Ancient Greece, Athens more specifically
Hi everyone, I'm Celeste
Ancient Greece influenced the modern day western world hugely
uh..yes, HUGELY
*watch out for that G....
AH! oh, oh God
speaking about gods, religion was such a
big thing in ancient greece
every single part of their lives,
from
birth
to marriage
to death...that might be
caused by wars
were all related to their religion and
let's dig deeper into it!
the Ancient Greeks believed that there
were multiple gods in the world
and the most important ones are the
twelve Olympians
but there were actually a whole heck of
a lot more gods
than just these 12 guys
in fact
there was almost a god for everything
for example
you might know the three fate sisters
with their threads of fate
or Prometheus who stole fire for the humans
each god was in charge of something
for example this guy was in charge of the
underworld
Athens was the city of Athena, our
beautiful goddess of wisdom
who was born from zeus's head
and somebody in
the crowd would be
this guy...
the god of stupidity
yeah they
really did have a god for everything
unlike Orthodox Christianity,
which is believed widely across the modern Greece
or any other Christianity the Greek gods were not always loving nor forever righteous
you might already know about the messed
up family trees and greek mythology...
it was believed that the gods treated humans
better when they were happy
and not so good when they get mad...
humans though, would not feel guilty to blame the gods either
the greek mythology reflects, recognizes, and accepts human imperfections
since no one really is perfect, not even the gods
these Greek gods had human traits
they were jealous, they made mistakes, and they even had affairs too
this is a huge difference to the modern
day Christianity
have a read of this quote and you'll see
that the greek gods can be pretty mean sometimes
people would praise the gods when they
needed a favor from them or to thank them
it's kind of like i'll give you something good
and you give me something
better back
even though people could praise the gods
by themselves
priests and prayers were still very
important as they performed public rituals
and were responsible of passing on the rules of them
rituals aka religious ceremonies were performed with certain actions
wait wait... just saying, those actions did not include the wave, yeah just saying
not only they performed actions they
spoke words too
it's important to perform the rituals
with a specific tradition for the gods to be pleased
one way of performing rituals is to gift
offerings and there were many strict rules around that
here are three
main ways to talk about
libation is offering liquid such as wine,
honey, olive oil, water, or milk
they can be performed quite often
animal sacrifice
the animals would be decorated in flowers
and cleansed, and then killed..
yes, to give them to the gods
human scapegoats also existed
they were the most ugly men, chosen to be killed to purify the pollution of the others
*but I'm innocent...BUT YOU'RE UGLY AND YOUR IN ANCIENT GREECE!
but not all offerings had to be this
serious, they can just be cooked food,
plants, pottery, or even just a stone with
flower
but remember to keep it clean though,
because purification was
very important
even though the greeks had so many
different rituals
it wasn't guaranteed that the gods would be pleased every time
however that did not stop them from
taking their religion very seriously
if you look at phidias
a sculptor sculpt who the sculpture of athena parthenos
great sculpture i have to say
however he portrayed himself on the
shield of the statue
which...he was then put in jail for,
apparently that was disrespectful?
disrespecting or not believing in the
gods leads to punishment
not only from the humans but also from
the gods themselves
and those punishments are a lot more
severe and bizarre than what humans can do!
another huge contrast to the forgiving Christianity
Greek temple served as the homes of the
gods
lots of them were located due to the nature of the particular deity
which can be anywhere from near a river,
to up on the mountain
as mentioned before, purity was very
important, so people with polluted souls
(if they killed people of stolen property)
were not allowed to enter the sacred places
and those who entered these shrines, needed to be dressed in white to signify purity
but really, those temples were not
designed for ordinary citizens to go into
well, even if they did there were nothing much to look at
except for large
statues of the gods
doesn't mean the  citizens didn't need to worry about
their religion though
the Ancient Greeks believed in gods who
were involved in all aspects of human life,
work, theater, justice, etc.
