lesson 5- the relationship between gods and mortals Flashcards
What Latin phrase sums up the reciprocal relationship between gods and mortals and what does it mean in English?
‘Do ut des’ meaning ‘I give so that you might give’ - the mortals have to give something in order for the gods to give something back
Why was Zeus so upset about the fate of Hector in The Iliad?
Because Hector had made so many sacrifices in Zeus’ honour, and made him feel loved. Because of this, Zeus considered saving Hector as he was about to die at the hands of Achilles.
What was Hesiod’s guidance on how to appease the gods?
That you must appease the gods with libations and burnt offerings, before you go to sleep and when you wake up
What different methods of worship did the Greeks use to honour their gods?
-sacrifices (burnt and blood sacrifices)
-prayers
-Votive offerings
-Libations
-festivals (honouring the god at the festival- e.g Athene at the Panathenai)
-establishing altars and temples in their honour
What did mortals believe they got in return for worshipping the gods?
The gods would help them with every aspect of their lives such as personal, marriage, health, war and city foundations.
5th century tragedies often presented the gods as punishing mortals - give two examples of tragedies in which this happens:
-in euripides ‘Bacchae’ ( where the god dionysus accuses Pentheus, the king of Thebes for not including him in his libations and making no offerings to him )
- in Euripies ‘hippolytus’ (where aphrodite expresses her anger at hippolytus because he told her that she was the worst diety of them all- in response she made his step-mother fall in love with him, and when he rejected her advances she killed herself and left a note to say that she had been raped by him)
Explain how the reciprocal relationship was based on honour:
gods were worshipped and honoured because they deserved it, and mortals are protected and helped because they deserved it.- both sides get what they deserve
Summarise how Hesiod explains divine justice:
those who occupy themselves with violence and wickedness and brutal deeds, kronos’ son, wide seeing zeus marks out retribution.
where would the worshipping of the gods take place?
In a temple, if you wanted to pray to a different god then you would have to go to a different temple
the greeks were ‘Polytheistic’ what does this mean?
it means that they believed in several gods, rather than just one god
the statue in the temple was believed to be what?
the actual god in statue form
what was the role of priests and priestesses?
they acted as ‘mediums’ and would speak through the gods to the mortals- it was a way of connecting through the gods and mortals
how could the gods interact with mortals?
the gods could interact with the mortals through visiting them in dreams or by visiting them in person (most of the time in different forms)
what would mortals give gods?
would give gifts to the gods in return for an answer to a request, the greater and the more valued the gift was the greater chance the god would respond.
what were the three different sacrifices?
- burnt sacrifices
- libation
- votive offering
