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MASSJ CLASSICS APPRECIATION WEEK MARCH 14 - 17, 2017 CLASSICAL RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY WELCOME Salvete MassJCL! This week is Classics Week, and the theme for this year is mythology and religion! Each day, we will study a different ancient civilization and the stories and religion that originates from that region. I highly encourage you to do the publicity and service projects for each day, or make up your own! Publicity points are doubled this week, so remember to take advantage of that, and I hope you all have a great Classics Week! E Corde, Anusha Kulkarni MassJCL First Vice President TABLE OF CONTENTS Day 4: Rome Day 3: Day 1: Greece Mesopotamia Day 2: Egypt Ancient Greece March 14, 2017 Mythology Greek Mythology is given to us as a collection of stories by various authors. Some are famous like Homer, Hesiod, and Sophocles while others like Apollonius lurk in the shadows but give us amazing stories. Greek Mythology is like a tree beginning with the myths of Creation with Chaos serving as a dark void from which all gods, humans, and monsters have descended. Eventually, after the war against the Titans and the Giants, the gods solidified their power under the almighty Zeus and the Olympian gods. These gods through intermingling with humans gave us beloved heroes like Heracles, Jason, Odysseus, and more. The Greeks gave us glorious stories of war like the Iliad and love stories of loyalty and devotion like Baucis and Philemon. Today, celebrate some of these amazing stories that this civilization gives us! Ancient Greek religion is a collection of rituals and mythology originating in Ancient Greece. The Greek religion is a polytheistic religion centered around a twelve major gods and an Afterlife. Greek culture never had a single body of priests that would dictate the practices and scripture of the religion, instead practices and ceremonies were conducted locally in the individual city-states. The practices usually took place in elaborate temples and altars dedicated to specifics gods or even heroes and mythological kings. Some practices even included animal sacrifices to receive goodwill from the gods. Some practices included mystery religions like the Mysteries of Eleusis for Demeter. These were secret religious cults that member needed to be initiated into. Religion Publicity Service - Greek Myths are sometimes interesting and funny to read. Within your club try recreating some of your favorite myths either on video or live! - There are many family-friendly Mythology books to find. Organize a trip to your local library and read myths to children to help foster their love of the classics! - As any Mythologist will know, the Greek Pantheon is quite extensive. Run a poll throughout your club to determine who your club’s favorite god or goddess is! Social Media Make sure you keep all of your Social Media accounts up to date! Post the results of your poll or share your favorite myth or monster! mythology Egyptian Mythology is centered around deities that represent natural phenomenon. The sources for Egyptian Mythology include stories passed down through oral tradition, artwork, temples, and funerary texts. Their fundamental order of the universe circle around the word Ma’at that means order. Egyptians believe that they are the maintainers of Ma’at. One of the major gods is Ra, the sun god, who rules with advice from Thoth. There is also the myth of Osiris who was Ra’s successor and was deposed by his brother Set. Osiris became the king of the dead after his murder at the hands of his brother. Osiris’s sister Isis gave birth to their son, Horus, who became the war-god and the protector of the Pharaohs. THere are many other gods with their own stories but their major stories center around Ra, Thoth, Horus, Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, and Set. Religion Ancient Egyptian Religion is a set of Religious beliefs and rituals that is linked by a common focus on the interaction between the human world and the divine world. Their pantheon was a series of gods that were deified phenomenon of nature. Their religion also included the Pharaoh, or leader of the Egyptian people. To the Egyptians, the Pharaoh was a human who was simultaneously viewed as a god and therefore was the intermediary between the Egyptian people and the gods. Egyptian religion also included deep beliefs about death and the afterlife. They believe that their ka, or life force, must be rejoined with their ba, soul, to live on as an akh returning to the preserved body each night to receive new life each night. Their afterlife also include the weighing of the heart, or actions of the person while they were alive, ritual to decide the destination of the akh. Ancient Egypt March 15, 2017 Publicity Service - Research and create Flyers and