which meant that their lives were closely related to those gods in charge of those deities
their religion affected them in almost
every single way in their lives
from birth, to marriage, to death
when giving birth to a baby, knots in the room were considered unlucky,
birth blood would be cleansed quickly after the baby was born, since it was impure and unlucky as well
a festival called Amphidromia would be
held on normally the fifth day of a child's birth
that day, families and friends would appear with presents
the house would be decorated with olive branches if the child was a boy, and wool if the child was a girl
to present the baby to the gods and the
family, they would be carried around the fire by their nurses
*another huge difference to christianity's baptism! Even though both of them were to wish their child good luck
MARRIAGE!
the ancient greek celebrated the weddings in three parts
and the first part was the proulia
it was the day before the wedding and
the bride would spend her last days with her mother and friends
she would make offerings which included her hair
these offerings signified the separation from childhood and adulthood
as well as the bond between the bride and the gods
the wedding day, gamos started with a sacrifice
for the gods to bless the
two being wed rituals began with a bath for the bride yes for purity again
bride and groom that made more offerings at the temple
to ensure fruitful future life
after a feast, the groom would bring the
bride to his house in a chariot
then the bride's veil would be removed
with the ritual of anakalupteria
epaulia was the day after the gamos
but it wasn't very religion related
it was basically gifting gifts, so we won't going to detail about that
DEATH
it was believed that there was underworld which was ruled by Hades
yet souls after death were considered meaningless
some people died for being accused for not believing in the religion
OH NO
Socrates!
he was forced to suicide because his
philosophical thinking clashed with the religion
the Greeks took religion really seriously
there were public festivals throughout
the year to ensure all gods were honored
I mean, it's a fun time for the humans
too
some well-known ones include the Panathenaea and the Olympic games
both of them were celebrated once in
four years
since the greeks were so stuck up with
deciding what they were going to do
according to the
omens of the gods
the Greek history would be so different without the religion
the trojan war wouldn't have started by the goddess fighting over a golden apple
king Lycurgus wouldn't have sliced
his own son into pieces
and king Mino's wife wouldn't have had
an affair with a bull
and we'd certainly miss a lot of tea
from the stories of the gods
it was also believed that Zeus, the
strongest of the gods had favored the Trojans
while Hera had favor the Greeks
the Greeks used this to
explain many wars...
hey that's not fair you guys had Zeus on your side!
Ha, lowkey shaming
the Greek myths reflect to the Greek
society, what they valued, and what they did not
for example they valued the deities of the Olympian gods far more than the goddess of food
Ambrosia, never heard of her, right?
it told the stories of the gods also humans
there were countless stories
which reflected human traits and desires
life morals and were all worth studying
and it reflected a human society
where no one is perfect, where everyone's
struggle for happiness yet made mistakes
and where gods and humans both learned
from their past
unlike stories from the bible, where God was
very loving forgiving and had no human body
Greek mythology was more violent yet more realistic to the human world
therefore by looking at the Greeks' religion, not only we will learn more
about the history
but also our present society
apart..from...religion, art and philosophy
was also a big thing in ancient Greece
not only Greek artists created
masterpieces in painting, pottery, and sculpture etc
but they also had a deeper layer of philosophical thinking and theory
when it comes to beauty
they also had outstanding architectures
as well as unique beauty standards
on the surface, well, the ancient Greeks
liked beautiful things
from pretty faces
to fancy buildings, they decorated almost
every part of their lives
from their buildings and city streets to
inside their homes
even though they had a different beauty
standard from us
they didn't value beauty any less than us if not more
therefore they would have the instincts of striving for perfection
people would improve themselves to achieve beauty
and therefore result in a
richer education,
more pristine houses, and a more pleasing
aura overall
in one way or another, the Greeks' view
on beauty led to the rich culture
which is exactly what made them
a
very
successful
civilization
there were lots of artists including
painters, writers, potters, poets, sculptors,
actors, screenwriters, dancers, and musicians
and much more
oh to name some? So we have...
Phidias! Polyclitus! Praxiteles! Myron!
