Zeus – Synthesis Questions #2
Zeus – Synthesis Questions
In ancient Greek religion, they believe heavily in high up gods on Mount Olympus. Every aspect in life revolves around pleasing the gods. Therefore it traverses through both religion and the daily lives of people. With this, people started constructing giant obelisks of these gods in the towns that worshipped certain gods. One example of the gods is Zeus: the king of the gods. He, along with other gods, are depicted in temples and in city centers where everyone is reminded of how the gods “control” every aspect of life. People pray to these gods and create giant monuments in towns in honor of the gods. Scientifically, people believed that everything these Gods did controlled their environment. If they did not please the Gods of a good harvest, they would not receive the rain and right weather conditions for a good harvest the next season. God aesthetically were portrayed as larger than life. They all had large muscles and were made to look superior. The men such as Zeus were all handsome and had chiseled features while the Goddesses were beautiful with perfect bodies. They were all though made to look larger than life.
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ReplyDeleteOur bad, we accidently removed the comment; there it is again:
ReplyDeleteWe also answered the synthesis question in terms of Zeus--choosing a sculpture called the "Zeus of Artemision." It is stated in your post that "they all had large muscles and were made to look superior;" but, Greek sculptors almost always portrayed the gods to use them an excuse to study the human body. True, most sculptures were "larger than life"--as the "Zeus of Artemision" towers at 2.09 meters high--but everything was always done according to balance and a 'golden ratio.' Overall great post! :)
--Brianna, Calvin, Christina, Jane (Asher, Period 2, Team 1)
Sorry, adding on to our previous posting:
ReplyDeleteIt might be true that most of what the Greeks did "revolved around pleasing the Gods"; but, most likely not everything--for example, sleeping (more of a human necessity) probably had nothing to do with pleasing the Gods. That being said, we do agree that the Gods were a huge part of Greek life--be it honoring them at events such as festivals (such as the Greek Theater Festivals honoring the God Dionysus) or having their moira (the Greek idea of fate) being decided by them. In the moira sense, their lives were indeed "controlled" by the Gods since it was ingrained in their culture that a person cannot and should not go against their moira because that was against the will of the Gods.
Just as a side note, Zeus was also known as the "God of the sky" and the "Father of men" as well as the "Gods" (as mentioned in your posting). Once again, great post :)
(Sorry the postings are so scattered! :[)
-Jane, Christina, Brianna, Calvin (Asher, Period 2, Team 1)