Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest
Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Religion and humanity go more or less hand-in-hand.
Before there was science, religion was the
most common way to explain the world around
us.
And the Ancient Greeks had an awfully interesting,
not to mention entertaining, explanation.
But what if the many Gods depicted in Greek
Mythology actually existed?
Let’s explore.
If you want more What If videos, check out
our “Biggest What Ifs” playlist on the
channel.
Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question:
What if the Greek Gods were Real?
First of all, the world would be full of uncertainty.
In a world where powerful beings can break
the laws of physics with the snap of their
mythical fingers, you just never know what
will happen.
One minute you could be cutting in front of
someone in line, and the next your hair could
be made of snakes.
Greek Gods are nothing if not imaginative.
Another likely implication of the existence
of the Greek Gods is that there would be a
whole whack of demigods floating around.
As you may remember from history class, the
Greek Gods had a propensity to come down to
Earth to get it on with the humans.
Famous Demigods include Achilles and Heracles,
whom you likely know better as Hercules.
These Demigods could bring about something
of a legion of superheroes or supervillains,
bringing about a world not unlike that of
comic books.
For more on that, check out our video “What
if Superheroes were Real”.
However, in today’s culture of “me too,”
it could be that the Gods would be in trouble
for all the trickery that went into their
sexytimes with humans.
Forget Harvey Weinstein, imagine the uproar
when a sexual abuse allegation was made against
Zeus himself for pretending to be Alcmene’s
husband (Al-k-mee-nee).
Talk about a power imbalance.
Furthermore, if the Greek Gods were real,
there’s a good chance that religions that
developed later, particularly the Abrahamic
religions like Christianity and Judaism, would
not have developed as they did.
Considering how petty and vengeful they were
in the stories, there’s a good chance that
the Greek Gods wouldn’t allow competition
from false deities.
For more on these last few points, check out
our video “What if there was more than one
God?”
But that’s not to say that mankind would
fall together in harmony under the Greek Pantheon.
Groups of humans would probably come together
to worship their own patron deity, as we saw
in Ancient Greece.
Ancient Greece had a number of city-states
or Polis, (Poe-Lees) with the people from
each Polis worshipping their own God in their
own way.
Sometimes neighbouring Polis would have the
same patron God but followed different rules,
and sometimes they worshipped different Gods
altogether.
This often caused some tension between city
states whose beliefs differed greatly.
However, given the current state of the internet,
it could be that modern humans would be more
open to choosing a patron deity.
They could join groups of like-minded people
online, rather than having one’s patron
God determined by city of origin.
That said, given that religious beliefs continue
to be very geographically-based even in the
age of the internet, it’s possible that
patron deities would still be largely determined
by where you live.
This brings up another point: there would
probably be a good deal of fighting as a result
of conflict between patron deities.
We need only look to how identity politics
have brought about division and conflict between
various groups to know that humanity is still
very tribal in nature.
Differences of opinion on which God to worship
or how to worship them could bring about a
good deal of war and conflict between groups
of people.
This is something we saw in Ancient Greece,
with inter-polis warfare being relatively
common.
This would also be important on the global
stage.
If the Gods were inclined to help countries
that favoured them, there would be a good
deal of governmental control over which Gods
could be patrons of certain cities.
Countries would want to make sure they had
their bases covered; you wouldn’t want to
accidentally shun Demeter, only to have all
your crops die the following year.
Not only would politicians be concerned with
offending their constituents; they would need
to appease the Gods as well.
Furthermore, if the Greek Gods were real,
that would likely mean that the afterlife
described in Greek Mythology would also be
real.
This means that when we died, we would be
judged by the three judges of the underworld.
Those related to Gods, or humans deemed righteous
or heroic enough, would go to Elysium, the
wonderful heaven-like area of the underworld.
Ordinary people with some good deeds and some
bad would be sent to The Asphodel Fields,
full of blandness and neutrality.
Finally, those deemed wicked would be sent
to Tartarus, where they would be punished
for eternity.
If this was known to be true by humans, there’s
a good chance that most people would try much
harder to live a moral life, for fear of ending
up in Tartarus.
While the biblical Hell, as well as personal
moral systems, currently prevent most people
from committing evil deeds, the knowledge
that you will actually be punished forever
if you’re a jerk would probably be a bit
more effective.
This could bring about some change even in
the most moral of people.
And now we return to our question: What if
the Greek Gods were real?
Well, the world would be a very different
place.
Angry Gods would be doing whatever the heck
they wanted, while their half-human spawn
acted like spoiled superheroes.
People would be fighting to gain the favour
of their patron deities, while trying to avoid
being sent to Tartarus.
And finally, before you say it, this video,
would not have been made.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions,
I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it
further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up
and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know which
of the Greek Gods you would worship if they
were real.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey
with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.