Bookmarks about about various Egyptian deities during Latin Classes. - Have a “mummy flashmob” either at school or a public location of your choice. - Write letters to refugees! There is a lot of controversy in the world about these people and these people are suffering. Talk about the Classics and some of the stories that you learned about this week! Social Media Hint: “walk like an Egyptian” is a good Make sure to post about song to play your school’s celebrations. Post about some of the service activities or a video of yout Mummy Flashmob. Mesopotamian Mythology was polytheistic with male and female deities that were usually worshipped by different cities. Some of the gods included: Enki, Ashur, Enlil, and Ishtar. Each of the different gods were worshipped by specific cities and often these cities would view their god as more important than the others. Of all of these gods, the general consensus was that the most important of these gods was Enlil. Mesopotamian Mythology also had its share of epic poems. The most famous of which is the Epic of Gilgamesh that told the story of the demigod and arrogant king, Gilgamesh, and his friendship with the man Enkidu and his quest for immortality after his best friend’s death. This story also bears resemblance to the myths of the Great Flood in other religions. Mesopotamian Religion is the collective name for the beliefs and practices of the civilizations of Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia, the four main nations in the Mesopotamian region circa 3500 BC - 400 AD. Their religion was polytheistic. A Mesopotamian city would be a home to a certain prominent deity with the deity having a temple devoted to them. These temples were called Ziggurats which ascended towards the sky in a series of steps. These Ziggurats were originally built as homes for the gods. An image of the god was presented with food and changed everyday as if it were a person. Some rituals included the worship of a personal deity in one’s home. The Mesopotamian civilizations had a basic belief in the underworld in that they had a god governing it and that everyone descended there after death. eso M t A tamia po ncien mythology Religion Publicity March 16, 2017 - Put up posters about each of the Mesopotamian gods and what they did around your school. Service Get your club, some colorful fleece, scizzors, and some good music and you have everything you need for Project Linus! - Present a PowerPoint about some Mesopotamian stories to your classSocial Media mates! Post some pictures of your publicity and serivce activities online and share some of the interesting things that you learned. mythology Roman Mythology is a collection of traditional stories pertaining to the legendary origins of Rome. Much of Roman Mythology is derived from Greek mythology with the exception of a few stories. For example the love story of Pomona and Vertumnus is not traditionally found in Greek Mythology. Another major story that is not given to us in Greek mythology are the founding stories of Rome. Virgil’s Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas’ flight from Troy to found the city and dynasty that would eventually become Rome. His descendant, Romulus, would eventually found Rome. Roman Mythology also adopted foreign gods into their Pantheon. Mithras, Isis, and Cybele were brought by generals to the Roman Pantheon where they were welcomed and worshipped. . Religion Roman Religion encompassed the ethnic religion of Rome and the various religious practices that they adopted from conquered peoples. The Roman were highly religious and gave thanks to the gods for their successes in battle and life. During the Monarchy, Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, instituted many of Rome’s religious traditions. At one point he was even associated with a nymph. In the Republic, many high ranking officials like consuls and Praetors were previously priests or heads of Religion. In the Monarchy, the Emperor was considered the head of the state. Like many other Ancient religions, Rome had its fair share of sacrificial practices, at some points even sacrificing humans in return for victory. Added to the public religious practices like the Vestal Virgins, were the Lares and the Penates, the family gods, in the home. These gods were family specific and were usually ancestors. This tradition was brought by Aeneas when he fled Troy with the Lares and the Penates in his hands. Publicity - Make a video modernizing a Roman myth and post it on YouTube. - Have a Toga Parade through your school with members of your club posing as various mythological figures! Service - Talk to your local elementary school about Roman Mythology and how it is important to people today! Post about some of your Social Media fravoirte Roman Myths and stories and maybe your Toga Parade! Ancient Rome March 17, 2017