Hesiod euposmupsksjn sdkhsadhfjh
&^%^&*(_:?@!!.....
oh my gosh, and more people...
but some more outstanding ones can include
Homer,
(no not this guy) the guy who wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad
two hugely influential epic poems of ancient Greece
Phidias, who sculpted Athena Parthenos
Plato and his dialogues, Polykleitos' as
masterly bronze sculptures of young athletes
Agatharchus, the first one to create a skene
oh my gosh i give up
so many good artists out there
the artists
created immortal beauty opposing to the mortal lives of humans
such immortal beauty were considered heavenly and taken from the gods
and a punishment of this would be
many artists went insane
therefore the greeks used Prometheus, who stole fire for the humans and got punished by Zeus
to represent artists
now onto architecture
in ancient Greece there were three main
orders which were the styles of the columns
ionic, doric, and corinthian
doric was the most simple and thickest of the three styles, it gave a manly feeling
ionic was thinner than the doric style and was more feminine
and the corinthian style was the most
decorated of the three
it was inspired by a child's grave
decorated with toys and plants
there were also many different forms of
houses
different temples differed quite a bit
due to the ground plan and the way which the columns are arranged
they were very important buildings and
the Athenians would spend millions on
them
Bouleuterion was very important too as it
was the meeting place of the Boule
Stoa was a covered walkway and a place
for the agora to take place
theaters were large and open-air
structures used for dramatic performance
overall the Greek architecture style
strongly influenced the Roman style
as well as many important modern buildings
now art in ancient Greece wasn't just
about painting and dancing
even though they were pretty cool
it was a whole
series of philosophical thinking around finding the beauty in the world
to sum this long quote up, it's basically saying that the seeker of truth will find beauty in all aspects of the world
from bodies to law and civil
institutions then to sciences
eventually he will understand love and
wisdom as well as thinking deeper from
the knowledge of finding beauty
everywhere
even scientists, mathematicians, and
doctors found beauty of the nature
from looking at the world in such a way,
the ancient Greeks developed
philosophical thinking wonderings which
we still think about today
these philosophical investigations
became the basis of a whole range of disciplines
from physics, biology, science, humanity, and literacy
pretty looks were always adored
especially ancient Greece where it was
considered direct evidence of a beautiful mind
and ancient Greece adored people with
full lips, straight noses, and symmetrical
faces
cheek chiseled for men and a more
rounded shape for women
pale and clean looks were prestigious
and they were considered gifts from the gods
unlike the skinny beauty standards now
women were considered better looking
with a fuller body
so girl stop starving yourself!
but for guys, it was still the muscles
that were popular
the better looking you are, the more
popular you are
makeup was used to enhance features
instead of disguising them
they used honey as moisturizer, white
chalk for a paler look
vinegar, highlight for hair, olive oil,
highlight for skin
eyeliners made from charcoal
which was also used to create an unibrow
and bee wax or lipstick
and voila that's the look
the ancient Greeks wore light clothes as
the climate was hot for most of the year
fabrics were dyed by natural plants, and they also liked long and flowy ropes
chiton, a simple tunic made of two pieces of cloth sewn together
women also wore peplos, which acted a bit like a dress
himation was like that large fabric that men were
that showed their chest
wealthier people were a lot of jewelries
like necklaces, earrings, and armbands
that were made from gold
and gems
you may know that democracy was
a significant invention by the Athenians, but the democracy and Athens was very different to our democracy
they used direct democracy where all decisions were voted on by the people
only citizens were allowed to vote but
women were not considered
foreigners were barely given the chance to win citizenship
and to be one you need both of your parents being Athenian
all of the 40 000 adult male citizens
were welcome to
attend the meeting of Ekklesia
held 40 times per year for decision making
there was no government but there was a
Boule made from 500 men who did the hands-on governing things
unlike democracy, the Athenians used direct democracy,
therefore some decision might not be so fair
but one thing that's similar
between us and the Athenians was that
democracy made our people proud,
since any man was given the chance of making a change
and it's that beauty or flaws?
I don't know
but beauty surely can be found
the Greeks believe that beauty is
subjective and can be found in everything
our lives are affected by
their works hugely
from our architectures to our
understanding of beauty
they were also aware of the ugly things
in the world and reflected this through their religion
where nothing was perfect
beauty and hideousness,
eternity and mortality
the ancient Greeks influenced us through their
religion, philosophy, and art
we learn from the past to create a
better future
NOTE: subtitles were made by Celeste Li too!
THE END
