Definition of Greek Gods

Today there are various religions in the world. Most of them are monotheistic (Christianity, Muslim religion and Judaism) and believe in the existence of a single god. Before the appearance of these religions, other cultures had polytheistic beliefs. The civilization Greek, which began to develop 2000 years before Christ, believed that there were many gods.

Scholars of ancient Greece agree on the idea that the phenomena of nature ( rain, lightning and all kinds of natural manifestations) could only be explained through a divinity for each phenomenon, since they did not have a scientific explanation of reality or the idea of ​​a God creator.

For the Greeks, the gods are among us, they participate in everyday life despite their extraordinary powers. The two main sources that we have to know the characteristics of the gods are the Odyssey and the Iliad of Homer. They are two great poems, in which Homer explains the history, the culture and the intervention of the gods in society.

The gods lived on Mount Olympus (which is why it is said that they were Olympian gods) and had appearance human. Each had his strengths and weaknesses. The main god was Zeus, the sovereign of the other divinities. Apollo is the god of the sun and is the son of Zeus, as well as the god of the farming and livestock. Hermes has magical powers. Hera is the goddess of marriage and has a vindictive character. Each of the gods has a function, skills and behavior. Traditionally, a list of twelve gods is used. They are divinities that are part of a genealogy, as if they were related. Their importance was such that the Romans incorporated them into their culture, although with a change in the names (for example, the Zeus of the Greeks became Jupiter for the Romans).

The gods have problems, vices and a temperament characteristic. Their stories serve as symbols to humanity (for example Nietzsche used Apollo and Dionysus to explain trends in human behavior). The Greek gods and their world are studied in Greek mythology, fictional stories in which there are heroes, men and gods who coexist. Men can get the intervention of the gods through sacrifices or by going to a place (the oracle) for some god to help them.

Greek gods are part of ancient history, but their stories are still alive today. In the art, the movie theater, the symbols and, ultimately, in any of the cultural manifestations of today.