Ancient Greece
Relgion and Conclusion

Gods, Oracles and Death

Gods

The Ancient Greeks believed the gods were like people in the way they acted. They painted, fought, fell in love, had jobs, lied and helped others. The power of the gods was wonderful. They could change the events of history by helping one person against another. Some were in love with human beings. Zeus had many love affairs with mortal women. His wife, the goddess Hera, became angry, because of this, and punished the women and their children.

The Ancient Greeks believed it was possible to tell the future. They would visit an oracle who could communicate with the gods. The greatest oracle was at Delphi, where the god Apollo could be asked about the future. Poor people paid less than rich people to see her. However, she often gave an answer that had two meaning.s One day King Croesus visited her "Should I fight the Persians?" If you do, a great empire will fall." King Croesus fought the Persians, but the empire which fell was his own.

When someone in Ancient Greece died, the relatives followed a set ritual. The ancient Greeks believed the soul entered 'Hades', a marshy land surrounded by water. The first task of the dead person is to cross the water. The 'obolos' were given to Charon, the ferryman. No coin; no crossing-- the soul was doomed to wander the marshy land forever. At the far side, the soul was judged and sent to one of three places.

We all think we worked very well together on this project, and we enjoyed doing it. We also learned a lot about the Greeks in the past. We first thought up of many topics on the ancient Greeks as we can, then chose the main ones and divided up into three. We all agreed on doing their own topic, so we went pretty smooth in the beginning, but as the time passed and we all got used to working with the partners, so we sometimes had a hard time working together. But now, we are all satisfied on what we did.

We hope that YOU also enjoyed reading this report as much as we enjoyed writing it, and learned at least a bit more than you did before.

Bibliography

Encarta: Article on Ancient Greece

Compton's Encyclopedia 1996
Edited - 1996 Published By - Compton's New Media

The Everything you want to know about SPORTS Encyclopedia
Edited - 1994 Published By - Creative Multimedia

Greece
Printed - 1993 By - Shigeru Yokoe
Published By - Shobunsha Publications, Inc. 1988.5

The Greeks
Printed - 1989 By - Pamela Odijk Published By - Silver Burdett Press

Ancient Greece
Printed - 1991 By - Richard Worsnop Published By - Collins Educational

The 21st Century Encyclopedia for Children World Watch
Edited - 1991 By - Michio Tabei Published By - Syogakukan