. Zeus).
Mar it does god to let it out of your system doesn't it ? I mean, all of us, once in a while, you scream or at least humorously or not, wonder about the new Agatha's novel : "the secret of GT" It's a novel filled with mystery and an unexpected ending; there's no solution.
That's why, we sort of let it out of our system and, since nerves do have a breaking point and patience and hope do have limits, do not wait for an answer.
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
There are actually very small communities around the world, typically middle-east/Asia (Kalash), where the 12 mythical Gods of Ancient Greece are worshiped
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
The ancient greeks always believed in one God, Zeus. He was the ultimate ruler of the universe and the ultimate decision and law maker and all the rest of the 'gods' had to get his permission to intercede for some mortal or mingle in worldly affairs, just as saints intercede for humanity today.
They were on the right track but had not the fullness of the truth yet but neither did any other nation, including the israelites.
The similarities between the worship of Yahweh and Zeus are striking, i.e. animal sacrifices on an altar. Also, another striking similarity is the perception of Yahweh and Zeus that their respective people had, both were almighty, 'lived' or appeared on a high mountain (Olympus vs Sinai) and both appeared as thunderous accompanied by lightning.
The thing with greeks is that with time, this notion of monotheism got heavily influenced by middle eastern polytheistic mythologies (Aphrodite, Dionysos, Kabeiroi, etc.) and philosophies contrary to the israelites which kept it undiluted and undefiled.
Also, personification of God's energies and attributes took place and gave rise to other deities, again, defiling the oneness of God, i.e. Athena was born from the head of Zeus, being, therefore, a symbol for God's Wisdom but paganistic influences turned her into another divinity.
This fragmentation of the orignial Oneness of divinity took place in all peoples except for Israel and this is their legacy. Now, what do the names of the ancient greek gods mean? Well, that's another topic and a secret knowledge meant only for people like me.
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
They also had a very different understanding of their Gods - their Gods were subject to human impulses but had the power to follow through. Which is why Zeus spent so much time turning himself inmto animals so he could rape young wood nymphs.
But, as has been mentioned before, they did believe that there was an unknown God which St. Paul used as his entry point to conversion when he travelled Greece.
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
but Noul, you should know that the characteristics of the classical gods were middle eastern influences and most of them were taken out of the literal interpretation of Homer's and Hesiod's epics.
This is why the philosophers could not believe that the gods could be so humanlike and eventually started believing that God can only be one beyond human comprehension and unaffected by human passions and emotions.
This is what led them to the unkown god but the people, mostly uneducated, took Homer's and Hesiod's poetic references to the gods as literal and not symbolic.
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
amazing! And only those two made sacrifies on an altar, had a head honcho between the gods and so on and so forth. Mythology is a science and needs carefull looking into. Rash judgements, studying it on the surface etc can lead to wrong conclusions. In addition comparative mythology should at least be attmpted as a study
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
well, most myths in ancient greek mythology are nothing more than descriptions of natural phenomena, like the chase of Heos by Apollo. Heos is dawn and is refered to in Homer as being 'rosy-fingered' why?
because is any of you watch the sunrise at dawn on a clear mediterranean sky, you'll see that the sun's (still below the horizon) rays form pink 'fingers' radiating outward towards the sky.
Apollo is the sun-god. When the sun peaks ove the horizon, the 'rosy fingers' disappear. This is how the myth goes: Apollo, fell madly in love with rosy-fingered Heos and started chasing her but once he cuaght up to her and embraced her, she disappeared.
That's why Noul, I don't readily condemn myhtology, it's just ordinary people trying to make sense of the universe around them. What I do condemn is giving natural phenomena a divine existence and turning them into gods as it happend in paganistic times.
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
Oh Cygnus, I don't condemn mythology either. Or any form of story-telling. I believe as you do that it's people's way of making sense of the world and every culture is based on soem myth to a certain extent.
Science is great, but it's the stories that make a culture and nation. I was just being cheeky.
acheritou Registered User
Posts: 3
(10/19/03 7:53 pm) Reply
HELLENISM
WHEN WE CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY, WE GAVE UP SOMETHING MORE.
"Secret Knowledge"
.... "This fragmentation of the orignial Oneness of divinity took place in all peoples except for Israel and this is their legacy"....
Is this not specualtion on you're part? When you speak of "Israel", exactly who are you referring to?
.... "Now, what do the names of the ancient greek gods mean? Well, that's another topic and a secret knowledge meant only for people like me"....
Is this you're true nature? "Secret knowledge meant 'only' for people like myself".... why, indeed that comment made me laugh out loud to myself. The only 'secret' in any knowledge is to find it's root, which is no doubt within one's own soul.
You have two eyes.... any yet, you still cannot see!
Re: Ancient Greeks believed in 1 God only and not 12?
Ummm, I think that's not monotheism... that's Enotheism!
You're still a polytheist but have a focus on one specific deity. This makes you an Enotheist (from the word ena, meaning One, but not exclusive), but NOT a monotheist (whose core belief is that there ONLY is one god).
I mean, all of us, once in a while, you scream or at least humorously or not, wonder about the new Agatha's novel : "the secret of GT" It's a novel filled with mystery and an unexpected ending; there's no solution. 
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