Ancient Greece

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ChaoticAlfredo's avatar
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Ancient Greece was not as simple as Uncle Rick puts it. Not that I am complaining in any way.

I am taking a class in Uni, and its a theology core, titled Greek and Roman religion. And I signed up blindly, thinking it would be Mythology. Right? Wrong. I really do find the class interesting, but it definitely was not what I was expecting. To the Greeks, it was not really a religion, but a cultic ritual, which depending on the god, was practiced daily, yearly, quad-yearly.  

The gods we know, where not worshiped like they where in mythology.The gods where more physical. Each Polias (city) had a different epithet which meant they where different gods in each city. One example would be Poseidon Soter would be worshiped differently at Athens then at Delphi or in Crete.

Women in Ancient Greece where not even considered citizens, more of a burden to the family. So the father would chose to "get rid" of them or keep them. A girl goes through many rights of passages, from the day she is born till the day she dies. When a girl is born she is first celebrated with the Amphidromia, the enclosing around the Hestia (hearth) of the household. This usually happens seven to ten days after birth, and this is to make sure that the child will survive at least infancy, and finally she is given a name. The next festival that they attend is the Panathenaea, which is held in the summer every year. Two girls were chosen, around seven to ten years old, to be Arrephos, their job mostly consisted of weaving a saffron colored dress with depictions of battle for Athena Promachos. During the ceremony they take play an important role in the Arrephoria, where they take down an unmentioned object through a passage to Aphrodite Kepois, then they would bring back a new object, all of this is done in obscurity of night. They are also the Alteris, grinders of grain during the Panathenaea.

The next festival they would take a role in would be the Brauronia. This was a festival held every four years in the spring in honor of Artemis Brauronia. Girls from ten to fourteen years old would do the Arketia, the bear dance, where they would shed a saffron robe, and engage in ritual dance, which would be most likely in the nude. They would participate in the sacrifices to Artemis, and enjoy the feast, and the games, which where dances and foot races. During this festival they would bring the toys they played with as a young girl and sacrifice them to Artemis Limnaei, and would sacrifice to Locheia as a first step from girl to womanhood. They would sacrifice to Demeter Korotrophos, Hera Telchinia, Hera Teleia before marriage and child birth, and if they were ever sick to Asclepius. The last festival women would attend was the Thesmophoria, in honor of Demeter Thesmophoros, which was three to five days in the fall. It was a festival of sexual abstinence, and where women would partake in the Aischologia. They would sacrifice live piglets, throwing them in a pit and then setting them on fire. They would then take the ashes, mix them with grain and then set those on fire for good crops the rest of the year. They would next fast, and mourn for Kore, and then they would feast and partake in some competitions.  When she becomes old, she would need a husband or her sons to support her. She would be cared for by sons and would take care of the dead at the funerals.

And that is just a summary.

If you are more interested about all of this, let me know, this is just a little bit for you guys so you would know more about this ancient culture


This class is going to be the death of me
Chaotic out.

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